Text by Patrick Bell.
Travel trailers have been around for a long time and are used for camping and full time housing for people with a nomadic lifestyle, as well as traveling. Today we have a good selection of trailer life as it was, so hitch up and let’s hit the road.
The whole gang was cooperating with the photographer in this shot, at least the ones that were visible. In the center was a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air wagon that was V8 equipped and had the optional bumper guards. It also had a license plate with a topper, both of which the details are unreadable. It appeared to be the tow vehicle for the Yellowstone camp trailer. To the right was a 1959 Ford wagon.
Someone with a green thumb resided in this travel trailer, which may have been a M-System Trailer Coach brand. It was located in a park with other similar homes on wheels, and to the right was a 1952 Oldsmobile De Luxe 88 4 door sedan.
The image notes on this one indicate this was Ben Allen Park in 1954, but do not give any further details. It was a nice wooded park with several travel trailers set up.
To the left was a 1952 Buick Special 4 door Tourback Sedan that was equipped with the optional Dynaflow Drive, as indicated by the deck lid emblem. It also had a “AAA” insurance badge, and a 1953 New York license plate with a 1954 renewal tab. To the right of the gentleman, in the trees, looks like a rear view of a 1950-1952 Plymouth sedan.
This looks like a General Motors owner’s gathering, but it probably just reflected their dominance in the market during this era. In the center was a white over maroon 1955 Buick Roadmaster 4 door sedan with what appears to be an Oregon license plate. With that trailer hitch it likely was the tow car for the unit in front of it, which looked like an Airstream, but I see no markings. To it’s left was a green 1956 Buick Super, and on the left edge was a 1950 or 1951 Cadillac Series Sixty-One Coupe.
This man had been out in the mud. You can see it on his boots and the 1954 DeSoto Fire Dome 4 door sedan behind him. The travel trailer to the left was supported by a bumper jack. Maybe it was in the leveling process.
And another 1955 Buick from Oregon, this one was a Super 4 door sedan. It was parked, along with an unidentified travel trailer, across from a lake. The senior Buick’s were super road masters during the mid century era, and made special tow cars as well.
My guess on this location is somewhere in the southwest U.S. The image is from a Kodachrome slide that was date stamped December 1958. There were two travel trailers set up in a new trailer park, with the one on the right much more elaborate. The unit in the center had a lonely looking dog tied to it, and a 1957 Ford Country Sedan with a roof rack was parked out front.
The silver over red trailer in the center looks like another M-System Trailer Coach, and had a fan in the front window blowing away. Parked along with it was a 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air 4 door sedan with 6 cylinder power and a New Jersey license plate. I don’t see any sign of a trailer hitch, so it likely was not the tow vehicle. On the left edge was the tail end of a 1952 or 1953 Nash Ambassador.
Here was a couple enjoying the warm sun. Presuming the rig belonged to them, they knew how to travel on a budget. The 1961 Chevrolet Biscayne 2 door sedan was among the cheapest full size cars you could buy, and it could have been optioned and set up to be a great tow car/traveling rig. The camp/travel trailer looked to be medium size with a single axle, and certainly was not as heavy as many of what we have seen today. And if the Biscayne was the utility sedan, it would have saved a few more dollars at purchase time, plus had more luggage space where the back seat would have been.
A busy and full campground was shown here, with lots of people in close quarters. I will stay home, thanks. In the center was a white over red 1962 Pontiac Catalina or Star Chief Vista 4 door hardtop, and on the right edge was a 1964-1966 GMC 1/2 ton? pickup with a cabover camper. And some kind of water was nearby, as there was an empty boat trailer in the foreground.
An Avion travel trailer was set up on a downhill slope with it’s likely tow car parked close by. It was a 1965 Ford Country Sedan with one of the big block engines, and possibly a same year Michigan license plate. These folks appeared to have been members of the Avion Travelcade Club, evidenced by the round decal above the front window and the number on the front corner.
Airstream and Avion both built large aluminum travel trailers and this one was an Airstream. These folks were from Wenatchee, Washington, and were apparently members of the Airstream Club International. The image was shot in Seaside, California, in December of 1966, and parked in front was a 1965 Pontiac Bonneville Vista 4 door hardtop with non original wheel covers.
Two campers were at a basic type camping area which was likely easy on the wallet. Both of the campers were the Serro Scotty brand, a company known for their lightweight units that could easily be towed with a mid sized car. The pickup was a 1965 or 1966 Dodge D100 with a Utiline bed and a camper shell. On the side step was perhaps a water tank?, and it appeared to have a 1966 or 1968 Texas license plate. To the right was a 1966 Chevrolet Bel Air 4 door sedan with a back seat passenger. Maybe they were waiting for Mom to get in the car so they could hit the road.
The location looks tropical, so this family likely followed the sun southward as their 1973 Plymouth Fury Gran Sedan had an Ontario license plate. It also had a fairly hefty hitch for the day, and an antenna mounted on the deck lid that was likely for a CB radio. Their travel trailer was the Terry brand that was built by Terry Coach Industries out of California.
The sign said “Bay View”, and if you could see around all the stuff it did have a nice view. The car and trailer go together I believe, and I am not sure where the tent belonged. The car was a 1975 or 1976 Mercury Colony Park wagon with a whip antenna mounted on the drip rail, again likely for a CB radio. And the license plate looks like a bicentennial edition from Pennsylvania. All the windows were open on the trailer, so it was a warm day. It had some patina, so it was a few years older than the car.
Thanks for joining us and have a great day!
The Airstream could still be in use today!
And look. Not a truck or huge SUV in sight. So you can tow with a good car.
Now compare to today where you will see someone driving a 2500 HD truck just to pull a 12′ small boat.
First pic with the 52 olds made me think of a 52 Buick I owned twice, then the next pic had the 52 buick…So cool. Good choices…!!!
It’s interesting how the use of trailers has evolved over time. As several of these pictures show, in the ’50s it was common to tow a large (but towable) trailer to one of these trailer parks, where it would stay for an extended period of time. This was either to enjoy a warm winter in the South or to provide low-cost housing. This was quite different than “camping” with a trailer, staying at campgrounds for brief stays.
These trailer parks evolved to accommodate ever larger trailers, which morphed into “mobile homes” which eventually would almost never be moved and became permanent housing.
The trailer parks that accommodated large towables for extended stays but not permanent stays declined in the ’60s and ’70s as incomes rose and more folks either bought real houses or bought the large mobile homes.
But now we’ve come full circle, as extended stay RV parks are extremely common, at least out here on the West Coast. They’re serving the same purpose as the ones in the ’50s: low cost housing for folks that can’t afford regular housing as well folks wanting to live near the coast and such for retirement. The Oregon Coast is a major draw for them, and the number of extended stay RV parks keeps growing.
That pic, early on with the landscaped yard is cool.
Nice to see all the two-wheel-drive vehicles doing what needed to be done. This was a nice selection of photos, crossing just about two decades. Thanks!
The license plate on Picture #1 is a Virginia “convertible” plate. “Convertible” plates were issued in the 1950s-70s, and had nothing to do with actual convertibles, but were rather issued to people who used their cars both for business and for personal use. I think people like salesmen, etc. used Convertible plates – I assume there were tax benefits to doing it that way.
The plate had the letters CONV stacked on the left side, which made it very recognizable – a 1957 Convertible plate is below:
Thanks, Eric!
A friend’s father, who worked for the post office, had one of those plates on a ’55 Ford wagon. I understood it to stand for “conveyance”. No idea which is correct.
In Lunenburg, Nova Scotia in the early 1960’s, a regular occurence every few years was the appearance of a Wally Byam Caravan group consisting of 20 or so Airstream trailers, mostly from the northeastern states. They would park in the town exhibition grounds, and spend a day or two in the town and surroundings. In a small coastal town of 3000, the arrival of 20 Airstreams was like a UFO landing.
Sorry, Patrick but the wheel covers on the 1965 Pontiac are original. They are 15 inch from the factory, like what was used on professional cars. These larger wheels were probabaly part of a heavy duty tow package. Thanks for the photos and comments.
Thanks for your comments, Mark.
Apparently they did not advertise those wheels and wheel covers as they are not in any of the accessory brochures I found. But that was not uncommon with professional cars. The average citizen had no know somebody to order those cars and/or equipment.
There was a road test of a ’66 Pontiac 2+2 convertible in the September 1966 issue of Road Test magazine. That test car is shown with those wheel covers.
We did a lot of camping, and I can tell you, running into those crank out windows left a pretty good dent in your head. While we marvel at the seemingly incapable towing rigs, we must remember, these campers were not very heavy, and just about anything could pull them, just not too fast. What’s the rush?
I pull a 1946 aluminum trailer with my Subaru Forester.
2200 lbs fully loaded. It has a new steel frame. The original frame was aluminum. I figure the new frame added at least 200 lbs.
Tows like a dream!
Nice pictures, we tent camped, I have always wanted a small “Canned Ham” trailer .
Here in So. Cal. there are scads of “Motor Home Parks” where you set up in a double wide and stay until you die it seems .
Some are really well run, I always look and of late have been seeing newer Mobile Homes in many of these older parks .
-Nate
In the early ’60’s, my uncle had The Golden Book of Indian Crafts and Lore. It has directions for a life size, fully functional tee-pee. He constructed it on my fashion designer aunt’s heavy duty Singer sewing machine (they were all heavy duty, then). They and my 2 cousins camped everywhere with that thing. I went with them on at least one occasion. It was an absolute conversation starter, people would come all over the camp grounds to see and ask about it. Folded up, it fit in the trunk of their car, and the poles were tied to the roof.
I think both the tent AND the trailer belong with the Mercury Colony Park wagon. The reason is there is so much set up in that campground. You have the clothesline, grill for cooking, and the window screen tent for sitting out without bugs. That suggests to me that this is a large group vacationing. Could be a family with numerous children who would consider it great fun to giggle all night in the tent, away from mom and dad. Another possible scenario is that the child or children brought neighborhood friends with them and are using the tent sleep over style. Could also be an extended family group with multiple related or friend adults who do not want to all sleep in the trailer together.
But there is so much else set up by this trailer that I think it all belongs to the one group.