Current location:
Collection Storage Facility
Provenance:
Two brothers, Albert and Vic Irvine, were the original owners of this motor-home. In 1982, after Albert passed away, this vehicle became of the property of Mr. Harlow who sold it to the Museum in 1983.
Technical history:
This is a commercially built motor-home that was manufactured by Nash Motor Car Co. about twenty years before motor-homes gained commercial popularity. Motor-homes of this era were experimental technologies as manufacturers attempted innovative designs and styles in an effort to strike a balance between size and weight. Consumers were also able to personalize the interior of their motor-homes by selecting appliances, materials and a layout that best suited their individual needs and taste.
History:
Ford’s introduction of the model T and the rapid increase in car ownership helped to foster support for road-building across North America and also created new opportunities for and interest in automobile camping. Automobile companies, carriage makers, and home-handymen took advantage of these opportunities by developing a variety of what we would now call recreational vehicles for the emerging market. The earliest models were mainly of two types: systems in which the car body was used to support a framework for a tent and motor-homes built on a car or truck chassis (like the Nash motor-home).
This motor-home was used in Thunder Bay, Ontario and for regular trips to Florida, USA.
Transcript
0:21
My name is Nile Séguin. If you find this tape
0:24
it's because I'm still in this motor-home and the crew has disappeared somehow.
0:27
Can we get a shot of this? There's a little plane on the hood...
0:31
to make you feel like you're flying
0:34
because that's what this says... flight.
0:40
Ohh, yes!
0:42
Look at these guys, it's the Partridge Family hearse!
0:46
Oh look, everybody, the Adam's Family is going on vacay!
0:49
This is very sinister. I would like to take a moment right now -
0:51
I'm wearing little booties -
0:53
some of you may have noticed.
0:55
That's not for the motor-home - that's for me.
0:58
How do you even buy this thing? Like how do you walk in the lot and you're like, "I'm looking for something terrifying."
1:04
"Do you have anything terrifying?"
1:05
This is like if someone saw the AmityVille house and was like, "Argh! If only it had wheels!"
1:11
It's a good thing this thing is mobile
1:14
because if you drove anywhere with this thing, you'd probably have to move every few months
1:19
because they'd be like, "I don't know what that is - it's giving me nightmares."
1:21
You have to go far away from here.
1:24
This is like the poor man's grave digger
1:26
which is weird because I thought the grave digger was the poor man's grave digger.
1:29
This isn't even the grave digger - this is like the gravel digger.
1:33
This is what allows hillbillies to call themselves home owners.
1:36
Three generations of Honey Boo Boo ancestors were born and raised in this thing.
1:40
So gross!
1:42
It's got fun little... artifacts.
1:45
It's got brooms and um... a stove, which I'm sure is not dangerous in any way, shape or form.
1:52
Out there, there's a little hand that if you want to signal because you're turning left, you'd put this wooden hand down.
1:59
And people would ignore it and a horrible accident happens.
2:02
I'm just saying, if you'd see this thing in Auto-Trader, buyer beware!
2:05
I'm Nile Séguin for Hilarious Histories...
2:08
and I'm gonna go take a long shower.
- View all the collection highlights at the Canada Science and Technology Museum
- View other collection highlights related to Road Transportation, Household Technology