The problem with these gorgeous artifacts is that when they’re only 15-25 years old- they’re seen as ‘old junk’ & people want the newer, more modern versions. So stuff like this is left to rot. Then when they’re old enough that people see the beauty in them & want them again- they’re often too far gone to save. I’m 60 now, & I think of all the gorgeous things I parted with when I moved abroad in 1980; had to downsize & got rid of so many things I give my right arm to have back now!
I had a dear friend who lived in one of those in Ohio back the 80s. It was located high on a cliff overlooking Lake Erie. Eventually shore erosion caused the township to condemn the property and the trailer was scrapped before it could fall into the lake. Touring that on your video was a real blast from the past.
Sure was hoping to see you restore this one. Many years ago I was able to see one firsthand tour it. Back in the seventies there were several around the Indianapolis area , probably all gone by now.
Took me back to my childhood in the 1950s. Almost ended up living in one of these which at the time I thought would be really cool. My dad left us. Mom had no marketable job skills and was trying everything to keep a roof over our heads from selling eggs in the suburbs out of the back of her car trunk to eventually going to beauty school to learn a trade. We were in the middle of losing our home to foreclosure when my mom started shopping around for living alternatives. To make a long story short we were looking for a trailer to live in. As a young kid I thought the double decker was a childhood dream come true. I'd have my own bedroom! And no one else in school would be living in a home that could be moved on wheels. I was in heaven! It was just so cool. And it was also a dream that never happened. Grandpa saved the day and our migration into this castle on wheels never happened. Thanks for reminding me of those wonderful few days where I thought this was the greatest thing to ever happen.
It's funny how kids have such different perspectives on things. I knew a kid who lived in a double wide trailer when I was little and I literally thought he lived in a mansion.
My dad bought one of these when he got out of the Army in 1956. It was our first real home. Solid wood and the closets were all lined with cedar. It smelled like you were living inside an old Whitmans sampler box.(back when they were made of wood). Dad got it in Indianapolis and a year later moved to Florida with it. Dad tried to pull it with an old Belair and got to Nashville before the engine blew. One of my Uncles came with his pickup and got it to Tallahassee before his transmission burned up. So then my dad paid a guy with a big dump truck to pull it on down to my grandmothers near Orlando. Even the dump truck was having to stop every couple of hundred miles for everything to cool down. We owned it till 74, when my dad tried to move it onto a piece of waterfront property on the gulf. It was fully packed with everything. Sadly it only made it about 20 miles down the road before a small bump caused her back to break. An old farmer near where it broke ended up buying it to give some of his migrant workers a place to stay. Oh the memories.
Great story. Thanks for sharing. Moving these with today's modern vehicles is a logistical challenge. Can't imagine what it was like in the 60's and 70's with the vehicles they had.
There was a movie that Lucy and Desi Arnez made together that was called The Long Trailer and watching this video made me remember that movie which was one of my late mother’s favorite movies. Such a sad sight to see this in its last stages of life . 😢
Cool Trailer thanks for showing. Bummer it's the end of the line. We had a 1955 Ventoura Split Level (with addition) that we used as our camp in Tionesta, PA until 2021... It looked alot like this especially the woodwork inside. We tried to give it away, but we ultimately had to demolish it to make room for our new eerily similarly layout "new used" 2001 Park Model. The upper deck in these old campers was so cool. Glad you're salvaging some of the cool unique parts to get a second life!
There is a couple in San Jose California I believe that do excellent renovations on these mobile homes even really dilapidated Airstreams… It can be done
It's not to late to save it... I know a woman that bought a trailer with the while side out and the roof had a hole in the middle. She repaired it and it looked good. She lived in it for years
I watched this video. Sad to see it is beyond repair. I’m about 10yrs older that this trailer. And I have had 14 surgeries to keep me running. Sadly this trailer did not have a loving family to keep her going.
It’d be nice if one could acquire a suitable chassis, frame up a reverse-engineered body, and use the salvaged parts to finish it. I don’t know if such a project would be too expensive, but some new trailers have MSRPs over $100,000, and interiors that I describe as “fifty shades of _meh.”_
I'd find a new expert. To far gone to me, and most but one thing the facebook groups have showed me is there are people who would rebuild that from scratch, what you have is a template and the parts to make something beautiful again!
Just what I was thinking. It went from "alot of work" to "it cannot be made roadworthy". I have seen and been part of restoring basically hunks of metal junk that I, personally, would not take on myself but they were brought back and totally usable, and "roadworthy".
Any chance of building a new trailer and salvaging siding and windows and copying the design of it to keep it alive but with a lot of new parts and construction?
Ben & Ben's community, how would this have been used in 1955 ? At 12K pounds, giving those 6 ton jacks a work out, seems too big to haul around. Would this be considered a Park Model ? Would you have it brought to your desired location and set up ? I like that engineers built it, that is why it lasted this long. When the ceiling goes, it means water damage - for years - within the walls, so this would end up like those tag along, of Scotty rebuilds right ? But on a EPIC scale, if the unit would even stay intact enough for the tow.
That's so, so sad - I would have liked to have lived upstairs. Now I'll have to find a whale carcass to live in - any idea where to put the porch lights?
I'd say more like 12 feet tall. It's a foot off the ground, and you're over 6 ft, and you can just about stand straight upstairs and down. Roof is probably 13ft from the ground.
So did you actually tear this one down? Did you take measurements or make drawings of what was there? I'm always interested in building 3D models of these old things even if they're not salvageable in the real world.
Yes we did deconstruct it. We had another Ventoura owner purchase almost all usable parts from it to assist with their restoration. What remained underneath was a rotten wooden frame.
Too bad. Saw one that sold on an online auction last year. Est: $20k to 30k. Don't know what it sold for because you have to have an account. It looked in very good condition.
What a load of horseshit. What did you not see the first couple times you looked at it that all the sudden surprised you into giving up ? Of course it needs completely rebuilt anybody can see that from the first time they looked at it
I have to agree. The guy almost looked guilty telling us this. This needs to be translated. "A guy who knows what he's talking about says that this can never be road worthy"=== "We called around and found out what people are willing to pay for the spare parts, and we are sitting on a small fortune with not alot of effort to rip parts out and sell them".
Here's how you could recoup your restoration costs. After it's fixed up like new again, hook it up to a Dodge Ram 3500 and visit state fairs, charging $5 a head to tour the inside. No food or drinks allowed inside, of course, and probably no kids.
man WHAT was on the road in 1955-6-7 that a family could tow this with?? lol perhaps a 3600 suburban or something? I mean nothing then, non commercial, really should have towed even half of this...
@@joshuasummers7440goodness though. That still meant a 283 until the 348 came out. And did it have trailer brakes? We just did a 140 round trip camping trip with what I assume is about 8-8500 lbs and my tundra (2uz) and it’s very capable but it’s not a peaceful feeling. Couldn’t imagine this thing and a 50’s truck lol
I am pretty good at restoring and repairing vehicles. But I have seen some guys start with piles of trash that I would not even touch to move it, much less have the thing in my garage. You are entirely right.
That’s how it always goes. I think a lot of these idiots think they’re “teaching people” about how to not care about things like this. In most cases they’re deliberately offending people. I think it’s one of the reasons I hate Catholics now.
The problem with these gorgeous artifacts is that when they’re only 15-25 years old- they’re seen as ‘old junk’ & people want the newer, more modern versions. So stuff like this is left to rot. Then when they’re old enough that people see the beauty in them & want them again- they’re often too far gone to save. I’m 60 now, & I think of all the gorgeous things I parted with when I moved abroad in 1980; had to downsize & got rid of so many things I give my right arm to have back now!
Yes, this applies to everything.
I had a dear friend who lived in one of those in Ohio back the 80s. It was located high on a cliff overlooking Lake Erie. Eventually shore erosion caused the township to condemn the property and the trailer was scrapped before it could fall into the lake. Touring that on your video was a real blast from the past.
😞 so sad was hoping to see it restored
Me Too... Me too.
Sure was hoping to see you restore this one. Many years ago I was able to see one firsthand tour it. Back in the seventies there were several around the Indianapolis area , probably all gone by now.
What a beauty it was, thanks for trying. I love the old mobiles, the wood finish inside really soothes my soul for some reason.
Took me back to my childhood in the 1950s. Almost ended up living in one of these which at the time I thought would be really cool. My dad left us. Mom had no marketable job skills and was trying everything to keep a roof over our heads from selling eggs in the suburbs out of the back of her car trunk to eventually going to beauty school to learn a trade. We were in the middle of losing our home to foreclosure when my mom started shopping around for living alternatives. To make a long story short we were looking for a trailer to live in. As a young kid I thought the double decker was a childhood dream come true. I'd have my own bedroom! And no one else in school would be living in a home that could be moved on wheels. I was in heaven! It was just so cool. And it was also a dream that never happened. Grandpa saved the day and our migration into this castle on wheels never happened. Thanks for reminding me of those wonderful few days where I thought this was the greatest thing to ever happen.
I live on a tugboat and this would not be a whole lot different. Something like this would be an amazing camper
It's funny how kids have such different perspectives on things. I knew a kid who lived in a double wide trailer when I was little and I literally thought he lived in a mansion.
What a magnificent RV!!! Thanks for the tour. The makers plaque is beautiful.
My dad bought one of these when he got out of the Army in 1956. It was our first real home. Solid wood and the closets were all lined with cedar. It smelled like you were living inside an old Whitmans sampler box.(back when they were made of wood). Dad got it in Indianapolis and a year later moved to Florida with it. Dad tried to pull it with an old Belair and got to Nashville before the engine blew. One of my Uncles came with his pickup and got it to Tallahassee before his transmission burned up. So then my dad paid a guy with a big dump truck to pull it on down to my grandmothers near Orlando. Even the dump truck was having to stop every couple of hundred miles for everything to cool down. We owned it till 74, when my dad tried to move it onto a piece of waterfront property on the gulf. It was fully packed with everything. Sadly it only made it about 20 miles down the road before a small bump caused her back to break. An old farmer near where it broke ended up buying it to give some of his migrant workers a place to stay. Oh the memories.
Great story. Thanks for sharing. Moving these with today's modern vehicles is a logistical challenge. Can't imagine what it was like in the 60's and 70's with the vehicles they had.
What a story !
Beautiful story ; ty for sharing.❤
There was a movie that Lucy and Desi Arnez made together that was called The Long Trailer and watching this video made me remember that movie which was one of my late mother’s favorite movies. Such a sad sight to see this in its last stages of life . 😢
Thanks for the update.
All that nice wood - no wonder one of my friends called them "land yachts"
I am so glad you are saving what you can.
That makes me sad to see such a neat an a rarity needing to be destroyed. I have a love of old mobile homes and camp trailers. 😢
What a shame that it’s too far gone to restore it. I would’ve loved to have seen it in all it’s glory.
We have a friend who is restoring one that will be using some parts from this unit. So it will live on.
@@benscampers1818 do you think that your friend would let you do a video of it?
@@kayhenry6293yes we have plans to do some kind of video tour once it's finished
@@benscampers1818 awesome!
@@benscampers1818You seem so Honest and up Front with everything you sale what. A Kind and Honest soul you are sir Thank you👍
curating stuff is an under appreciated task and often hard to do especially without the means AND space to store and protect
Cool Trailer thanks for showing. Bummer it's the end of the line. We had a 1955 Ventoura Split Level (with addition) that we used as our camp in Tionesta, PA until 2021... It looked alot like this especially the woodwork inside. We tried to give it away, but we ultimately had to demolish it to make room for our new eerily similarly layout "new used" 2001 Park Model. The upper deck in these old campers was so cool. Glad you're salvaging some of the cool unique parts to get a second life!
@VantasticTelevision thanks for sharing. This was located in Marienville, PA. Not far from Tionesta. Wish we'd been in contact at that time!
Sad to see that it can't be restored but great there is so much to be salvaged. The interior wood looked to be in very good shape.
Having to tear down a piece of beautiful history like that is some really sad news !
There is a couple in San Jose California I believe that do excellent renovations on these mobile homes even really dilapidated Airstreams… It can be done
Back when things were getting better, not worse. Enjoy what you can today.
I think that is the best decision to turn it into parts.
It's not to late to save it... I know a woman that bought a trailer with the while side out and the roof had a hole in the middle. She repaired it and it looked good. She lived in it for years
Yea the so called expert means just doesnt want to spend money bracing it and doing it right
I watched this video. Sad to see it is beyond repair. I’m about 10yrs older that this trailer. And I have had 14 surgeries to keep me running. Sadly this trailer did not have a loving family to keep her going.
I enjoy your work! Thanks for sharing. So sorry she couldn't be saved, but you certainly tried. Good luck with future projects!
SUCH A SHAME BUT TO SALVAGE AS MUCH AS YOU CAN IS A DEFINITE POSITIVE. HOPEFULLY SOME OF THAT COOL WOOD CAN BE SAVED.
If it's not too late, I'd be interested in any vintage dishware or anything similar you might find in there.
What a shame that beauty was left to rot.
BUMMER. NICE ENTRO
Well, that WAS sad news )o:. But glad some of her parts can live on in other builds so her legacy doesn't die.
It’d be nice if one could acquire a suitable chassis, frame up a reverse-engineered body, and use the salvaged parts to finish it. I don’t know if such a project would be too expensive, but some new trailers have MSRPs over $100,000, and interiors that I describe as “fifty shades of _meh.”_
I want it !
I'd find a new expert. To far gone to me, and most but one thing the facebook groups have showed me is there are people who would rebuild that from scratch, what you have is a template and the parts to make something beautiful again!
How old is that expert ?he has obviously never seen one of these they are built way better than todays trailers
When did you get a chance to inspect it in person?
Just what I was thinking. It went from "alot of work" to "it cannot be made roadworthy". I have seen and been part of restoring basically hunks of metal junk that I, personally, would not take on myself but they were brought back and totally usable, and "roadworthy".
It's salvageable, demo out, re- frame. Probably 1k of wood and 4 pros can get it right in 2 days.
@@euroyen420p2 I see you've never built anything before.
@@tedfort1698We see you’ve never built anything either, or at least have taken your sweet ass time to accomplish anything. 😂
I remember one similar to this when I was a sprout and it had a roof top pool!
What?! 🤯
Wow cool caravan 😱🤩🤩🤩👌🏽
Goodbye pretty home. Thanks for video.
Sorry to see this update that it can't be saved! Would have been beautiful when new . . . .
When they’re all gone- they’re gone for ever!
1950s art deco. Try to keep up.
This is not a camper, it’s a mobile home.
Or as I have started calling them "imobile" homes....sorta like people born in 50's. Me😅
Like an old p b y thay look so cool 😊
What make and model of truck was available back in say 1955 or 1956 that could safely pull this mobile home (especially uphill)???
Such a shame, really wish you could have saved this old gem!
Sad to hear it can't be saved, but at least it will give up many spare parts for reuse
I did preview the previous video. And agree it is a viable source for other projects.
I would love to restore this, sadly I live in the UK otherwise I would definitely consider bringing it back to life :/
Someone needs to see how they float. Ha ha,jk
Any chance of building a new trailer and salvaging siding and windows and copying the design of it to keep it alive but with a lot of new parts and construction?
What was the outcome of this? Did it ever get moved, or did you change your mind?
Art deco is not the 50’s. 1920’s - 30’s.
Mid Century Modern incorporates many Deco aspects such as clean geometric lines. Think Deco + futuristic space race and bold colors.
Yes there was two eras for art deco. The first and MCM.
Such a sad loss
Ben & Ben's community, how would this have been used in 1955 ? At 12K pounds, giving those 6 ton jacks a work out, seems too big to haul around. Would this be considered a Park Model ? Would you have it brought to your desired location and set up ? I like that engineers built it, that is why it lasted this long. When the ceiling goes, it means water damage - for years - within the walls, so this would end up like those tag along, of Scotty rebuilds right ? But on a EPIC scale, if the unit would even stay intact enough for the tow.
Yes this was meant to be stationary long term. It was built very heavily. Modern campers will not be in tact in 70 years
That's so, so sad - I would have liked to have lived upstairs. Now I'll have to find a whale carcass to live in - any idea where to put the porch lights?
If you did put that back on the road, you'd have to have a 1½ ton truck to pull it. Fuel costs on those are astronomical.
What vehicle would they use to pull this in the 1950s?
I'd say more like 12 feet tall. It's a foot off the ground, and you're over 6 ft, and you can just about stand straight upstairs and down. Roof is probably 13ft from the ground.
Wish there was a way to have gutted it out, save the exterior shell, and do a modern renovation on the onside. Dang. Too bad.
what a shame. I was hoping to see it restored.
So did you actually tear this one down? Did you take measurements or make drawings of what was there? I'm always interested in building 3D models of these old things even if they're not salvageable in the real world.
Yes we did deconstruct it. We had another Ventoura owner purchase almost all usable parts from it to assist with their restoration. What remained underneath was a rotten wooden frame.
Can you imagine pulling that thing? I think for me, it would be one and done pull it somewhere leave it don’t ever move it again.
Yes it probably could be moved. Remove as much stuff as possible to lighten the load.
👍🏾
save the stove and heater for sure
Think that was a good move, there are a treasure trove of can not be found parts in that thing that will definitely keep other going.
Seems like it would be easier to build a new one and use this one for parts.
This is a 1953 Ventoura mobilehome. Not a 1955. They stopped building them in 1953, the last year these homes were built.
Too bad. Saw one that sold on an online auction last year. Est: $20k to 30k. Don't know what it sold for because you have to have an account. It looked in very good condition.
@@ms.sonshine8878 yes it was in Florida and sold for 28k
That's a full day with a backhoe. 2 helpers, and 2 or 3 hooklift containers. That's like 10k job to demolish and remove
It's to bad this can"t be fixed. The old one'shave charm warmth! You can't flat bed it?
What a load of horseshit. What did you not see the first couple times you looked at it that all the sudden surprised you into giving up ? Of course it needs completely rebuilt anybody can see that from the first time they looked at it
I have to agree. The guy almost looked guilty telling us this. This needs to be translated. "A guy who knows what he's talking about says that this can never be road worthy"=== "We called around and found out what people are willing to pay for the spare parts, and we are sitting on a small fortune with not alot of effort to rip parts out and sell them".
what a shame. the veneer inside restored would have been awesome
Art deco came out of the 20s and 30s, not the 50s. Mid-century modern is the term.
Nothing impossible , it’s only time/effort/ and money!!! That’s the problems😅
Here's how you could recoup your restoration costs. After it's fixed up like new again, hook it up to a Dodge Ram 3500 and visit state fairs, charging $5 a head to tour the inside. No food or drinks allowed inside, of course, and probably no kids.
What a shame
man WHAT was on the road in 1955-6-7 that a family could tow this with?? lol perhaps a 3600 suburban or something? I mean nothing then, non commercial, really should have towed even half of this...
@DrewGarage or perhaps a three quarter or a one ton pickup truck.
@@joshuasummers7440goodness though. That still meant a 283 until the 348 came out. And did it have trailer brakes? We just did a 140 round trip camping trip with what I assume is about 8-8500 lbs and my tundra (2uz) and it’s very capable but it’s not a peaceful feeling. Couldn’t imagine this thing and a 50’s truck lol
Eh, Would be a bit of elbow grease. But entirely repairable, As are all things with determination.
I am pretty good at restoring and repairing vehicles. But I have seen some guys start with piles of trash that I would not even touch to move it, much less have the thing in my garage. You are entirely right.
Could of hauled it on a flatbed.
I know what the word couple means.
It could’ve been saved. Somebody just didn’t want to do the work. What a waste. 🤦♂️
That’s how it always goes.
I think a lot of these idiots think they’re “teaching people” about how to not care about things like this.
In most cases they’re deliberately offending people.
I think it’s one of the reasons I hate Catholics now.
I've unsubscribed since you're not restoring this beautiful home.
That sucks
That was a really bad move. You could have allowed someone with ability to buy it instead.
*Right click* *Don't recommend channel*