Old Popular Mechanics on Google Books

[Stefrobrts]

Old Popular Mechanics magazines are now available for viewing on Google Books. I know I will waste a great deal of time browsing through them.

Is the story about Wally having written an article for Popular Mechanics true, or is it just myth? I've seen lots of references to it, but never an exact date. Can you historians straighten me out?

[SilverRanger]

Thanks for the info about PM. I have quite a collection of those and Popular Science. Reading those is a favorite pastime.

[A-Merry-Can]

I'd be interested in reading those as well.

JP

[TWaugh]

This is quoted from that other site.
WBCCI.org

Wally graduated from Stanford in 1923 with a degree in law. He never applied for a board examination or practiced law in any form for the rest of his life. Instead he went to work for the Los Angeles Times as an advertising copywriter. He held that job long enough to decide that he liked advertising, but did not like to work for other people. He quit and formed his own agency and published a how-to-do-it magazine for home carpenters and builders. In the course of editing and publishing, Wally came across an article on how to build a trailer and bought it for publication. It was rather poor, as he was soon to find out. Every mail brought him complaints.

His curiosity piqued, he decided to follow the instructions himself. He quickly found them impossible. Abandoning the article but not the project, which tremendously intrigued him, he proceeded to build a trailer.

It was a “crude, boxy structure which rested none too easily upon a Model A Ford chassis”, Wally wrote later in his book, “Trailer Travel Here and Abroad”, “little more than a bed you could crawl into, a shelf to hold a water bottle, a flashlight and some camping equipment … protected from the elements.”

Crude or not, it was Wally’s first trailer. It attracted much attention and people even tried to buy it from him. At first he wouldn’t sell; he was having too much fun with it himself. He wrote an article on how to build it and sold plans on the side.

He might have published the article himself in his own magazine, except for a very simple fact; he needed more money than he could “pay” himself. It was published by “Popular Mechanics” magazine.

[Stefrobrts]

Originally Posted by TWaugh

This is quoted from that other site.
WBCCI.org

He might have published the article himself in his own magazine, except for a very simple fact; he needed more money than he could “pay” himself. It was published by “Popular Mechanics” magazine.

Yeah, I keep finding that quote, but nothing more specific.

[Tom Nugler]

Hopefully this will be a complete listing of articles. Many have searched for the elusive story in research libraries and on archived microfilm and have come up empty handed.
Maybe someone will discover it through a cross-reference or some other stroke of luck.
I have a feeling that the reference to "Popular Mechanics" was just a shorthand to describe any one of the numerous DIY magazines of the day.
The other common myth, which has been "busted", is that the plans for the first trailers were published.
Wally only sold plans through a small classified in Popular Mechanics.

Best wishes and good luck to the researchers,

Tom.

[Stefrobrts]

Originally Posted by Tom Nugler

The other common myth, which has been "busted", is that the plans for the first trailers were published.
Wally only sold plans through a small classified in Popular Mechanics.

Thanks, Tom. So does that mean the passage quoted above, which seems to indicate he published plans for his first trailer, is the myth?

[TWaugh]

This Popular Mechanics article from 1937 mentions W. H. Bowles and has a photo of the early Byam trailer (calls it a teardrop) on page 32.

Popular Science - Google Books

[Tom Nugler]

Originally Posted by TWaugh

This Popular Mechanics article from 1937 mentions W. H. Bowles and has a photo of the early Byam trailer (calls it a teardrop) on page 32.

Popular Science - Google Books

Havn't seen this artical before. Thanks for sharing.
I remember reading a thread on the old VAC archives where someone had gone through old copies of various "mechanics" magazines of the period when Wally was starting his trailer business. The concensus was unless more evidance surfaced this small ad was the only connection to Popular Mechanics.
With luck more will turn up over time.

Tom.

[Gerr]

Popular Mechanics - Google Books

Found this magazine in a big pile we have.July 1967 Popular mechanics. On page 106 there is an interesting article on maintaining Airstreams on a caravan from Singapore to Lisbon. This is the link to google books I hope.

[PeeWee]

Originally Posted by Gerr

Popular Mechanics - Google Books

Found this magazine in a big pile we have.July 1967 Popular mechanics. On page 106 there is an interesting article on maintaining Airstreams on a caravan from Singapore to Lisbon. This is the link to google books I hope.

I have the July 1967 magazine in my trove from the Estate of Helen Byam Schwamborn.

I believe the article was written by McGregor Smith who wrote the book about the Around-the-World Caravan, Thank You Marco Polo. Byron Versteech who provided the information was the mechanic on the Around-the-World Caravan. I met Byron on the 1965 Lynda Bird Johnson trip through the Western United States. It was felt by Airstream, that with the importance of the small Caravan, that a world tested mechanic be furnished by the factory. Thank you Bryon.

[Gerr]

Thanks for filling us in on the article

[silverhawk]

There is a three part travel trailer plan with a bunch of illustrations in the March, April and May, 1947 issues of Popular Mechanics. For anyone who ever thought of building their own camper, this should be interesting. The small fact that these plans are more than 60 years old should add to the interest level.

[silverhawk]

Originally Posted by silverhawk

There is a three part travel trailer plan with a bunch of illustrations in the March, April and May, 1947 issues of Popular Mechanics. For anyone who ever thought of building their own camper, this should be interesting. The small fact that these plans are more than 60 years old should add to the interest level.

The name of this article and series of plans is A Home Of 1000 Addresses. The writers name is Hi Sibley. It's not Airstream related, but it is still a very interesting article. I guess if you painted it silver ...?

[mistral blue]

Does anyone have access to the May and June 1934 issues of Autotrimmer and Painter? Autobody and the reconditioned car - Google Books

I would try the folks at the Stanford University Library.

Good luck!

[Skater]

THANKS for this info! I have a huge pile of PopSci and PopMech from the 90s and on, and they're just taking up space. Recently I recycled all of my old Model Railroaders, and now that I know Google Books has PopMech and PopSci, they can go in the hopper, too, freeing up more space in the house. And it's so much easier to find articles via Google Books - a quick search on some keywords produced articles much, much faster than I'd ever find them via flipping through...

[bredlo]

Originally Posted by TWaugh

This Popular Mechanics article from 1937 mentions W. H. Bowles and has a photo of the early Byam trailer (calls it a teardrop) on page 32.

Popular Science - Google Books

Here's the shot in question and Doc Holman's Airstream Torpedo.

[Stefrobrts]

Originally Posted by Skater

THANKS for this info! I have a huge pile of PopSci and PopMech from the 90s and on, and they're just taking up space. Recently I recycled all of my old Model Railroaders, and now that I know Google Books has PopMech and PopSci, they can go in the hopper, too, freeing up more space in the house. And it's so much easier to find articles via Google Books - a quick search on some keywords produced articles much, much faster than I'd ever find them via flipping through...

It's wonderful because whenever I see these old mags at the antique store I'm tempted, but lack of space stops me. Having them online and easy to search is so much better. Every time this thread comes up I end up wasting an afternoon browsing through these old mags.

[Tom Nugler]

Originally Posted by silverhawk

The name of this article and series of plans is A Home Of 1000 Addresses. The writers name is Hi Sibley. It's not Airstream related, but it is still a very interesting article. I guess if you painted it silver ...?

I've had this site bookmarked for a while. http://www.mikenchell.com/VintagePla...tageplans.html
No Airstream stuff but an interesting look at how the backyard builders put their creations together.

Tom.