Small Home Gazette, Summer 2014

Home on the Road

In honor of summer we decided to hit the open road and showcase homes of the mobile variety. Not your typical bungalows, of course, but definitely homes where every inch of space is precious.

Our thanks to Twin Cities Bungalow Club member Brian McMahon for alerting us to this collection compiled by Pennsylvania blogger Robert Morgan. Many of these are from the Arts & Crafts era. You can view Morgan’s entire collection at: http://home.comcast.net/~robmorg/oldmh/oldmh.htm.

	Once the car was a familiar sight on the American roads, it did not take long for someone to create a motorhome. This photograph of a happy family in their home on wheels was published in a 1909 edition of Motor Magazine.
	Zaglemeyer, in Bay City, Michigan, made Model T Ford house-car conversions. This one, complete with a “bedroom slide,” was definitely ahead of its day. (circa 1920)
	Here is another Model T conversion with a telescoping rear slide. This photo is compliments of the RV/MH Hall of Fame. (http://rvmhhalloffame.org)
	This 1915 Lamsteed Kampkar was an early recreational vehicle manufactured by Anheuser-Busch. The vehicles were mounted on a Model T Ford chassis and sold for $535.
	This 1920 house-car is a full cottage, complete with a sunroom and a back porch. The chassis was a Model TT Ford truck, based on the Model T, but with a heavier frame and rear axle. It had a one-ton capacity and second gear, which was useful for climbing hills. Ford sold it from 1918 to 1927 as a truck or simply as a chassis for buyers to build on as needed.
	This 1923 Nomad house-car is on display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. It was commercially produced for sale and also utilized the Ford TT truck chassis. Note the chimney and the pull-down roller window shade. It had a set of rear steps that folded down.
	Here is a whimsical picture of a Model T Ford conversion. Note the matching outhouse and the still out back. This picture is a promotional image found on the website of Pyne’s Texan RV in Houston, Texas.
	This custom made motorhome, probably dating to around 1918, was made of redwood and mounted on a Nash-Quad truck chassis. It was built and used by a photographer of the time. The photo was taken by Mark Quasius, an iRV2 (http://irv2.com/) forum member, at a visitor center in the Redwood Forest, just south of Eureka, California.
	In the 1930’s, house-cars continued to be a novelty, even while growing in popularity. This 1937 Ford house-car was produced in very limited numbers at the Ford Plant in St. Paul, Minnesota. The body was framed and paneled in wood, with sheet steel cladding.
	This vehicle is a 1931 Chevrolet house-car presented to Mae West by Paramount Studios when Ms. West moved from vaudeville to Paramount the same year. It was a chauffer-driven touring car, complete with seatback tables and a kitchenette for meals on the road. Notice the open observation area in the rear, with its own door. This house-car currently resides at the RV/MH Hall of Fame (http://rvmhhalloffame.org/) in Elkhart, Indiana.
	This 1938 Fleetwheels was custom made for Italian explorer Attilio Gatti as one of his “Jungle Yachts.” Gatti made 10 expeditions to Africa in the first half of the 20th century. He had two of these rigs, which, when joined together at camp, made up a five-room apartment. Wisconsin Historical Society, WHS-33771. Photos of the interior can be found at the Wisconsin Historical Society’s website: http://tinyurl.com/pttp6rt.
	This picture says more than we can possibly say with words.
	A fascinating 1946 Chevrolet motorhome featured in the September 1989 issue of Motorhome magazine. This vehicle was owner-built from a new chassis over a period of several years soon after WWI. It attracted so much attention on the road that vacation travel was hampered by all of the people gawking and asking questions.