Friday, February 26, 2010

The Best Trailer EVER Is Now For Sale...

On the Atomic Addiction blog I did a tiny write up about the 1960 Holiday House Model "X" (later named The Geographic). You can see that HERE

I loved this thing the first time I saw it. The trailer is very rare and is now for sale on Craigslist of all places. Here is the info off of Craigslist...








1960 One of A Kind Retro Trailer Home Original Showroom Model - $135000 (West Hollywood)


"For sale is an original prototype, showroom model Travel Trailer built in 1960 with a design years ahead of its time. This "Trailer for the Rich" was designed by David H. Holmes, owner of Harry & David, and Chuck Pelly, an engineer and designer of BMW race cars.
The "Geographic Model X" was originally listed for sale in 1960 for $8,495 (In 1960 you could buy a house for $13,000). It includes a living area with two (2) fold out sofa-beds, kitchenette with teak cabinetry, Original Norcold Refrigerator and two pairs of wall foldout Magic Chef brand gas stove burners and a Magic Chef Oven (all appliances are in perfect working condition). Original receipts, invoices, advertisments and promotional items have all been retained and preserved (available on website below). I purchased this trailer and put my heart and soul into restoring it. This is my personal luxury antique one-of-a-kind land Yacht! There has been tremendous media buzz regarding this unique trailer in the LA Times, the Harry and David Frutier and other publications.
You can find a full description, history, and additional pictures at ***** 
http://www.1960prototype.com  This antique, one-of-a-kind trailer should only appreciate in value, unlike new trailers that will be guaranteed to depreciate tremendously. Serious buyers only please. Please reply to this post and I will contact you back at my earliest convenience. Willing to consider possible 1035 exchange. I hope you enjoy this piece of history and I look forward to speaking with you soon. "
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In my opinion the inside is a bit too nice and modern. Some how it looks like some swanky modern hotel on the inside and an awesome Jetsons car on the outside. HOWEVER... if you have $135,000 to buy it I would bet you have the kind of money that you could make it look like anything you want. Really it doesn't matter. I think it belongs in the RV/MH Hall of Fame. It just wouldn't seem right camping such a rare travel trailer. I wonder if it will sell???


Updated Listing: http://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst/rvs/1626155500.html

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Hehr Window Restoration (Part II)...

I had an opportunity to finish up work on the rear window. You can see part one here. A few more hours of work has brought me here...

I continued cleaning up the main inner and outer frames of the window. On the left you can see the inner frame when I got it. After it didn't shine up REAL well but it looks a lot better...
You can see the new replacement galvanized window screen from Vintage Trailer Supply is now installed. I had to use pop rivets to re install the retention "?" plate rather than the large tubular rivets that were originally on them. Works fine and it's hard to notice the difference. Those plates look good don't they?..
These "U" shaped channels that support the inner window frame was one of the worst parts of this whole restoration. What a pain in the butt. They were really messed up but the hardest part is that they are small enough that it is almost impossible to get real good tools in there to clean out the corrosion. It took forever and it isn't great but it is better than before. The spring loaded plate now rides freely...
I had some new glass cut and I replaced the smoke damaged plexi-glass. I also installed the new Hehr standard glass seal and glazing tape from VTS. I did notice when trying to polish the frames and thinner pieces of the window that they didn't shine up as great as I liked. Oh well. What are you going to do?

New nuts and screws from VTS. You can see some more of the corrosion that wouldn't leave...
Here you can see the glass frame joined with with the main frame...

Man... these things turned out nice...
And opened up...
One more beauty shot. I love it....
Ultimately, it took a lot of work but I'm pretty happy with it. Now on to more and more parts!