Hello all,
I've just requested a registration package from WBCCI to re-register my '56
Caravanner. A few years ago I had been able to re-register my Caravanner with
its original numbers (which I had been able to see the ghost of after
polishing). However, I let the registration lapse while taking the trailer off
the road for a few years of restoration. This time, #1744 is gone to someone
else and I'll have to settle for a new number. Bummer, but my own fault.
While polishing the Caravanner, though, I also was able to almost make out the
names of the previous owners that were painted on the side forward of the door
in '50's style. When you look at the aluminum just right, you can see "The" in
script and then under that "Mayn", then all the way forward Elkhardt, In. So
maybe the original owners were the Maynards. When I imparted all of this
exciting news to the person at the WBCCI, and asked if they had any way of
checking to see if I could find the previous owners and get wonderful period
photos of my A/S in the fifties, perhaps with Haile Selasssie and Wally Byam
sitting on the steps shooting the bull, she said no. She seemed totally bored
by the concept that anyone would care who owned a trailer before them. When I
asked if the VAC might have any info, she implied that she had no idea what
the VAC does or doesn't do.
I guess that I've just run into the major divide between the two groups.
Apparently, if you've just bought a new $90,000. Airstream you are
fascinating. If, however, you've only driven from one side of the country to
the other to track down and buy a museum-quality vintage trailer, then spent
five years hunting for rare parts, making others, and then restoring it,
you're boring. I don't suppose anyone on the list happens to know anything
about #1744 and the Maynards from Elkhardt, In?
Brian Jenkins