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DScud · 01-04-2021, 08:50 PM

Good evening Joe!

I have been reading your posts and plan to join WBCCI tomorrow. Can I trouble you to look up information on my trailer when you get a chance? I just purchased it, and it was supposedly sitting for decades in North Carolina. I just posted in the new members section with some pictures attached as well.

1956 Sovereign of the Road
SN:5135
WBCCI:5001

I appreciate the time that you spend researching, and I’m sure that I speak for the group on that. Thanks in advance!

Darin

docflyboy · 01-19-2021, 10:02 PM

Joe- I was wondering if you can see if my trailer's original owner had a WBCCI number. I have a 1967 Safari that was purchased in August 23, 1968, by W.D Hoofer, MD in Halstead, Kansas. It does not have any ghost numbers. thanks, Jerry WBCCI 1968

66Overlander · 01-20-2021, 05:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DScud

Good evening Joe!

I have been reading your posts and plan to join WBCCI tomorrow. Can I trouble you to look up information on my trailer when you get a chance? I just purchased it, and it was supposedly sitting for decades in North Carolina. I just posted in the new members section with some pictures attached as well.

1956 Sovereign of the Road
SN:5135
WBCCI:5001

I appreciate the time that you spend researching, and I’m sure that I speak for the group on that. Thanks in advance!

Darin

Hi Darin,
I already provided a partial answer by PM. Here is the full answer.

WBCCI #5001 was first assigned by the club in 1961, thus first appearing in the 1962 Membership Directory. Here is how #5001 has been assigned over the years according to WBCCI Membership Directories:

1962-68: Alex and Dorothy Christiansen, Bremerton, WA, no caravans.
1969-74: Carl & Gertrude Bales, Gatlinburg, TN, no caravans.
1975-76: unassigned.
1977: William J. & Bobbie Kysar, Indianapolis, IN, no caravans.
1978-81: Unassigned.
1982-2008: A couple from Boulder, CO (1982), Milliken, CO (2008), other details withheld due to privacy concerns.
2009: Already reassigned to someone else, but did not investigate further due to privacy concerns.

I don't think the later assignees matter. The most likely to have owned your 1956 Sovereign would have been either one or both of the first two couples to be assigned #5001. Because there was no unassigned year between the Christiansen's and the Bales, there is at least some chance that the trailer passed from one coupe to the other, though the distances involved suggest we cannot assume this happened.

That's all I got. Enjoy that rare 1950's 30-foooter . . . a lot for you to polish.

66Overlander · 01-20-2021, 05:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by docflyboy

Joe- I was wondering if you can see if my trailer's original owner had a WBCCI number. I have a 1967 Safari that was purchased in August 23, 1968, by W.D Hoofer, MD in Halstead, Kansas. It does not have any ghost numbers. thanks, Jerry WBCCI 1968

Hi Jerry,
Success!!! In the 1969 WBCCI Membership Directory #21937 was assigned to Dr. Wilford & Marvella Hoofer of Halstead, KS. This number would have first been assigned during 1968 which ties in perfectly with the purchase document you have. The Hoofers were last listed in the 1970 Directory, so if they ever put their numbers on the trailer, they were not on it very long, which could be why you can't find any ghost outlines.

#21937 was next assigned to someone in Pennsylvania in 1972, which I do think applies to your trailer, so I didn't check any further. Enjoy your Safari!

docflyboy · 01-20-2021, 09:25 PM

Joe- thanks. I have the good Doctor's obit and I've got a few patients who are from that neck of the woods. I'm trying to see if there was an intermediate owner between Doc Hoofer and the last titled owner. He was the flight surgeon for the Mercury 7 NASA Space program. Quite the man's man. Played triple A for the Yankees and was a college football All-American. Hoping the kids have some photos and recollection. He was a hunter, and I'm not sure it the trailer was just used for Surgical stress relief with his hunting buddies. Jerry

docflyboy · 01-21-2021, 06:52 AM

Joe- the same Safari had a subsequent owner in Newton, Kansas by the name of Gerald and Vicky Newman. Do you have any membership info on them. I have receipts from the Mid-90's with their names on items for repairs. Jerry Lamb WBCCI 1968

docflyboy · 01-21-2021, 11:19 AM

Joe- I wanted to correct the Newman's town. The license registration was Independence Kansas. thanks, Jerry 1968

66Overlander · 01-21-2021, 12:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by docflyboy

Joe- the same Safari had a subsequent owner in Newton, Kansas by the name of Gerald and Vicky Newman. Do you have any membership info on them. I have receipts from the Mid-90's with their names on items for repairs. Jerry Lamb WBCCI 1968

Quote:

Originally Posted by docflyboy

Joe- I wanted to correct the Newman's town. The license registration was Independence Kansas. thanks, Jerry 1968

Hi Jerry, I checked every Directory from 1990 thru 2000 and even spot checked a few in the 1980s and early 2000s and did not find Gerald and Vicky Newman ever listed as club members.

docflyboy · 01-21-2021, 05:43 PM

Joe- thanks, I really appreciate what you do on the forum. Jerry

dreamAstream · 01-28-2021, 06:47 PM

Hey from North Carolina! We are the new owners of an old 1972 Tradewind and the blue numbers are still in place. We’d love to know all that we can about #25375. Thank you so much!

Airstrm_Girl · 02-01-2021, 03:55 PM

Hello! I am restoring a 26ft 1959 Airstream Overlander. I purchased the Airstream in Washington in 2019. I am hoping you might be able to look up or find information on the number 2953, including if it is available and what the history of it (if any) is. I truly appreciate any information you can provide me, even if it’s just directing me towards a different resource for information. I have been at a complete loss in my research thus far.

Thank you!

Best,
Sarah

Motogreen · 02-07-2021, 04:10 PM

I have a '58 Flying Cloud, with number 2565 on it. Wonder who was assigned that number back in the day?

Janssvt · 02-13-2021, 03:01 PM

The number 2953 was in the 2002 directory listed as being in Indiana but that is the membership number and could have been on another trailer owned by them. It is not in the 2021 book. The oldest book I have is 1989 and it shows that number up until 2008, they are not listed in 2009 book. So we know they were members for at least 30 years but how many Airstreams did they have during that time that they put their numbers on, we don't know..Their last name was Campbell.

Janssvt · 02-13-2021, 03:04 PM

Don't show that number in any of my books

66Overlander · 02-13-2021, 10:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janssvt

The number 2953 was in the 2002 directory listed as being in Indiana but that is the membership number and could have been on another trailer owned by them. It is not in the 2021 book. The oldest book I have is 1989 and it shows that number up until 2008, they are not listed in 2009 book. So we know they were members for at least 30 years but how many Airstreams did they have during that time that they put their numbers on, we don't know..Their last name was Campbell.

You may be new to this thread. I will post a detailed answer when I have time to look up number in old membership directories as I have a complete set back to 1955. People typically want to the information closer to the year their Airstream was built as that more likely reflects who may have owned it. I do not provide information newer than about 2000 due to privacy concerns. I have been extremely busy with other things lately. I will get to the pending requests eventually.

Baby Zeppelin · 02-15-2021, 06:31 AM

Joe, you provide a great service, and it does have to take a lot of time to respond to all the questions.

Have you considered putting the data into a database that you, or perhaps all forum members, could access with a few clicks of a mouse? It would be a pain to do, but once done would be invaluable. Perhaps you could recruit a grandchild to do the keypunching?

66Overlander · 02-15-2021, 08:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baby Zeppelin

Joe, you provide a great service, and it does have to take a lot of time to respond to all the questions.

Have you considered putting the data into a database that you, or perhaps all forum members, could access with a few clicks of a mouse? It would be a pain to do, but once done would be invaluable. Perhaps you could recruit a grandchild to do the keypunching?

Thanks for the idea. The short answer is yes we have talked about it and even experimented a little, but that would be a HUUUUGGGEEE undertaking to create such a database from the existing paper records. There is no existing historical membership database, nor even yearly records in digital form. All we have are 65 years worth of paper Membership Directories, most several hundred pages long, peaking at about 500 pages per year.

I have scanned a few of the oldest, smallest directories to pdf format, but when we attempted to put them thru an OCR converter, the error rate was pretty high, so "just barely human readable" is not good enough for OCR and the few I have scanned would need to be scanned again. Most directories cannot be laid flat on a scanner, so they will need to be sacrificed and cut apart to be scanned.

Then you have the trouble of how to merge all of those individual OCR files into a database. Members addresses did change frequently. Members did change WBCCI numbers for a variety of reasons over their years in the club. Some dropped out and rejined, or renewed lated and were missed being listed for a year here and there. Actual year to year errors are not uncommon. Someones name or WBCCI number or their credited caravans can change from one year to the next - sometimes the new year is a correction of an error the previous year, but occasionally not. Sometimes numbers are assigned in the numerical listings, but not in the alphabetic listings creating a mismatch to consider. It would take a human eye to figure out how to merge the years and correct the errors.

All of that said, it is still a low level background project to keep working on, even maybe just for a limited year range for starters. The trouble is that there are just higher priorities and all of us are volunteers with limited time to donate to such a project.

sterlinghick · 02-15-2021, 05:03 PM

How about software like Monarch or similar? If you can scan your reports to text, you can tell the software where the useable data is on a page and what to ignore.

Hittenstiehl · 02-16-2021, 04:54 PM

Yes Joe thank you for your vast historical knowledge and patience.

On that note could we inquire about membership number 10858. On a Jackson Center 62 Overlander that was likely east coast based.

Carolina came up in conversation regarding her lineage.

Thanks in advance, no hurry.
Hittenstiehl

A Duece 28 · 02-18-2021, 01:53 PM

Hi, I'm new to the site, but I have enjoyed 5 airstream trailers over many years. I currently own a 69 globtrotter ( no wbcci #) and a 57 flying cloud, wbcci # 41. This trailer has decals inside the small door, showing many sites visited. It appears to have gone on many early trips with the club. There are WB plates and spots where some have been removed, inc. a large square shadow on the rear. and round spots front and rear. It's a dutchmans cap trailer. It is currently in poor untouched shape, hole at the door etc. Interior is complete except for the toilet and bath sink. Exterior is very good. I would love to know, at your convenience, any history of the trailer with the club.
Thank you Sir, Bruce