This is a 1946 Spartan Manor, it’s a 25’ single-axle travel trailer that was restored between 2017 and 2020 in Prince George, British Columbia. It’s now in beautiful condition throughout and it’s being offered for sale, ready for a whole new series of adventures.
Inside this Spartan you’ll find a front dinette area that can seat four, a kitchenette in the middle of the trailer, then a bathroom and shower, followed by a bedroom with a double bed. It can accommodate a couple, or a couple and up to two kids, while providing most of the modern conveniences of home.
Fast Facts: The Spartan Manor Travel Trailer
- This 1946 Spartan Manor Model 25 is a 25′ single-axle trailer restored between 2017 and 2020 in Prince George, British Columbia. It has a shell of polished aluminum with riveted panels and classic porthole doors. The restoration covered both exterior and interior, resulting in a clean, period-correct finish ready for immediate touring use.
- The layout follows a traditional front-to-rear plan with a four-seat dinette up front, a central kitchenette, then a bathroom and rear bedroom. The dinette converts into extra sleeping space, while the bedroom has a memory-foam double mattress. The configuration suits a couple comfortably, with space for children if needed.
- The kitchenette includes a three-burner propane range with oven, laminate countertops, and rebuilt cabinetry finished in custom green. Stained mahogany hardwood flooring runs through the interior, complimented by polished aluminum wall surfaces. The restoration balanced vintage character with practical materials chosen for longevity during regular road travel.
- Systems have been updated for functional road use, including a propane heater ducted to the bedroom, a ceramic toilet within a wet bath, and electrical support for both 120 volt shore power and 12 volt onboard. Fresh water and waste holding tanks are fitted. This travel trailer is currently offered for sale in British Columbia with local registration.
History Speedrun: Spartan Travel Trailers
The Spartan Aircraft Company, based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, had built airplanes and trained pilots from the 1930s and then through World War II. After the end of WWII, demand for aircraft (and pilots) was set to drop off a cliff, but many anticipated a boom in leisure, travel, and travel trailer popularity across the United States.
The Spartan Aircraft Company and the Spartan School of Aeronautics both played a key role for the United States during WWII. The former built aircraft for the war effort, and the latter trained pilots, aircrews, and aircraft mechanics. Image courtesy of the Spartan Aircraft Company.
Spartan’s leadership team pivoted focus toward aircraft-inspired travel trailer production as a new line of business – aiming squarely at well-heeled buyers who wanted something closer to a mobile luxury apartment than a fiberboard hut on wheels.
That pivot from planes to trailers was driven from the top. J. Paul Getty, already one of America’s most prominent industrialists, he owned Spartan and steered it toward the trailer market in the mid-1940s. The first trailer prototype’s exact date of completion isn’t known, but the work started in June of 1945 and the prototype was said to be completed a few weeks later.
Production of Spartan travel trailers began in earnest in 1946. Rather than copying the common wood-framed trailer formula of the day, Spartan leaned on what it already knew – aircraft-style engineering, with all-metal construction and a body structure informed by the company’s aviation experience.
Spartan had perhaps taken their inspiration from the aluminum pre-WWII Bowlus Road Chief travel trailer, developed by Hawley Bowlus – an aerospace engineer and the lead manager of the Spirit of St. Louis project – the aircraft that completed the first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic in 1927 with Charles Lindbergh at the controls. The Bowlus Road Chief had inspired Wally Byam, the founder of Airstream, who would build his own acclaimed aluminum travel trailers.
By 1949 Spartan was offering multiple sizes/lengths and trim levels, including the Manor, Spartanette, Mansion, and Royal Mansion models. It was essentially a stepped ladder of models, with more length, more equipment, and more money as you climbed, meaning they had suitable models for everyone from working class folks through to more affluent buyers.
The early Spartanette model measured in at 23 feet 1 inch of body length and about 3,680 lbs. Over at the top end, the Imperial Mansion measured in at 35 feet 9 inches of body length and 5,880 lbs.
Inside this Spartan you’ll find a front dinette area that can seat four, a kitchenette in the middle of the trailer, then a bathroom and shower, followed by a bedroom with a double bed. It can accommodate a couple, or a couple and up to two kids, while providing most of the modern conveniences of home.
Spartan’s production arc just so happened to sit right in the middle of the golden age of American trailer coaches and early mobile homes. Spartan also capitalized on postwar housing demand and built around forty thousand homes before trailer production was suspended in 1961. Spartan’s trailer era ran from the immediate post-WWII years through to the early 1960s, with the peak in the late 1940s and through the 1950s.
Spartan travel trailers are now prized for their aircraft-company DNA, with their all-metal construction, their high-end fitouts, their classic styling, and for the fact that they tend to last a very long time if cared for by their owners – many Spartans from the 1940s and 1950s are still in existence today.
The Spartan Manor Model 25 Travel Trailer Shown Here
This 1946 Spartan Manor Model 25 is an early Spartan travel trailer that was built in the first full year after World War II. Its exterior remains true to Spartan’s famous aircraft-inspired all-aluminum construction, with polished riveted alloy panels and semi-monocoque architecture. The single-axle Manor 25 measures roughly 25 feet overall and keeps its classic form, including the two entry doors with their distinctive porthole windows.
This Spartan underwent a comprehensive refurbishment between 2017 and 2020 while in Prince George, British Columbia. During this time the body was restored and the interior was re-finished with polished aluminum surfaces complemented by stained mahogany hardwood flooring. The cabinetry was rebuilt and finished in a custom green paint scheme, paired with laminate countertops chosen both for longterm durability and a period-correct aesthetic.
Inside, the layout is organized for weekend or extended road travel comfort. There is a fold-down dinette that converts to additional sleeping space, and a full-length memory-foam double mattress in the main bedroom area.
This is a 1946 Spartan Manor, it’s a 25’ single-axle travel trailer that was restored between 2017 and 2020 in Prince George, British Columbia. It’s now in beautiful condition throughout and it’s being offered for sale, ready for a whole new series of adventures.
The trailer has a functional wet bathroom with a ceramic toilet, along with a three-burner propane range and oven in the kitchenette. It’s also fitted with a propane heater with ducting to the bedroom section, and the electrical system accommodates both 120 V and 12 V loads, with holding tanks and shore connections for fresh water and waste.
It’s now being offered for sale out of British Columbia, Canada on Bring a Trailer with British Columbia registration. If you’d like to read more about it or place a bid you can visit the listing here.
Images courtesy of Bring a Trailer
Articles that Ben Branch has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
