Vintage Mobile Homes of 1953

Weโ€™ve found a treasure trove of facts and ads for vintage mobile homes of 1953 in an old magazine. These vintage mobile homes of 1953 are awesome!

I donโ€™t know what it is about vintage mobile homes that appeal to me so much. Maybe itโ€™s the important role that mobile homes have played in our country ย โ€“ providing housing to millions of families that otherwise wouldnโ€™t have had a home at all.ย Maybe itโ€™s their fall from grace. Mobile homes were once well- respected and those that lived in a mobile home were considered the ultimate American patriots during WWII. Nowadays, mobile homeowners are stigmatized.ย 

Perhaps itโ€™s the wonderful business lessons that the industry has taught us โ€“ to change when you need to but not so much that you lose yourself and always treat the customer right.

It wouldnโ€™t matter what subject you wanted to study in detail. ย Whether it be history, psychology, sociology, or business โ€“ mobile and manufactured homes covers them all!

1953 โ€“ The Year of the Mobile Home

I chose 1953 because it was such a pivotal point in mobile homes.


The worst of the postwar housing crisis had passed and the use of trailers as stopgap housing had diminished, yet industry sales continued to grow. Between 1954 and 1955 the number of units manufactured increased by more than two-thirds, the new growth apparently owing to people seeking affordable starter housing. (Wheel Estate, 1997)

Facts About Mobile Homes in 1953

The following photo shows a page from an early spring issue of a 1953 mobile home magazine. It states the following facts:

  • There are approximately 150 different manufacturers producing around 75,000 units. It was later determined that in 1953 there were 76,900 trailers and mobile homes shipped to new owners. Sales went up to $2 million dollars from the previous year. It was definitely a great year for both the industry and the consumers!
  • Mobile home manufacturing was an essential industry and 90% of all trailer coaches were sold to men and women in the armed services or to workers in the defense and allied industries. Army, Navy, and Air Force personnel, pipeline workers, builders of atomic energy plants engineers and other groups of essential workers had found trailer living as a way to keep their families together as they moved from job to job and post to post. Living in a trailer or mobile home in 1953 was a very patriotic act that was well respected.
  • The average price of a mobile home was $2,800 to $6,300. The average mobile homeowner was making about $1,000 more than the national income average. It goes on to state that mobile home dwellers bring prosperity to the communities they live in, bringing a combined purchasing power of over $8,000,000,000 (yes, $8 billion!) each year.
Facts from 1953
1953 Mobile Home Yearbook

1953 Basic Construction Standards

Below is a list from the 1953 Mobile Home Yearbook that shows basic construction standards endorsed by the Trailer Coach Manufacturers Association(TCMA):

Below is an ad in the yearbook for a 1953 Glider Mobile Home:

  • Fully insulated in the walls, roof, and floor with a minimum approved one-inch flame retardant insulation, or equal.
  • Effectively sealed for the prevention of moisture transmission with an approved asphalt vapor barrier, or equal.
  • Must have the necessary road lights to conform to highway safety.
  • Have an all-metal chassis frame, coupler and safety chains, and have running gear location, hitch weight, interior arrangement properly balanced so as to ensure, with proper load distribution and at normal highway speeds, highway performances free of weave and sidesway.
  • Have tires, axle, springs, wheels, hubs, and bearings adequate to carry its own weight plus the usual personal effects of the occupants, and be properly equipped with service fittings.
  • Be equipped, when in excess of 1500 pounds, with brakes adequate under normal driving conditions to ensure safe, effective performance.
  • Have a minimum width of 7โ€ฒ and a maximum width of 8โ€ฒ, and a minimum interior height of 6โ€™2โ€ณ on all trailers in excess of 17 feet body length. Interior arrangements shall include a proper ratio of the living room, kitchenette, and bedroom equipment and facilities, such as wardrobe, linen closets, storage cabinets, and refrigerator.
  • Have 2 exterior exits on all trailers in excess of 17 feet body length. Adequate ventilation devices, proportionately distributed throughout the interior, shall be included.
  • Be supported by a warranty, to be visibly displayed, guaranteeing materials and workmanship.

The TenWide by Marshfield Homes โ€“ A New Era Begins

1953 was the year of the TenWide (or TenWyde) by Marshfield Homes. Trailers and mobile homes were stuck at 8โ€ฒ wide because the national highway authority wouldnโ€™t allow anything wider to be transported on the roads, it was a way for them to legally discriminate against the โ€˜Gypsyโ€™sโ€™ of the road.

Floor plans on homes 8โ€ฒ wide or less required owners to walk through one room to get to the next. This made for little privacy, but with the introduction of the 10โ€ฒ wide a hallway could be utilized. Elmer Frey, as president of Marshfield Homes, went to work to get the 10โ€ฒ wide home legalized for transport. The โ€˜wide loadโ€™ classification is still in use today, but now the homes can be 18โ€ฒ wide!

Marshfield Homes 10 wide

Video of 1953 Mobile Homes

Great Vintage Mobile Homes of 1953

Buyers had so many wonderful new designs to choose from! Budgerโ€™s Expando home was introduced. The first model measured 24โ€™x7โ€™6โ€ณ and when you got the home to the site, you folded down 3 sides and lifted the roof up which doubled the homes living space. It was an engineering feat that made the folding box homes of the era seem like a cardboard box (and they were closed because they leaked terribly). The industry was showing the world what it could do, and it could do so much!

1953 Budger Expando Mobile Home

Here is the 27โ€ฒ Budger Expando Home:

Learn more about expanding mobile homes here.

Budger Expando Home

1953 Pontiac Chief

The 1953 Pontiac Chief, a gorgeous home that had several different floor plans you could choose from:

1953 Pontiac Chief

1953 Glider Mobile Home

The Gliderโ€™s new CaraCoach, called the Albatross had a lavatory, builtin cabinets, and a closet in the bathroom.

Hereโ€™s an advertisement for a 1953ย Glider.

Glider Mobile Home

1953 Vagabond

The 1953 Vagabond was 41โ€ฒ long:

Vagabond 1953 mobile home ad

1954 Mobile Homes

Builders were busy designing their 1954 models in 1953.

Below is a page out of the Mobile Home Living magazineโ€™s December 1953 issue. It shows the models available for 1954, another great year for mobile homes.

1953 Rollohome

Canโ€™t get enough of Vintage Mobile Homes? Check these other amazing models we have on Mobile Home Living:

Vintage Mobile Home Series: Stewart Bi-Level Mobile Home

Santa Cruz Single Wide โ€“ Stylish Vintage Mobile Home

Vintage Mobile Home Series โ€“ 1949 Palace Royale

As always, thank you so much for reading Mobile Home Living!ย 

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15 thoughts on โ€œVintage Mobile Homes of 1953โ€

  1. Info about 1950s RolloHome Dream Homes?
    Any information is welcome. All I have is it is 38ft. Not even sure the year.

    I have one I was given, but need to sell it. However, it is in terribly sad condition.

    The more info I have on it, the better I can assist a buyer in knowing if its worth their time and efforts.

    Thank you.

  2. I am looking for the floor plan of a detroiter and magnolia double wide fold out mobile home trailer.

    1. Hi Pam,

      Itโ€™s very difficult to find floor plans (or any information) for older mobile homes. You may luck up with a Google Search or Pinterest. Best of luck!

  3. Hi Iโ€™ve found a 55 foot long by 10 wide for 3k itโ€™s a 59 rollohome I just donโ€™t know if itโ€™s a travel trailer or single wide mobile really just wanting to know if it can go to rv parks Iโ€™m asking this because the owners pulls it with his half ton truck

    1. Hi Adam,

      The 1959 Rollohome was made for full-time living and would not be easily transported. Back in the old days those V8โ€™s could pull things but if a mobile home was over 8 ft wide it required a permit in most states so it had to be transported by pros.

      I seriously doubt many parks would allow it. I have trouble getting a 23โ€ฒ Airstream in decent condition accepted in many parks โ€“ they just donโ€™t like vintage models.

    1. Hi Jenn,

      You may be able to find some old brochures on the model you are looking for. Angelus was all over the old mobile home magazines Iโ€™ve seen. There are a few sellers on Ebay that offer CDโ€™s of old mobile home magazines from the 1950s โ€“ one of those magazines may have an advertisement or featured story.

      best of luck!

  4. I have a 1952 Budger Expando Home that a friend says he wants badly, it has a 2 inch foam roof covered with aluminum. hand crank cable closing, all in good shape, what are these things worth? and thanks for this site.

    1. Hi Ron,

      Itโ€™s impossible to tell. Thereโ€™s not a huge market for trailers that cannot be towed easily โ€“ us vintage mobile home lovers a small niche.

      Best of luck!

  5. I have a nice color photograph taken about 10 years ago of a trailer with the information on the logo : Albatross by Glider Mfg. Los Angeles CA. It has since disappeared from itโ€™s former location on the shore of the Salton Sea. Itโ€™s either been scrapped for the aluminum or perhaps re-built.
    Do you have any background on the company and their models ? Thank You

    1. Hi James!

      I used to try to research builders for readers but it became very time-consuming. I have seen a lot of Glider advertisements through the years but I know nothing about the company personally. Sorry! You may have better luck on Facebook, thereโ€™s a few vintage mobile home groups and some of the members really know their stuff (they donโ€™t even have to research they just know that much about mobile homes). Search for vintage mobile home groups on FB and ask to join.

      Best of luck! Sorry!

  6. Hi There. I have a 1953 Trail-ette. I believe itโ€™s 8ร—50. It has a tiny bathroom w/a bedroom in the back and a single bed in the middle area (between the bathroom & kitchen). The living room is in the front. It has a small fold-down built-in table. What Iโ€™m wondering is if the Trail-ette is related to the Spartan? Iโ€™ve read something about it being part of the company or something, but do you know? Thanks.

    1. Hi Holly!

      As far as I know Spartan was not associated with any other models or companies though they did use other companies as โ€˜inspirationโ€™ before they decided to build trailers. I read where one of their managers traveled to Indiana (the trailer capital of the world at the time) and toured a couple of factories in an effort to convince the executives that they could successfully turn the aircraft factory into a trailer factory and use all the remaining inventory after the war.

      Based on vintage ads that I found, Trail-ettes were built by the Universal Trailer and MFG Company out of Missouri. Spartans were manufactured in Tulsa.

      The Trail-ettes seemed to have similar paneling as a Spartan but their framing was wood instead of aluminum. Click this link to see a 1947 restoration: http://www.crussenclassics.com/vintage-campers/1947-trailette/)

      Hereโ€™s an ad for a 1954: http://www.allmanufacturedhomes.com/html/1954_trail-ette.htm

  7. I have a 1954 Southwestern Mobile home 8ร—28 that was built in Grand Saline,TX . I believe that this was a division of Stewart Coach Industries, from Bristol, IN, as it was Stewart F. Gardner that opened the manufacturing plant in 1954 . I have learned that they produced two story models in 1955 and 1956 . I think that a fire destroyed the plant in 1956. Do you know how I can find additional information? I have tried everything I can think of on the internet
    Thank you

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