Jack Sisemore RV Museum

 

 

 

The Jack Sisemore RV Museum

There is an RV Museum in Amarillo, Texas which we visited.  They house RV’s beginning in 1921.  The name of the museum is “The Jack Sisemore Traveland RV Museum”.  The Sisemore family began collecting and restoring unusual and vintage RV’s about 25 years ago.  Some of these include the Flexible Bus from the movie RV, the first Itasca motor home ever built and the oldest Fleetwood in existence today plus many others from the 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s.  It is quite a nice step back in time!

1921 Ford Lamsteed Kampkar Body came complete with full equipment and ready to mount on the back of a Model “T” Ford pickup chassis.  The cost in 1921 was only $535.00 and only 5 were made by Anheser-Bush of St. Louis, Missouri.

 

 

The 1936 “Alma” was found in a barn 20 miles from the Alma factory.  It has never been restored and what you see in the photos is all original.  An exceptional pre -war find! 

 

 

 

1937 Kozy Kamp tent trailer was one of the first tent trailers ever built.  The Kozy Kamp Company began building these in 1936 in Oregon.  They were all dark green.  This model had only one owner and was stored in a garage when not in use.  They painted it blue black in the late 1950’s to match their family Cadillac.

Items of the time that were placed around the Kozy Kamper!

 

1946 Tear Drop Kit was restored by the museums restoration team 24 years ago and it still looks like a new modern unit.  These units were built out of aluminum that was surplus after the war, and many of the wheels had to have bullet doles repaired to be used.  You can barely see the tear drop shape of this little RV with the back hood raised showing the kitchen.  The kitchens are still housed under the back hood in today’s tear drop RV’s. 

 

 

1948 Flxible is the Bus used by the Gornike family in the Robin Williams movie “RV”.  The Bus in this museum is the Bus that modified for the movie.

 

1953 Fleetwood trailer was in total disrepair when found at a filling station15 years ago and the Museum purchased it from an 84 years old lady that was traveling across the country.  She said it was time for her to quit camping!!!  It took 2 years for the restoration team to complete bringing this little RV back to life.  This unit is the first year Fleetwood built trailers and its serial number is 1123.  Does anyone recognize the Coca Cola Cooler???

 

 

 

1962 Airstream called ‘little Bambi’ was acquired in 1988 but restored a couple of years ago.  She’s cute but really small!!

 

 

 1966 Kenskill – Kenskill was a large manufacturer of travel trailers in the 60’s.  Notice the lovely chrome work on the outside of the unit and the unusual blue shower, sink and stove.

 

 

1970 Avion is a pick up camper and may be one of the last made by Avion Company. It had only one owner and everything inside and out is original.

 

 

1973 Tow Low was an RV with unusual lift system.  It is hard to see but the system operates with the large front wheel.  This was a gift to the Museum, restored by the staff and is the only RV like this that they have ever seen.

 

1974 Winnebago was actually a rental by the Sisemore family.  It took two 1974 Winnebago’s to rebuild this one. The owners or the Museum are also the oldest Winnebago dealer in the state of Texas; they began selling Winnebago products in 1978.

 

 

1975 Itasca is the first Itasca Motorhome ever built with a serial number of #1.  It has 6000 original miles on it and it is in brand new condition.

 

 

 
 

 

1976 Argosy was made by the Airstream Company. It has been repainted changing the stripes the red, white and blue in honor of the returning veterans from Iraq and to commemorate the 1976 Bicentennial of our wonderful country.  It is called the ‘Spirit of 76’.

 

1976 FMC Motorhome has an interesting lineage.  FMC is the acronym for Food Machinery Corporation, in 1883 inventor John Bean developed and innovative insecticide pump, under the company name of John Bean Manufacturing.  The company’s success in developing machinery and other mechanized products for the food industry had caused the company name change to Food Machinery Corporation in 1928.  The company eventually began producing amphibious vehicles for the military.  During lulls between military contracts the company began building recreational vehicles launching its motor coach division in 1972. The unit were well made but pricey for the 70’s ranging between $27,000 and $54,500 which was also the price range for and average home at that time.  FMC’s were owned by Mario Andretti, Parnelli Jones, Clint Eastwood, Carol Burnett, Pat Boone and James Brolin.  But the most famous was CBS reporter Charles Kuralt, host of the very popular news feature ‘On the Road with Charles Kuralt’.  The energy crisis in the 1970’s put a damper on all gasoline operated vehicles and only about 1000 units were manufactured.

 

The 1941 Westcraft Trailer, manufactured by a Los Angeles based company, was a top of the line trailer during the 1940's and 1950's.  This particular trailer was owned by a defense worker during World War II.  It was located in a special workers camp in the western US.  The camp had a central washroom and bath since few, if any, trailers had built in bathrooms.  The owner lived in the trailer until the end of the war. He  later relocated to Palo Duro Canyon and parked the trailer.  This trailer has a very rare Trolly Roof.  Very few are known to exist.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This  Harley was used during WWII, and is very rare as it has a left hand side seat.

 

 There were also many motorcycles in the museum all of them were beautifully restored.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This has been an overview of what is maintained in the museum.  Again, it is in Amarillo Texas and it would be an interesting place to visit.  Oh, and did I say it is free?

More to come soon!

Jan 🌷🌷🐾🐾