This is a restored 1953 Spartan Spartanette travel trailer, it measures in at 31 feet long and rides on dual axles. This is one of the largest and most luxurious caravans of its time, a period rival for the likes of Airstream.
The Spartan story is fascinating and we’ve laid it out below in some detail, the company started out making aircraft before adding travel trailers to the mix – travel trailers made with many aircraft design principles and full aluminum shells.
This is a restored 1953 Spartan Spartanette travel trailer, it measures in at 31 feet long and rides on dual axles. This is one of the largest and most luxurious caravans of its time, a period rival for the likes of Airstream.
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, the refurb included new insulation, wiring, PEX plumbing, birch plywood wall and ceiling panels, sub-floor repairs, and pale green flooring throughout. Climate control comes from an Atwood AirCommand 15k-BTU roof-mounted air conditioner with heat pump, an Airxcel furnace, and a Maxxair ceiling fan. The lounge area has cushioned chairs, a fold-down table, and a Westinghouse flatscreen TV.
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 1953 Spartan Spartanette Shown Here
This is a 1953 Spartan Spartanette Tandem 131, a 31 foot dual-axle travel trailer with a polished riveted aluminum shell. Interesting, the Spartanette Tandem 131 was among the final Spartanette models, introduced in May of 1953.
The current owner bought this trailer in 2019 and undertook a thorough refurbishment and restoration. The exterior work included panel repairs, roof resealing, polishing, and the installation of LED lighting. An extended tongue with an electric jack and manual backup crank was added, along with a pair of 30 lb propane tanks.
The trailer now rides on replacement 16 inch pale green steel wheels with stainless-steel dog-dish hubcaps and 215/85 BFGoodrich tires fitted with whitewall-style overlays, the electric drum brakes were also rewired and wheel bearings repacked during the project.
Inside, the refurb included new insulation, wiring, PEX plumbing, birch plywood wall and ceiling panels, sub-floor repairs, and pale green flooring throughout. Climate control comes from an Atwood AirCommand 15k-BTU roof-mounted air conditioner with heat pump, an Airxcel furnace, and a Maxxair ceiling fan. The lounge area has cushioned chairs, a fold-down table, and a Westinghouse flatscreen TV.
The kitchen is fitted with birch shaker-style cabinetry, pale green countertops, a stainless-steel sink, a Dixie propane four-burner range with oven, a 120 volt Nova Kool refrigerator, and a six-gallon electric water heater. The bedroom has twin beds with custom pocketed spring mattresses, a built-in wardrobe, and a Hisense flatscreen TV. The bathroom includes a shower and tub, a Nature’s Head composting toilet, and a medicine cabinet.
This is a 1953 Spartan Spartanette Tandem 131, a 31 foot dual-axle travel trailer with a polished riveted aluminum shell. Interesting, the Spartanette Tandem 131 was among the final Spartanette models, introduced in May of 1953.
The trailer runs a dual 120 and 12 volt electrical system with a Lifeline AGM house battery and has shore connections for fresh and waste water, though it’s not currently equipped with holding tanks.
It’s now being offered for sale out of Pickens, South Carolina with a South Carolina title in the owner’s name. If you’d like to read more 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.
