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This
AVION has been in the same family since it was new.
Dennis believes that it is the 28th AVION ever built.
He has all of the original paperwork some of which is
shown below. |
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I
have included photos of our 1957 R-26 #528. My wife's
father (Gerald) and grandfather (George) bought it in
late 1956 but I don't know when they took delivery.
they owned the trailer park (now a mobile home park
owned by my brother-in-law). My father in law said this
was the 28th one built. #500 was a demo taken around
to shows where they saw it and decided to buy one.
My wife's grandfather lived in the it as park manager
during the summer. In the winter he went south. He traveled
all over the southern US, Mexico and parts of Central
America with it. You can see he attended a number of
Avion TravelCades in the 1960's. As he got older his
grandson, who worked construction in the summer, would
pull the trailer for him. I think the title is dated
1973 because it was not titled prior to then since Michigan
didn't require one.
In the mid 1970's my father in-law upgraded it as he
was taking it 'out west' for a summer vacation. That
might be why he got an official title since we usually
used any trailer plate we had. For a brief period of
time (like 3 months) a technique called antiquing was
in style so the cabinets were antiqued. I still think
about stripping them and returning them to original.
This was the last big trip the Avion took. They pulled
it through western Canada as far as Calgary (for the
stampede). They came back through the northern US visiting
the national parks on the way back. I would guess that
up to this time the Avion had traveled hundreds of thousands
of miles. My wife's sister and husband used it in the
1970's for camping in northern Michigan, mostly at Wilderness
State Park on the shores of Lake Michigan. When they
bought a sailboat they switched to tent camping and
I could use it.
My wife (Nancy) and I started using it in 1981 or 1982
and have been dragging back to Wilderness every July
since, except for 1995 when we took the children out
west for vacation. Right now it is waiting for our trip
this summer. It still has the original stove and fridge
(made in Germany). Both have worked every summer but
I pray before I light the fridge each year. I have had
to replace the floor in the front and have added a booth
for eating and sleeping. I have rigged a portable AC
unit, venting out the bath window, since I wasn't sure
if the Avion would carry a roof AC unit. I haven't had
to use it much the last two summers. I found the Yahoo
Avion Camping Forum last year and am member dkjen2530.
Nancy wants me to shine the Avion up like an airstream
and I just may try it this spring. The folks at Wilderness
we see every year may not recognize us though. I pull
it with a 1994 GMC Suburban, the pretty blue one in
the pictures. Last year Nancy painted the 50 years on
the road on the spare tire cover. This year I suppose
she will have to add OVER. I added the screen to the
awning last year, our second attempt at screening in.
The storms off Lake Michigan have not been kind to our
awnings. |
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