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The evolution of the travel trailer into the mobile home.
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning a width of 8 feet was standard on the first mobile homes in 1946, then 10 feet wides came along in 1950, by 1960 a width of 12 feet was standard until the advent of the 24 foot double wides of the late 60’s/early 70’s.
Slide outs and side additions came along in the late 1950’s, which triggered the mobile home manufacturers to consider double wide mobile homes.
Length wise they went from 30/40 feet in the 40’s to us much as 75/85 feet by the late 50’s. Amenities in mobile homes included built in appliances, cabinets and bookcases, circular kitchens, celestory windows and other niceties to hook the buyers.
Mobile home parks came about with their own amenities, and when double wides came out some mobile home parks would not allow them because they considered them too big.
Today’s mobile homes are less trailer and more pre-fab house, and look more house than trailer. Mobile homes have come along way.
-Rj
Rj - My family of four lived in an 8x28 foot trailer with a 10x18 addition that my father added to it. It was comfortable.
DeleteHad a sweet aunt who had a mobile home with a slide out that doubled the size of her living room and added a utility room with washer and dryer. Her place was cozy with her prized living room set of sofa, two tub chairs and maple furniture she purchased after Ww2 with money she earned as a Rosie the Riveter in a defense plant. We used to call her sofa the Thanksgiving Day couch with its upholstery of autumn leaves and her two lamps with frilly shades we called french poodles ! The woman could fix anything, one time she fixed the swamp cooler on the roof of her mobile home. I offered to help, but she insisted she do it her self.
ReplyDeleteShe climbed the roof, disassembled it on the roof and brought it down piece by piece and laid all the parts to the swamp cooler on her dining room table. Cleaned all the parts, ordered new parts from Sears to replace worn and broken parts, and then took all the parts in several boxes, climbed to the roof of her mobile home and reassembled the swamp cooler on the roof ! The next day it was in perfect working order. Aunt Mabel was a hoot ! It seems they don’t make people like her anymore. And they say people who live in mobile homes are trash, I think Aunt Mabel proves otherwise.
-CA jock
CA jock - My mother wasn't that mechanical, but she was cut from the same cloth.
DeleteI think Aunt Mabel’s generation, raised in the depression, learned to make do with what they had as they had no choice. If it’s broke, don’t complain, fix it if you can.
DeleteAnd of course that thing Aunt Mabel called horse sense, that common sense that seems more people lack today as proven by the recent Presidential election.
Aunt Mabel could a cuss streak and read you the riot act when provoked. I could only imagine what she would think of the next occupant of the White House and the people that voted for him.
She greatly admired President Truman for his wit, honesty, integrity and his no fear of cussing when required. She had an autographed photo of Truman on her sideboard, along with photos of FDR, JFK and our family. As Aunt Mabel once said we need leaders who are like family, not interlopers out for their own gain.
-CA jock
Hey there CA jock, thanks for stopping by and leaving these nostalgic comments about Aunt Mabel for all Ricky's readers to enjoy. We all have a history and it's nice to share the good AND the bad moments we encounter along the way. I for one hope to see your comments in the future.
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