[VAL] Comparing Airstreams

[Mark Pate <spectrumnc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Mary & Indiana:

I have a '66 GT and a '50 Spartan Mansion. As far as comparing the two, in 
my opinion they are completely different animals. Most of the Spartans were 
originally set up to be mobile homes rather than travel trailers (mine is 
titled as such in NC). A vast majority of them are not self-contained (no 
holding tanks, no water pumps, etc) many of them do not even have a bath. 
Although the restored models seem to be going off the scale on eBay, the 
unrestored ones don't appear to be worth nearly as much as an Airstream of 
the same Vintage. Aside from that, the Spartans are really neat old pieces. 
The original ones are much more Art Deco period design than the Airstreams, 
which are basically timeless. There is a real good Spartan site if you'd 
like to check it out. http://spartantrailer.com/.

We already enjoy the GT now, but the Spartan needs to be totally restored. 
I hope to be able to keep them both. Will probably use the Spartan in the 
parks and the GT when we want to go self-contained. Good luck on choosing.

Mark Pate