AS SEEN IN OUR F-SERIES BUILDERS GUIDE WINTER 2026 ISSUE – Buy Now!

The Camper That Does It All

As a guy who likes all things automotive, I’ve had a crazy idea or two pop into my head every now and then. For the most part, that’s all it ever is—just an idea that will float around until I come to the conclusion that it’s either too advanced, will consume too much time, or is straight up just too expensive! However, for Chris Rutledge, nothing made him think twice about this crazy and unique idea!

Meet Ginger, an all-original hot ginger metallic 1972 F-350 motorhome on steroids! Chris found Ginger while doom-scrolling Facebook Marketplace one day and immediately had the brilliant idea to build a vintage-style Earthroamer! After negotiating with the seller for a couple of weeks and confirming that his wife wasn’t going to tell him “absolutely not,” Chris bought the truck and had it shipped from Wyoming to Texas. Once Ginger was in Chris’s possession, he did what any of us truck nuts would do and started digging into the backstory of this old girl!

Ginger was originally built by Mitchell RVs and sold brand new from Fordland Ford in Denver, Colorado. From there, she went up to Wyoming and stayed there for 90% of her life until Chris found and brought her down to East Texas! While Chris was looking around the truck, he found a ton of records from different campsites that the original owners had taken the truck to over the years. He also found all of the original owner’s manuals for all the appliances that are still in the truck to this day! In fact, the original owners were so meticulous about Ginger that they even kept the manual for the fog lights that came on the truck!

After finding all of this documentation and seeing how well this truck was taken care of, Chris was certain that Ginger was the perfect truck to complete his vintage EarthRoamer idea. However, he knew it wasn’t going to be an easy feat to make a reality. That’s where Matt Kubik of Kubik Motorsports entered the picture. After talking with Matt for a while, Chris was able to get him on board to help transform the grand idea into a purpose-built machine designed to go wherever Chris wanted!

Now that Chris had someone to help bring Ginger to life, it was time to start tracking down parts. But Chris had one non-negotiable rule for the build—every modification had to look as though it had rolled off the Ford assembly line. He was determined that Ginger would maintain a factory-built appearance but still function like a brand new truck straight off the showroom floor!

Conveniently enough, Kinser Chassis had just released its brand-new 2WD to 4WD conversion kits for 1965 to 1979 Ford trucks, and Chris got to see it up close and personal at the Carlisle Ford Nationals in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. After talking with some of the guys at Kinser, Chris got up with Thomas and Emily, and they went to work designing a completely custom suspension and front axle to go underneath it. The truck would still keep its factory-looking appearance but have the ability to stop all that weight with ease!

With the suspension taken care of, Chris set his sights on the power plant and drivetrain. Originally, Ginger came with a 390 and a 4-speed, but that combo simply would not work for what Chris needed the truck to do! So he went out and found a perfect donor truck with a 7.3L Power Stroke and a ZF5 5-speed manual transmission. With the help of the very detail-oriented Thomas Kincer, custom motor mounts were made so Chris could take out the tired 390 and drop in the 7.3 with ease!

There was still one final hurdle before Chris was able to use Ginger for her intended purpose, which was getting the 7.3L Power Stroke to run. Fortunately, Chris already had the perfect solution in mind. He called on none other than Cody Fordahl, a master of 7.3L swaps, to help bring the truck to life. With Cody’s wiring expertise and custom bracketry, it wasn’t long before Ginger fired up for the first time and was finally ready to hit the road.

And hit the road Chris did! After countless hours of planning, sourcing parts, and wrenching in the shop, Ginger was finally doing exactly what she had been built to do. The once-forgotten camper in Wyoming was now tearing up both roads and trails all over the country, turning heads everywhere she went, and proving that all the hard work was worth it. Whether cruising down the highway or exploring back roads, Ginger had transformed from a simple project into a dependable adventure rig. More importantly, every mile driven is a reminder that persistence, attention to detail, and a clear vision can turn even the most ambitious ideas into reality!

In the end, Chris set out with a simple goal, and that was to build Ginger exactly the way he envisioned her rather than building the truck to please anyone else! He stayed true to his vision and, with some help from amazing and talented people, created a truck that perfectly suited his needs. The result is a one-of-a-kind build that not only reflects Chris’s personality but also gives him the freedom to use it however and wherever he chooses!