I love this little vehicle. A true 1920s work of art.
Tag: art car
House Trucks from the Early 1970s
Rolling homes go back almost as far as rolling vehicles and the modern era of motor driven cars is not an exception. If you have followed this blog at all you may have seen some great contraptions, especially from the 1920s and 30s. The counter-culture of the 1960s lead to a generation of rolling home builders and dwellers ready to hit the road.
Luckily…
Photographer Paul Herzoff took a series of photos of some of the interesting, home-built, house trucks between 1971 and 1973 on the American West Coast. Many of these images are now housed at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Since I save a LOT of reference images, I sometimes forget what is even there. I picked a few from my files to share here since they gave me many ideas since I first encountered them many years ago.
If you are preparing to build a rolling home, there has never been a better time to find pertinent examples to learn from on the web. Enjoy the views.
A 1926 Home Built Camper Truck
An early tiny house on wheels… and a family selfie.
The Library of Congress has some pretty amazing stuff. I rarely find what I came for but I always find something pretty spectacular. This house (click to enlarge) is quite a piece of woodworking. Shingle siding all glass door, sturdy balcony, beautiful windows, under storage, and what I think is a pull out pan box on the back. The O’Donnell’s were certainly traveling in style.
The amount of joinery that went into the door and windows is probably more than is found in most houses today. I really like the old basement windows used as storage access underneath. As usual, I could find no interior photos but I suspect it was well appointed.
Original files can be found: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/npc2008007978/and http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/npc2008007936/
If this isn’t inspiring, I don’t know what is.
Oh, and nearby photo caught my eye in the Library:
I’ve never known a woman with a garter flask before…
Any Information Please!
I discovered this cabinet card on http://joshuafountain.tumblr.com/.
Wedding? Circus? Festival? It certainly is some sort of novelty. Maybe some kitschy ideas to spice up my own ride.
A Steampunk Teardrop Camper
Some of you Teardrop aficionados out there have undoubtedly seen photos of Dave Moult’s spectacular build. The best write-up I’ve come across is from the Living in a Shoebox blog. This is not Mr. Moult’s first build and it clearly shows. This one has a retro-futuristic Steampunk theme and uses a lot of copper and recycled wood to create a real eye-catching look. The gizmos and do-dads are not merely for show and that’s something I can truly appreciate.
“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” William Morris.
Mr. Moult has created something that is not only useful, but beautiful and interesting with this camper; and his tow-rig isn’t too shabby either. The trailer comes in at about 400 kilos loaded (just under a thousand pounds) so it will not be a chore to tow for most vehicles.
I think the genius here is in the details like the copper tubing for both water and conduit. Like most of the finer teardrops, he uses the outside of the trailer for many functions. (If you aren’t familiar with this design, I think the best way to describe them is a large outside kitchen area and a box to sleep in). Don’t worry, this nifty sink folds away for travel. The kitchen proper holds many amenities including running water, lots of storage and surfaces, and even a propane refrigerator (the mechanism and vent are exposed on the starboard side of the camper adding to the Steampunk look).
The interior is well lighted from the dormer-ended mollycroft and portholes on three sides. Supplemental lighting is in the form of well-placed LEDs; there’s even a small chandelier in the sleeping compartment. I think they travel in style; in the words of George Washington Sears, “not roughing it but smoothing it.”
Finally, a great and whimsical illusion adds to the interior ambiance with the use of library wallpaper.
More photos of Mr. Moult’s projects can be found on his Facebook page and HERE.
Peugot
As found on Tumblr, seemingly the ultimate source for all images these days. This vehicle is probably not practical as either boat or car but would sure be a lot of fun to have. I can imagine this pulling an amphibious caravan; the ultimate traveler.
How do we get some crowd-funding for this insanity?
Prius House
Experimental house on a Prius from Australia.
What an odd combination. I like it indeed. The short article is HERE.
“It provided a stylish place to sleep at the Meredith Music Festival in Victoria earlier this month while his fellow campers were forced to rough it in tents.
“It’s quite well insulated in there. It’s more comfortable than a tent,” he said.”
Blast Off with this Homemade Atomic Age Rocket Camper
Home-built camper fans will probably really appreciate this remarkable future-retro monstrosity. Conceived, designed, and built by Bill Guernsey while recovering from a broken back, it took two years to complete. Follow the link below to the short write-up on the Makezine Blog or click here to straight to the Instructable: http://www.instructables.com/id/Rocket-Camper-Revealed/
Camper Bicycle
I would love a human-powered world with creatures like this filling our highways, quietly and without belching exhaust into the air. Maybe we wouldn’t need to expend all our resources and youth expanding the empire to secure our ever-growing need for oil overseas.
As things stand today, there are few roads you could safely travel with this beast. But I’m just a dreamer. Is that window a subtle Oregon “O”?
Found here: http://mooiefietsennicebikes.tumblr.com/post/87924151197/camperbike
The Tiniest Motor Vardo?
A true micro vardo created by I a visual artist, musician, film maker and more. The video below is a stop-action of him setting up and taking down his moped powered one man caravan. A very clever contraption I would love to see on the road.
Interesting, if nothing else.