About Campbell RV

In 1923 the Campbell brothers left their native rural Alabama and moved to Sarasota, Florida. They worked on many different construction projects including the Ringling museum, the John Ringling Causeway in Sarasota, and other bridges across Tampa Bay. In 1926 Grady Campbell married Octavia Kendall and they moved back to Birmingham, Alabama and started a family. Grady began working with a friend in a garage where he learned to repair automobiles and trucks. Through study and hard work he became proficient in mechanical repairs. (Yes “proficient” was in the dictionary in Alabama!)

In 1929 they moved back to Sarasota and worked hard for several years saving their money. In 1931 Grady was able to open a service station and garage in downtown Sarasota. The business thrived on repairs of fleet trucks and did well even during the depression years prior to World War II. When the war started Grady he continued working on vehicles. The business was stable during the war years because repairs were the rule without new trucks and cars in the marketplace.

In 1945 Grady started a used car business and put his son Ralph to work after school and during the summers. Ralph learned to pump gas and grease trucks. Ralph would ride his bicycle around town to Anderson Auto parts or some other supplier for his father. In 1948 Grady decided to build a new garage and with that new facility became the Kaiser-Frazier dealer in Sarasota. When Chrysler began looking for a Desoto-Plymouth dealer Grady jumped at the opportunity to become a Chrysler dealer. Octavia Campbell began to manage the office as the business grew. Claude Stephens married their daughter Rita and began selling cars after he returned from the Air Force in 1949. Ralph returned after serving during the Korean War and going to technical school to learn auto mechanics. He spent several years working on Cadillacs in California before returning to the family business in Florida in 1960.

With the demise of the Desoto automobile in 1961 the Sarasota store continued with only Plymouth. In 1966 Grady purchased the Chrysler-Plymouth dealership in Venice. In 1967 he was tragically killed in a tractor accident on his farm. Claude and Rita Stephens assumed management of the Venice store later becoming the exclusive owners. In 1968 the Desoto-Plymouth store became a Jeep dealer and in 1969 a Datsun dealer. Ralph and his sister Thelma managed the Sarasota dealership. Through the gas crisis of the seventies the dealership thrived on the sale of Japanese imports. Ralph & Peggy’s sons Kevin and Colin worked through their high school and college years in the family business. In 1980 the old downtown location was sold and the Datsun-Jeep dealership moved to a new location. The business grew and expanded several times over the next eleven years. The Nissan-Jeep dealership was sold in 1991 and the second generation retired from the automobile business.

Kevin Campbell continued in the used car and truck business until 1993. When he saw opportunity in the recreational vehicle business and decided to start selling motor homes and travel trailers. The recreational vehicle business grew. Colin, the younger brother worked for 8 years and was instrumental in the success the company experienced in sales. In 2000 an 18,000 sq. foot RV repair facility was opened to take care of customers needs. The state of the art service facility is vital to the future of the company. In 2003 a relationship with Fleetwood Industries began and they started selling new motorhomes and travel trailers.