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One of the various mechanical interests around here is old recreational vehicles. Gail and I both grew up camping, enjoy fixing things, and have an early-seventies motor home project that is bumbling along slowly. Trolling around the internet and finding that there would be a weekend "rally" event for such vehicles a couple hours away, and that automobiles were invited too on Saturday, got us thinking it was time to wash the '59 Chev and get out for our first car thing of the season.
Finding Hemet CA among the old agricultural fields and new housing developments inland from L.A. and towards Palm Springs we, a sixties-era Ford E-pickup and a sweet '57 all seemed to wander around separately looking for the actual address then wound up parked in a row.
Among the fifty-or-so cars were all the usual colors and styles, Mercs w/ frenched headlights and rounded hood corners are still a thing of beauty. No fiberglass on that car.
After checking out the cars first we got to where the trailers were. People bring these in to camp and hang out for a few days, and during the day they were all open for inspection to anybody who wished. Many of the trailers there were connected with some-type period-correct automobile to tow with.
This convertible Cadillac was a near color match for the vintage trailer and ought to be able to pull it. Looks like a fun way to travel...
This 1950 Westcraft Coronado Pullman was once rusty underneath and rotten inside with only a single axle originally supporting the heavy coach. Extensive restoration, upgrades and an additional axle have it on the road again. Beautiful in and out, the restorer was obviously a woodworking master and his effort showed everywhere.
Little fifties/sixties "Canned Ham" trailers were among the most common at the event. Typically these have had the original sheetmetal carefully peeled away, rotting frame and structure replaced, better bathroom and other features added, and put back together again to look original. In this case both the trailer and tow vehicle are resto-modded a bit, with the Jeep having a big-block Chevy and modern suspension.
Maybe you don't want perfection? Just Rat Rod it. Under the rusty exterior was decent frame and insides.
Alaskan campers were telescoping, using the low position for travel then raising the top to camp. Stripping off paint and polishing the aluminum skin is a popular change with old RVs. In this case, sheet material was not the "Alclad" type used in aircraft, and doesn't polish quite so bright, but still looks nicer than paint if the dents aren't too bad.
Personalized graphics are popular...we don't know who Mary Lou is, but "Hello!" anyway. Those wings on the rear of a Shasta trailer are a must-have for the restoration crowd...many of the originals were removed as the trailers aged and that became so out-of-style.
Neat nose art. Aloha Momma loses a couple points for being vinyl, but I like the look.
Outfitting an old bus means lots of considerations besides coach work. I can't imagine what is involved in restoring/maintaining the running gear of this thing. Obviously features lots of changes such as the '70s headlights, but I didn't get a look inside.
For me the star of the show was this 1948 Aero Flite Falcon, the 99th built at a shop that had been doing military aircraft repair at the Van Nuys CA airport during WWII and stayed in business afterward partly by building travel trailers with their sheetmetal tools and all those extra rivits laying around I'd guess. You know this thing must have been expensive when new. The current owners found it on e-Bay in New York State and due to a broken frame had it flatbedded to Texas where the very-extensive repairs and upgrades were done. The husband did much of the work himself, the wife was happy to give tour after tour and explain the story to the many people who walked up for a look.
Another polished-aluminum beauty was this 1935 Bowlus Road Chief, said to be the original streamlined travel trailer. Check out the combination of wood and metal work in the interior.
You can't see it but this '57 hardtop had an original-style small block complete with P/S pump on the back of the generator. The brakes, however, were modern. Good idea.
The connection between the mid-century aircraft industry and early travel trailers is often apparent in the details, Everything on an airplane seems to have a stamped nameplate, trailer mfrs. used the same die-making shops to produce labels for their product. According to the owner, Hanson Love Bug trailers ran from 1948 to 1960.
A minor industry has built up for supplying parts and accessories. This guy had original-type license plates, really-really expensive but right for some folks.
Photo albums displayed for trailer restorations showed rot, rot, and more rot. It seems common that the only parts savable sometimes are the metal ones, all wood is shot from sitting outside unprotected over the years, and the leaks. What a job, to get in there and fix all that.
After spending much of a very-enjoyable day poking around people's unique travel homes, listening to live music and eating junk food, we spent a little more time back with the cars. We would be heading home soon, the campers all looked like they were ready to be doing some partying that night. Maybe someday when we get that motor home running...
Thanks to Golden Village Palms RV Resort in Hemet CA.
Finding Hemet CA among the old agricultural fields and new housing developments inland from L.A. and towards Palm Springs we, a sixties-era Ford E-pickup and a sweet '57 all seemed to wander around separately looking for the actual address then wound up parked in a row.
Among the fifty-or-so cars were all the usual colors and styles, Mercs w/ frenched headlights and rounded hood corners are still a thing of beauty. No fiberglass on that car.
After checking out the cars first we got to where the trailers were. People bring these in to camp and hang out for a few days, and during the day they were all open for inspection to anybody who wished. Many of the trailers there were connected with some-type period-correct automobile to tow with.
This convertible Cadillac was a near color match for the vintage trailer and ought to be able to pull it. Looks like a fun way to travel...
This 1950 Westcraft Coronado Pullman was once rusty underneath and rotten inside with only a single axle originally supporting the heavy coach. Extensive restoration, upgrades and an additional axle have it on the road again. Beautiful in and out, the restorer was obviously a woodworking master and his effort showed everywhere.
Little fifties/sixties "Canned Ham" trailers were among the most common at the event. Typically these have had the original sheetmetal carefully peeled away, rotting frame and structure replaced, better bathroom and other features added, and put back together again to look original. In this case both the trailer and tow vehicle are resto-modded a bit, with the Jeep having a big-block Chevy and modern suspension.
Maybe you don't want perfection? Just Rat Rod it. Under the rusty exterior was decent frame and insides.
Alaskan campers were telescoping, using the low position for travel then raising the top to camp. Stripping off paint and polishing the aluminum skin is a popular change with old RVs. In this case, sheet material was not the "Alclad" type used in aircraft, and doesn't polish quite so bright, but still looks nicer than paint if the dents aren't too bad.
Personalized graphics are popular...we don't know who Mary Lou is, but "Hello!" anyway. Those wings on the rear of a Shasta trailer are a must-have for the restoration crowd...many of the originals were removed as the trailers aged and that became so out-of-style.
Neat nose art. Aloha Momma loses a couple points for being vinyl, but I like the look.
Outfitting an old bus means lots of considerations besides coach work. I can't imagine what is involved in restoring/maintaining the running gear of this thing. Obviously features lots of changes such as the '70s headlights, but I didn't get a look inside.
For me the star of the show was this 1948 Aero Flite Falcon, the 99th built at a shop that had been doing military aircraft repair at the Van Nuys CA airport during WWII and stayed in business afterward partly by building travel trailers with their sheetmetal tools and all those extra rivits laying around I'd guess. You know this thing must have been expensive when new. The current owners found it on e-Bay in New York State and due to a broken frame had it flatbedded to Texas where the very-extensive repairs and upgrades were done. The husband did much of the work himself, the wife was happy to give tour after tour and explain the story to the many people who walked up for a look.
Another polished-aluminum beauty was this 1935 Bowlus Road Chief, said to be the original streamlined travel trailer. Check out the combination of wood and metal work in the interior.
You can't see it but this '57 hardtop had an original-style small block complete with P/S pump on the back of the generator. The brakes, however, were modern. Good idea.
The connection between the mid-century aircraft industry and early travel trailers is often apparent in the details, Everything on an airplane seems to have a stamped nameplate, trailer mfrs. used the same die-making shops to produce labels for their product. According to the owner, Hanson Love Bug trailers ran from 1948 to 1960.
A minor industry has built up for supplying parts and accessories. This guy had original-type license plates, really-really expensive but right for some folks.
Photo albums displayed for trailer restorations showed rot, rot, and more rot. It seems common that the only parts savable sometimes are the metal ones, all wood is shot from sitting outside unprotected over the years, and the leaks. What a job, to get in there and fix all that.
After spending much of a very-enjoyable day poking around people's unique travel homes, listening to live music and eating junk food, we spent a little more time back with the cars. We would be heading home soon, the campers all looked like they were ready to be doing some partying that night. Maybe someday when we get that motor home running...
Thanks to Golden Village Palms RV Resort in Hemet CA.
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