Stickers have arrived!

The new stickers have arrived and they are incredible, you are going to love them. They are big, durable and will look great on your Mobile Scout, or anywhere else you care to put them! They are printed vinyl, and should wear for years outdoors.

I have 50 of each, and reorder is easy, so clean me out. :) For $4.00 via PayPal, I'll send you one of each sticker (the red and blue sticker is 8" across, and the orange one is 6" across). That's pretty much just covering cost of printing and mailing them. I'm happy to donate my time in design and printing in order to contribute something nifty for those of us that love these old campers.

It's easy! Order via this quick PayPal button, and I'll get them out to you within a week via USPS First Class Mail. 

Sticker proofs approved!

They'll be here in just a few days. Yahoo! I approved the proofs, and made a slight change based on how cool the orange/black sticker looked as a die cut instead of a rectangle.

The red and blue stickers are a full 8" wide. The others are 6" wide.

Great things coming...

Mobile Scout Madness is getting a makeover!

First, MobileScoutMadness.com has been registered. It will point here to this Blogger blog (effective tomorrow, probably). Don't worry, you can always use the old web address, too. 

Most exciting, though... NEW STICKERS HAVE BEEN ORDERED. 

Yes, yes, I know some of you have heard this for a long time. And, for that please accept my sincerest apologies. But... it's already been done! Art is uploaded, fee has been paid, and in about two weeks there will be TWO great new stickers available. 

First is a mondo 8" wide sticker taken straight from some photos people sent me of their faded and peeling units. It's bold in color, red and blue. The original address is there -- it's just an homage, though, don't go there looking for a trailer manufacturer. 

Next is a slightly smaller 6" wide sticker, a MUCH better version of the original stickers I had made. They are bigger, the color will be clearer, overall the quality is MORE AWESOME. 

And sometime later, I'll be updating the blog template into something more modern and stylish. Stick with me, and keep those photos of your beautiful Mobile Scout trailer projects coming! 

Once they arrive, I'll post pics so you can get a better understanding of size, along with a quick PayPal link so you can order your very own! 

Everything old is new again.

The past few years have shown us a few new trailer designs that gave nods back to vintage style. The other day, however, we saw an ad on the tele for Curtis Trailers, and the unit rolling down the road was clearly designed right on the lines of a vintage camper. It was beautiful, I won't lie!

This set me a Google'ing, and look what I stumbled upon.I found this Scout concept trailer, making the rounds by Airstream Marketing in 2009. Um... look at that butt! What does that look like to you, hmmmm? But what a beauty! The link I found (http://www.airforums.com/forums/f318/airstream-scout-concept-vehicle-52070.html) calls this unit the Scout, and it was a collaboration with auto designer Bryan Thompson and Airstream. Lightweight, with elements of signature Airstream style.

And their signature price tag, I'm sure.



Alas, there is no mention of the Scout on the Airstream web site. Damn, that's too bad. She's a beauty!

So I hit Curtis Trailers and sought out the vintage styled beauty I'd seen. It looks like it was the 2014 Riverside Whitewater 155.


http://curtistrailers.com/inventory/rvlisting/detail/6654/


Yikes! It's a cutie. But $18,906.79! Of course it has AC, a microwave, cable tv hookup, blah blah blah. But that comes out to well more than $1000 a foot in length! But when you compare it to the T@B... well, that might just be a cheap option. Looks like this is made by Riverside RV, a maker of Retro travel trailers. Wow! Check out their options:

http://www.riversidervs.net/Model-155--Retro-w-wetbath-.html

I have one camper that I don't use often enough, but somehow that doesn't stop me from looking at others, new and old!

Spring is in the air, and camping fever is starting to spread.

As spring blooms, people's interest and activity around camping grows as well! The blog is generating more emails with questions, pics of beautiful Mobile Scouts, and more!

Look what I found on eBay today! And no, I haven't bid on it. ;)

1962 Mobile Scout in Pearl, MS

Interestingly, it looks like a Mobile Scout, but the plaque inside shows it was manufactured by Contempori Mobile Homes in Arlington, TX.

Mobile Scout Mfg was also in Arlington, TX (as were many, many other manufacturers). From all I've learned, the industry back in that time was just bustling. Shops were opening, closing, merging frequently. Staff jumped from the larger manufacturers to open their own shops, sometimes taking a few of the tricks they'd learned with them.

Even some of the people working in the industry find it difficult to determine just what type an unknown unit is.

Not to mention, in the years that has passed since then, renovation projects may have hidden or changed existing distinctions, or mixed and matched a little -- I've seen a few triangle windows that were on things which were CLEARLY not a Mobile Scout.

This one's a mystery; it looks like a Mobile Scout for the most part... but... Contempori? The serial number isn't in the usual format as a Mobile Scout. The wheel cut-outs are wrong. The door handle is on the opposite side of the door compared to what I usually see.

What do you see? Do you know anything about Contempori Mobile Homes? Help fill in the blanks!

An adorable little camper redo.

Somehow I stumbled across the Bella Pop blog of Brandy Frank, with her wonderful stories, photos and design of a vintage camper redo. (Does that little triangle window look familiar?) I found the endeavor -- to live in the tiny space -- and the resulting lessons learned to be fun and fascinating!

Bop on over and check it out. 

Photo by Brandy Frank from the Bella Pop blog. 

Anyone need a latch? Get out the wallet!

On eBay I found a Bargman lock just like those used on the Mobile Scouts. 

The price on it is a bit high, but... you can't get them anymore, and it looks like it's new with keys. Someone might be really happy to find this.

Mobile Scout Serial Numbers Decoded!

Previously I posted about the serial number, but it remains one of the most frequent questions I receive. Jim recently told me additional information about it.

All Mobile Scout trailers had a serial number on the roadside of the A frame. The number would look something like this: 64 MS 17SC 2222 all trailers had this basic format. The number described the year, brand name, floor plan, and number. Number was located on roadside just behind coupler.

(Roadside of the frame means underneath.) 

Another frequent question I receive is, "Is this a Mobile Scout?" Jim provided some very valuable information on this question, as well. The answer to that question is pretty easy to arrive at, based on the body style. While the door is a quick give-away, I've seen Mobile Scouts with replacement doors, and Mobile Scout doors that have made their way onto all manner of other types of trailers. 

The body style remained the same from 1956 through 1964; it's the "canned ham" sort of round front, sloped back that we all know and love. In 1965, a change was made to the shape to add a truck and more head room. That was built on through 1979. When looking at a trailer to see what kind it is, all the details tell the story: what do the sides look like around the wheels? Where are the windows, what size and style are they? 

What fun discovering the past stories of these beauties. 

*** SEE THE NEW DISCUSSION FORUM *** 

http://mobilescoutmadness.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html

Preserving information about the Mobile Scout.

Part of running this blog has been seeking out sources of information in hopes of gathering, saving and offering up information about the Mobile Scout. Imagine my thrill when in February, a gentleman named Jim contacted me... to make a long story short, he was Production Manager for Mobile Scout From 1964 to 1978. 

And he's FULL of information, and has TONS of photographs and... it's awesome, it really is. "I designed every model made from 1964 to 1978." 

YEOW. 

I've not had near enough time this late winter/spring to fully harness his knowledge -- but with summer just around the corner, I think it's time to really start bugging him. LOL. So lots more information coming!

*** SEE THE NEW DISCUSSION FORUM *** 

http://mobilescoutmadness.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html

The history of the vintage mobile scout revealed!

Last year I received a great contact in response to queries I had made from various corners attempting to gain information about the history of Mobile Scout. My queries for information were answered! 

Mobile Scout was indeed a company that built travel trailers years ago. I will give you an update as I know the history. In the late 70s William Dozer Thornton who owned the company sold it to an investor group. It was bankrupted by the new owners in the early 80s. W. D. Thornton received the right to the name in the bankruptcy in exchange for the money that they still owed him.

In 1992 several of us that were involved in the RV industry started a new venture, SunnyBrook RV, Inc, with Tom Thornton being one of the partners. W.D. Thornton was Tom’s father and Tom owned several RV dealerships in Texas at the time. When we started producing units, Tom wanted his units built with the Mobile Scout name on them instead of SunnyBrook. Then several other Texas dealers also expressed interest in having their units built with the Mobile Scout name. So we acquired the right to use the name and have been building units with the Mobile Scout name on them ever since. 

In December of 2010 SunnyBrook was acquired by Winnebago Industries. [...]

Elvie J. Frey Sr.
President
Winnebago Industries

A big thanks to Elvie J. Frey, Sr. who is President of Winnebago Industries for putting all the pieces together for me!

(This information has been on the right sidebar for almost a year, but recent queries are proof that wasn't a good spot for it; people were missing it.)