Best RV Show in Town

I took a trip out to Mission today to spend a couple of hours at the Tin Can Tourist (TCT) vintage travel trailer meet. WOW! An incredible array of vintage trailers were on display:

• Airstream- Bambi, Safari, International, Ambassador, Argosy
  
• Spartan
• Airfloat
• Chinook
  
• Sport Ranger
  
• Shasta
• Comet
• Serro Scotty
  
• and of course....boler

I had so many favorites, all for different reasons.
















The Argosy, which is a painted Airstream. Seems Airstream wanted to use some of their blemished aluminum and came up with this painted model.







This Airfloat, pure class inside ....












....and out!














The Spartan was just huge inside.






















The Airstream Ambassador which was a house on wheels. I can just picture Dick Van Dyke walking in and tripping over the ottoman.


Well worth the drive out. It wasn't actually an RV show, but a camping weekend for people with vintage trailers. Having been to a similar meet for fiberglass trailer owners earlier this year I figure the odds were good that they would have an open trailer day on Saturday, as they did at the meet I was at. Fortunately for me, there were people there that I met at the last meet so I had some credibility when I started walking into peoples trailers.

Oh, and have a look at some of the tow vehicles...

Year of the boler (small "b" intended)

So, I'm just back from another boler weekend.

Having purchased my new toy and current object of obsession last October I have deemed 2009 the year of the boler! For the uninitiated, bolers are small molded fiberglass travel trailers built in Canada from 1968 through the 1970's (the end date of production is a bit vague as there were many offshoots made from the same molds, but with different names). There were approximately 10,000 bolers produced, and given the number you still see on the road, I'd bet the a good majority of them are still around.

I first became facinated by the boler after listening to a CBC radio documentary on them. When they began to talk about these vintage eggs shaped trailers I immediately knew what they were, having seen them on the road for years. But I'd never really thought about them much before. I hadn't considered the brilliance of their design, or taken pride in the face that they were made in Canada; and I certainly had never considered them cool. But by time the show was over, the seeds were sewn. I began researching them on the internet; walking into peoples yards where I saw them parked, so I could look in the windows; and at the hight of my obsession knocking on strangers doors to ask if I could have a look inside.

This was all over the course 4 or 5 years. In the interim I had become the not so proud 1/4 share owner of a beat-to-shit 1976 Bonaire tent trailer (also made in Canada). A story in itself. But one to be told at a later date. Then last October, it was time. My obsession had fermented to the point of action. I scoped it out on Craigslist, picking the cleanest one I saw. I layed down $4,000 cash after a brief negotiation, which included getting the owner to tow it to my place for me. And then it was mine.

So far it has been everything I had hoped: It is simple to tow and set up, comfortable to sleep in, and most importantly, it's cool!