It’s Not Just A 1965 Mercury, It’s A Great Dale House Car!

The Great Dale House Car is a car/camper conversion built of Denver, Colorado in the 1960’s. Estimates say there were about fifty made, and by all accounts, approximately one quarter of them are still on the road today. Photo: Scott Lachenauer

Dale Wasinger of Denver, Colorado was an entrepreneur who was involved in the used car industry and the auto body business. One day, a ’61 Cadillac was brought in his shop with rear end damage, which was not fixable, so he got the idea of mating the front end of the car with an aluminum camper out back. He brought his idea to a local shop to see if they would build a camper for his conversion. When they said they were too busy, he brought it home and did it himself, building his own spartan camper out back.

From there Wasinger sought out cars with similar damage, stripping the cars from the front seats rearward, adding a ¾ ton Chevy truck frame to the cars for a better structure on which to place his camper shells on. The second car that received the camper modification was a ’62 Oldsmobile. It’s believed at this point, the company started using prefab campers in their builds. The engines and transmissions of the donor car remained intact, along with the cooling system, brakes, front suspension, and fuel set up. The only major modification was the addition of the frame and the restructuring of the rear suspension.

Wasinger used what was available at the time, so out the possible fifty-plus house cars that he built, the host cars came in a variety of brands. Ford, Mercury, Dodge, Chrysler, Pontiac, Cadillac, Buick, and Oldsmobile examples have been identified, each a slightly different mash-up in its own right. It’s been said that he never really pushed or promoted his new business, and after building these conversions for a few short years, he closed up shop and continued on in the salvage business. However, Wasinger had already left his mark, and it’s now possible to find these house cars in the marketplace on rare occasions.

The Great Dale was an amalgamation of a car chassis up front, with an attached GM truck frame out back. Believe it or not the lightweight aluminum camper did not add much mass, and the overall weight wasn’t much more than the stock car would have been by itself. Photo: Scott Lachenauer

Tom Zinke of Wheat Ridge, Colorado is no stranger to the lure of the Great Dale House Car. A few years back the Mopar enthusiast checked out a Dodge Charger-based GDHC not far from his home. “I went to see the Charger, but the owner also had this ’65 Mercury Monterey based version that I liked even more. Overall, I think it just looked better, and the color was more to my liking, “states Tom.

So, a deal was made on the Mercury and soon it was back at Tom’s homestead, where he and his wife Debbie started a quick refurbishment of the GDHC. “It was in pretty good shape. The paint was still presentable, and the camper shell was nice. The 390 two-barrel engine ran well and needed just a water pump to make it dependable.” Like other Great Dales, this one was cut behind the front seats and a GM truck frame was added. In keeping with the typical GD recipe, the original 9” rear from the Mercury was reused in the conversion.

Inside the camper, Tom and Debbie cleaned up the interior, with Tom replacing much of the wood inside. “It was made with cheap paneling which didn’t age well. We kept all the original appliances and did some upholstery work. This one also came with a slide out porcelain toilet which I thought was pretty cool, though we never really hooked up the water inside. I did however run electric when we took it out camping.”

The bench seat interior of the donor Monterey works well with the camper feel. The cockpit here is basically stock, with the addition of an add-on aftermarket eight-track stereo. Photo: Scott Lachenauer

The only other real add-on to this Mercury-based Great Dale House Car was the addition of the E.T mags at the corners, shod in some muscle car rubber. “It came with the original Mercury steel wheels and hubcaps. I wasn’t thrilled with them, so I picked out a set of wheels I had in my garage. I’ve had those same mags on about seven of my other hot rods. They are my go-to wheel.”

Tom says the Great Dale drives nicely on the road and you don’t even realize you’re driving a camper until you get up in speed on the highway. “At higher speeds it feels a bit top heavy, and with the drum brakes all around, you must watch yourself on the highway. But overall, it’s not a bad ride at all.”

Tom picked up his Great Dale with just 37k miles on the odometer and put several thousand miles on it. After a few years of ownership, Tom and Debbie passed it on to another enthusiast who has gone on to do some more work on the GD. However, during Tom and Debbie’s tenure, the house car served its purpose as a weekend getaway vehicle and local cruiser for the couple. It certainly turned heads when it cruised into either a local show or even a distant campsite. There’s just nothing like it.