Our 2nd issue of Vintage Mobile Homes Throwback Thursdays takes a look at 1961. It was another great year for mobile homes! Lots of great advancements and beautiful homes were being cranked out.
If you missed last weeks installment you can see it here: Vintage Mobile Homes of 1953.
Modern Mechanix, a great blog with a few vintage mobile homes shared the following article/advertisement for the Frontier Homes Ten foot wide home with a fold out living room.
Ten feet wide so it can travel on highways, a new mobile home has hinged walls that swing out to form a 14 by 14-foot living room. In addition, it has two bedrooms, a bath, and a kitchen.
The unique design gives the living room a door facing forward in the middle of the trailer and allows more wall space in the room for furniture and more floor space.
The Frontier 200 is legal wherever 10-foot-wides are legal, according to Frontier Homes Corp., 102 S. 32nd Ave., Omaha, Neb.
The Roadliner Duble-Wide was a new advancement for the industry and the company. The homes were getting bigger and better! As far as vintage mobile homes are concerned, most of us die-hard vintage fans will tell you that the golden years for mobile homes were between 1936 and 2014.
Once the homes progressed from 8 foot to 10 foot, the family car was no longer a possible transportation mode and consumers were confused. In the February 1961 issue of Trailer Life, the editor spoke of the consumer confusion in depth. They had seen the family V8’s pulling homes of all lengths and unless they were keeping up with events in the mobile home industry they probably weren’t aware that the 10 foot wide homes required over-sized load permits and special trucks. It was this transition that helped the homes cross the line from a travel trailer to the permanent home. However, it took the public a while to figure it all out. Once they did, it was smooth sailing!
The double wide was getting popular but so were room additions for single wides. Companies used all kinds of different names for them, Roadliner happened to call the one below the ‘add a room.’
Bole Aero had been in the game for a while by 1961. The home was a typical design for the year.
Retirement communities became popular in the early 1950s, by the early 1960s, there was a park for every income level. The one below was an all inclusive park in AZ.
The Universal by Terra Cruiser Trailer Coach Company was a popular model.
As always, thank you for reading Mobile Home Living!
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The Highlands is still here in Oro Valley AZ. I was looking at some places there with my Mother before I found another mobile/land subdivision in Tucson.
She had found one up the street and it was just providence that we were able to find two in the same location so close together.
The invisible hand. I bless the time I had with her here in AZ.
Hi Mr. Bride,
I haven’t ran across any but I’ll sure keep a look out and try to do an in-depth search asap. Thanks so much for reading MHL!
Any photos of the custom designed Spartan Mobile Home ( circa 1959-61″ called Suttpm Place….named after Getty’s estate in England?