While not quite 75 years ago, it was several decades ago, more precisely, the year was
1967 or possibly very early
1968 and I would have been 8 years old. The Airstream in the background is the
1964 Overlander that I now own, and at the time it was owned by family friends who kept traveling with it until 1980 when they retired from travel and sold their last two Airstreams. The couple who owned this Airstream couldn't agree on selling the
1964 Overlander when they purchased a new Airstream in 1971 or 1972 so they kept it and continued using almost as much as their new trailer. Also in the background is my mother's
1966 Oldsmobile Jetstar 88, and our farm hand's
1962 Plymouth Valiant. I am the one leading the pony. By this time, I had been campaigning for an Airstream trailer for our family for quite some time as I had such great memories of my first night in our friend's Overlander in
1964.
My parents thought that a slide-in pickup camper purchased new in 1969 might quell my constant campaigning for a camper. Sadly, none of us enjoyed that vehicle. My mother drove it the most, but only did so because she wanted to get the use of the camper. My father drove it sparingly as he liked to drive the truck but hated camping. So it was traded in for a new 1971 Buick Sportwagon.
Finally, in 1980, we purchased a travel trailer, what I considered to be the ideal travel companion. It was an 18-Foot Nomad special Light Weight model with many features mimicking those of the Minuet -- acrylic windows, light weight bonded side walls and roof (not necessarily a good thing as it turned out), and special light weight materials in the cabinets/furniture. Sadly, as comfortable and as much fun as that little camper was it was ready to self-destruct after three years of comparatively limited travel so it was traded on pre-owned Toyota Corolla 1.8 Liter two-door sedan that I drove to college and a couple of years after (it had 285,000 miles when we sold it in 1985 and was on only its second clutch). In this photo I am driving the tow vehicle, and at the time I was 21 (1980). The tow vehicle was my all-time favorite. My
1965 Dodge Coronet 500 Convertible with 383 cubic inch V8, Torqueflyte Transmission, 3.90 Limited Slip Differential, and all of the heavy duty towing equipment -- I owned that car from 1973 through 2014.
Kevin
Hi, this is me about 75 years ago. Post some old pictures of yourself, if you dare. These were taken in Long Beach, California.
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