A Neat Visit to Jack Sisemore RV Museum

I've been wanting to visit this museum for some time. I enjoyed the Elkhart RV Museum a few years ago.....mostly the RVs on display. The Jack Sisemore RV Museum is right here in Texas and you really shouldn't miss it if you are anywhere near Amarillo. You'll find it right behind the RV dealership and it was completely free.....that is definitely not the case with the Elkhart RV Museum. We found the Jack Sisemore Traveland RV dealership right off the highway. When we walked in and asked about the museum, we were escorted through the dealership and out the backdoor to another large building. There are arrows on the ground pointing the way. The salesman pointed us in the right direction to start and told us to take our time and enjoy it.

The Sisemore's began restoring and collecting unusual vintage RVs over 25 years ago. They have built a museum that houses many of the RVs in their collection. The museum is free to the public and open Monday - Saturday 9-5.

In addition to the vintage RVs, there were also some vintage motorcycles on display.

Each of the RVs is set up with a display of miscellaneous camping equipment from the time period.

This 1936 Alma was found in a barn 20 miles from the Alma factory. It is all original, never been restored, it still looks like new.

This 1937 Kozy Kamp was one of the first tent trailers ever built. The Kozy Kamp company started building these in 1936 in Oregon. They were all dark green. This particular one was owned by one family and spent its time in a garage when not in use. It was painted blue in the 50s to match the family Cadillac.

The 1921 Ford Lamsteed Kampkar came with full equipment and ready to mount on a standard Model T Ford Chassis. It cost $535 and was one of only 5 made by Anheuser-Busch of St Louis, Missouri.

Remember the Volkswagen Bus, a favorite of hippies and flower children.

Ever seen the movie "RV" with Robin Williams? Well, we have and we had to watch it again the day we visited the museum because this is the original1948 Flxible used by the Gornike family in the movie.

You are allowed to go in all but one of the RVs so here are Steve and Cameron in the Gornike bus.

This is the inside of a 1975 Itasca....the first one ever built. It sat on display in a Winnebago Welcome Center for over 20 years. It has 6000 miles on it and is like new.

 

 

This 1970 Avion pick up camper is one of the last, if not the last, pick up camper made by the Avion company. It is completely original, one owner purchase in 1971.

This 1974 Winnebago is just like one Jack Sisemore started renting when he had Chevron, a Standard filling station. A year later he had six rentals and started Jack Sisemore Traveland. It took two 1974 Winnebagos to build this one....one from Phoenix and one from Maine.  $175 for 3 days.....what a deal.

This 1946 Tear Drop Kit trailer was restored 24 years ago. Dan Polkapaila, the found of Kit manufacturing, gave the team his last set of fenders to restore this little trailer. Dan built the kits out of aluminum that was surplus after the war. Many of the wheels had to have the bullet holes repaired to be used.

This is a 1973 Tow Low. The lift system operates with a big wheel in front.

1952 Harley Davidson.

This is a 1976 Argosy made by the Airstream company.

Most people started RVing back in the early 60s in a pop up like this 1962 Bethany. It has the original mod squad interior.

This 1966 Kenskill was a complete restore.

This is Wally Byam's World Traveling Caravan. You can see a list of all the countries he traveled in it.

I couldn't find any more information about this very unique travel trailer with the porthole windows.

This 1962 Bambi Airstream was just restored recently.

Jack and Trent Sisemore found this 1953 Fleetwood in total disrepair at a filling station 15 years ago and bought it from an 84 year old woman who was traveling across the country in it. She told them it was time for her to quit camping. The serial number is 1123 from the 1st year that Fleetwood built travel trailers.

This motorhome was owned by Max Factor, Jr., president of Max Factor Cosmetics.

Inside of the FMC.

Check out the bunkbed in the upper left.

This 1955 Airstream was found in Santa Barbara, CA. The appliances have never been used and the curtains and upholstery are original.

I think the grandkids and Steve enjoyed this museum just as much as I did. I highly recommend a stop here.

One other place we didn't get a chance to visit was the Panhandle Plains Museum in Canyon, TX. We just ran out of time but I have been there once before and definitely recommend a visit. It is a unique museum with something for everyone to enjoy.