This custom classic RV is a 1940’s Highway Palace. It’s a Fargo truck towing this fifth wheel trailer. The coupling here is a military equipment piece, a 9 inch (22 cm) diameter tow ball. Fifth wheel trailers started out in the 1900’s and 1910’s and was first used to tow behind horses. This particular custom RV unit is located in South Australia. It’s owned by Richard and Judy Hart.
The fifth wheel trailer here has a dining room upstairs as well as a large kitchen and bedroom, and has a bathroom with running hot water and a bath.
So where did this fifth wheel trailer come from? It was actually used for storing equine equipment before being fixed up and customized for this custom job.
The first Fargo trucks were built in Pilsen, Chicago by the Fargo Motor Car Company from 1913 until 1922. In 1928 Chrysler bought the business and created their own line of Fargo trucks. Shortly after its creation, Chrysler also bought the Dodge Brothers Company, adding Dodge and Graham Brothers badged trucks to its product line.
The Fargo name had the obvious appeal of Old West adventure and reliable transportation. The name also held a likely attraction to J.N. Fields, Chrysler Sales V.P. and President of DeSoto. Walter Chrysler called him a “good-looking fellow and a great salesman” who never learned to take “no” for an answer.
From then on, Fargo trucks were almost identical to Dodge models, save for trim and name, and were sold by Chrysler-Plymouth dealers. U.S. sales were discontinued in the 1930s, but the name Fargo was used until 1972 for Canada, and lived longer for other countries around the world under the Chrysler Corporation’s badge engineering marketing approach.
Everything came to an end when Dodge pulled out of the American heavy truck business in 1976, and in 1978 Chrysler Europe was sold to PSA Peugeot Citroën.
