On January 28, 1958, according to a United States trademark record, the name CAVEMAN CAMPER was first used on a "portable pickup coach providing complete living accommodations," built to ride in the bed of a pickup truck and lift off again. Seven months later, on August 28, the same record says, the campers were being sold in commerce. Over the next two decades the brand put cab-over campers, travel trailers and small motorhomes on roads along the American West Coast, many of them carrying a cartoon caveman on the front.
Where they were built is the part that gets argued about. One published account places its maker on Vancouver Island. The paper trail that survives points somewhere else.
A caveman on the front: the brand in the 1960s
The trademark was filed on March 23, 1962, and registered on April 30, 1963, to Caveman Camper, Inc. The filing disclaimed any claim to the word "camper" on its own; the protected part was the caveman. A second mark, THE CAVEMAN, followed in June 1963 and covered both "transportable trailers and portable pickup coaches," with a first use given as January 31, 1962. By then the company was building trailers as well as campers.
Jim Stratton, writing for the National Parks Conservation Association in 2017, remembered the result. "Growing up in Oregon, Caveman campers were everywhere," he wrote, describing "the Fred Flintstone-like logo on the front of each camper." He had no idea as a child that the caveman came from a national park.
Truck Camper Magazine, which keeps a reader gallery of pre-1989 campers, lists Caveman among its orphaned brands, alongside names such as El Dorado, Mitchell and Open Road. Its gallery includes a 1972 Caveman 978 and a 1966 Caveman with its interior.
Grants Pass and the Oregon Cavemen
The logo makes more sense in Grants Pass, Oregon. In 1922, according to the National Park Service, a group of Grants Pass businessmen who wanted to boost tourism in Josephine County began dressing as cavemen, in wigs and animal skins and carrying clubs, to promote Oregon Caves. According to RoadsideAmerica.com, which interviewed later members, the theme spread well beyond the club. High school teams became the Cavemen, businesses adopted the name, and in 1971 the Cavemen Club raised $10,000 to have International Fiberglass make a 16-foot caveman statue for the town. The statue was badly burned in 2004 when a teenager put a lit flare in its hand, then repainted and restored by a new generation of club members; in May 2014 it rode on a trailer as grand marshal of the town's Boatnik Festival parade.
The caves themselves are the step back in this story. Jim Stratton's account says Elijah Davidson found them in 1874 while following his dog, which was chasing a bear, and that federal recognition came in 1909, when the Antiquities Act was used to create Oregon Caves National Monument. A road to the caves arrived in the mid-1920s, followed by the six-storey Oregon Caves Chateau, completed in 1934. The booster club, in other words, was selling a destination that cars could only just reach. Stratton writes that members of the Grants Pass Active Club still dress as cavemen to spread the word about the caves, a group he calls "the world's most unique booster group."
Stratton drew the connection directly: "It is easy to see why campers manufactured in Grants Pass were branded with the caveman logo," he wrote. An Oregon owner answering a question about a 1964 Caveman on the iRV2 forum in 2010 said the same thing in fewer words: "Caveman out of Grants Pass, OR, went belly up decades ago." On a 2021 Barn Finds post about a 1967 rig, a reader who had lived in Grants Pass as a child wrote, "Everything was labeled 'Caveman'", and asked whether the campers had been built there.
None of these is a company history, and none gives a plant address. Together, though, they are the most consistent thread in the record.
The Vancouver Island claim
The other thread is shorter. In July 2022 the motoring site Silodrome wrote up a 1983 Chevrolet K20 carrying a 1973 Caveman camper, offered for auction out of Salem, Oregon. Its writer, Ben Branch, said Caveman campers "entered production as early as 1958," which matches the trademark record, and added: "It appears that the company was based on Vancouver Island in Canada." In the same paragraph he cautioned that there was "a very limited amount of reliable information about the company online." He guessed that was because production ended around 1980, a date that agrees with the J.D. Power data.
That is the only published statement placing the maker on the island that turned up in this research, and it cites nothing. No Canadian company record, island newspaper report or dealer advertisement was found to support it. It is possible that Caveman campers were sold, licensed or assembled in British Columbia at some point; nothing consulted for this article shows it. If you have a Caveman with a Canadian builder's plate, the plate itself would be better evidence than anything printed so far.
The island does have its own record of homegrown roadside design, such as the green-and-yellow Garbage Gobbler litter bin designed in Langford. A Caveman built on the island would fit that story neatly, which is a reason to be careful with it.
Steel angle and wood: how the campers were put together
Construction details come mostly from owners. The 2010 thread began with a buyer who had just picked up a 1964 Caveman that he called "Very solid and has been well taken care of" and who needed to rebuild one of its jacks. The poster who answered, who gave his location as Sauvie Island, Oregon, told the 1964 owner to expect walls framed in 1x2 or 2x2 wood "along with steel angle iron (Caveman only had this)." He said the siding on campers of that kind was usually held on with staples, and suggested rebuild kits for the camper's Reico jacks.
The surviving rigs show what buyers got inside. The 1965 Dodge D300 sold through Bring a Trailer in 2022 had a kitchenette with a Holiday range, a Carlson furnace, a double sink, a water heater and a Norcold electric and propane refrigerator, plus a cab-over bunk and a water closet. It came with the manufacturer's literature, wore replacement Caveman Camper decals applied during the seller's restoration, and sold for a winning bid of $34,000 (U.S.). The Silodrome camper, from 1973, had wood-veneer panelling, green carpet, a dinette, an oven, a toilet and shower, and four jacks so it could be lifted off the truck.
DiGiorgio and the end of production
By the end of the 1960s Caveman had a new owner. On May 1, 1969, DiGiorgio Leisure Products, Inc. filed its own CAVEMAN CAMPER mark for "motor home and chassis mount campers," and filed marks for the Bell trailer brand early the next year. DiGiorgio was a California fruit-growing company that had become a conglomerate; Wikipedia's history of it notes that the 1970s recession hurt its camper and lumber businesses, and that peripheral companies were sold off.
One first-hand account fills in the purchase. Jack Mulford, who wrote in the comments of a Bell trailer history blog that he was Bell's sales manager from February 1961 until the DiGiorgio takeover in 1969, said he then served as a vice-president of DiGiorgio Leisure Products. He listed the five plants DiGiorgio bought that year as Bell, Caveman, Road Runner, Californian and Siesta. Another commenter on the same blog said most of the cab-over campers DiGiorgio made carried the Bell, Siesta or Caveman names.
The model range was still broad in 1977. J.D. Power's used-RV listings for that year show Caveman truck campers from the 7-foot M-7 to the 11-foot M-11, travel trailers from the 13-foot M-1300 to the 26-foot M-2600, and a 19-foot-6-inch M-19 1/2 mini motorhome. Then the data stops: J.D. Power has nothing on Caveman motorhomes after 1979, or on its trailers and campers after 1980. The original 1963 registration is recorded as expired in 1987.
Caveman RV and the campers still on the road
The name did not leave Grants Pass. Caveman RV, a family-owned dealership there, says it has served Grants Pass, Medford and Roseburg for more than 40 years, selling and servicing new and used RVs. Nothing in the sources consulted links the dealership to the old manufacturer beyond the town's shared mascot, so a search for Caveman RV today finds a dealer rather than a builder.
The campers themselves still turn up. Barn Finds wrote in 2021 about a 1967 CaveMan Caravan on a one-ton Ford F350 chassis, listed from Vancouver, Washington, with a single $2,000 bid at the time. The Silodrome rig was offered in Salem; the Dodge was sold out of Auberry, California. Every example offered for sale in these sources was in Oregon, Washington or California. Anyone sitting through one of the five-hour BC Ferries waits in a summer lineup has time to scan the lanes for a cartoon caveman on a cab-over.
Whether any of the 1958 coaches were built north of the border remains unanswered. The one document with a date on it, the trademark registration, names a company and a product but not a town. More island history is collected under Early Nanaimo History.
Questions
When were Caveman campers first made?
The CAVEMAN CAMPER trademark registration gives January 28, 1958 as the date of first use and August 28, 1958 as the date of first use in commerce. A 2022 article on a restored example also says production began as early as 1958.
Where were Caveman campers built?
Most sources point to Grants Pass, Oregon, the town whose boosters called themselves the Cavemen. A 2022 Silodrome article instead says the company appears to have been based on Vancouver Island, but it gives no source, and no Canadian record turned up in the material reviewed here.
When did Caveman stop making campers?
J.D. Power, which publishes used RV values, has no Caveman truck camper or travel trailer data after 1980 and no motorhome data after 1979. The original trademark registration expired in 1987.
What kinds of RVs did Caveman make?
Truck campers, travel trailers and Class C motorhomes, according to J.D. Power. Its 1977 list runs from a 7-foot cab-over camper to a 26-foot travel trailer, plus a 19-foot-6-inch mini motorhome.
Who owned Caveman Camper?
The trademarks were first registered to Caveman Camper, Inc. By May 1969 a CAVEMAN CAMPER mark was being filed by DiGiorgio Leisure Products, the recreational vehicle arm of the California conglomerate DiGiorgio.
Is Caveman RV in Grants Pass the same company?
The sources consulted here do not connect them. Caveman RV is a family-owned dealership in Grants Pass that sells and services new and used RVs and says it has served the area for more than 40 years.
How were Caveman campers framed?
An Oregon owner on an RV forum in 2010 described wooden framing in 1x2 or 2x2 stock combined with steel angle iron, which he said was unique to Caveman. He added that the siding on such campers was usually held on with staples.
What is a vintage Caveman camper worth?
Prices vary with the truck underneath and the condition. A 1965 Dodge D300 carrying a Caveman camper sold on Bring a Trailer for a winning bid of $34,000 (U.S.) in 2022, while a 1967 rig listed on eBay in 2021 had drawn a single $2,000 bid when Barn Finds wrote about it.
Why is it called Caveman?
Grants Pass adopted the caveman as its symbol after local businessmen formed a booster group in 1922 to promote Oregon Caves. High school teams and many local businesses took the name, and a 16-foot fibreglass caveman statue went up in 1971.
Sources
- CAVEMAN CAMPER, Registration Number 0748684, Serial Number 72140531, Justia Trademarks (USPTO record), 1963-04-30
- THE CAVEMAN, Serial Number 72170814, Justia Trademarks (USPTO record), 1964-03-24
- CAVEMAN CAMPER, INC. Trademarks, Justia Trademarks
- DI GIORGIO LEISURE PRODUCTS, INC. Trademarks, Justia Trademarks
- DiGiorgio Corporation, Wikipedia
- About Bell Travel Trailers (reader comments), Rollin' in the Years, 2011
- 1977 Caveman Prices, Values and Specs, J.D. Power
- 1977 Caveman Truck Campers Prices, Values and Specs, J.D. Power
- Going Caveman in Grants Pass, National Parks Conservation Association (Jim Stratton), 2017-01-26
- Oregon Caves Cavemen, National Park Service, Oregon Caves National Monument and Preserve
- Grants Pass Caveman, Grants Pass, Oregon, RoadsideAmerica.com
- 1964 Caveman camper (forum thread), iRV2 Forums, 2010-06-11
- Retro Vanlife: A 1982 Chevrolet K20 Scottsdale 4x4 Caveman Camper, Silodrome (Ben Branch), 2022-07-17
- 1965 Dodge D300 Caveman Camper, Bring a Trailer, 2022
- 1965 Dodge D300 Caveman Camper Is Ready for the Perfect Summer Vacation, autoevolution (Ciprian Florea), 2022-04-06
- Working Classic! 1967 CaveMan Caravan Camper, Barn Finds (Todd Fitch), 2021-09-05
- Vintage Truck Camper Gallery, Truck Camper Magazine
- About Caveman RV in Grants Pass, Oregon, Caveman RV, 2026-10
