Hi RL,
In regards to the extended Family, thanks for the Kudos but, I was
speaking as a club member not from any personal effort to convince the
leadership. There are many of us in the club who at the time would have liked
to have seen a relaxing of the rules to allow "airstream" brethren to join and
celebrate the uniqueness of these vehicles. However there were just as many
purists, so we have what we have today. Only those trailers (& MH) constructed
and designed by Airstream or Wally Byam are considered for membership.
The
refrain from the purists was and still is "there are other organizations out
there for the pursuit of SOB interests". So we, my wife and I, obliged them by
joining "Tin Can Tourists".
I'd like to see your old "36" myself and will
make an effort to get out there in the next couple of years. So where did you
get your "39"? You didn't by chance buy Micheal P's Pre War Airstream did you?
If not, would you care to share some pics of your latest find?
WAM
----- Original Message -----
Wayne - thanks for the info and for working so hard for
the "extended family" members of what really (my 2 cents...) should/could be
referred to as the "Bowlus Family of Aviation Inspired Travel Trailers"!
You
may remember that some years ago I began researching the history of a little
trailer I had in my barn - I referred to it as the "Mystery 36".
Well - years
have gone by - I sold it to a truly dedicated collector - and it went directly
from my barn to a restoration shop in the Sierras - and it now gleams and
glows better than new. In fact...it will be on display soon - part of a new
exhibit in the Grand Salon at the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles. The write
up on the exhibit sounds great - I plan to make a trip just to see it.
http://www.petersen.org/default.cfm?docid=1066
Meanwhile....back at the
barn....sitting in the shadow of my '57 Flying Cloud and my '74 Silver Streak
is a new mystery to be decoded. In fact it's a newer version of the "Mystery
36"....this is what I'm calling the "39 Special". It was obviously built by
the same person/people who built the "Mystery 36" - it's a few feet longer and
is nearly identical to a front kitchen Bowlus - only by 1939 someone had
figured out how to modify the Bowlus style monocoque frame to allow for a
curbside door. This trailer has been cared for and in use all of it's life so
I won't have to restore it from the ground up - it just needs a proper
refitting and varnishing and polishing to continue on for the next 60 years.
RL