In the history of recreational vehicles you will discover one of the models that became a legend, the Spartan Manor. In 1928 After World War II the Spartan Aircraft Company was founded hoping to make the changeover from wartime economy. In 1947 they began producing the Spartan Manor. This RV is a symbol of the large number of private war time industries that tried to make a transition to peace.
The well-known oil tycoon J. Paul Getty turned an aircraft company into a luxury trailer manufacturing enterprise. With the large need for housing after the war Getty strong-minded that trailer manufacturing would be the way to go. The initial prototype was made in the summer of 1945 using aircraft design alike to the famous airplane called Spartan Executive. They built up this model without much concern for the usual design of the time. It was an innovative and unique model for that time, the ?Cadillac? of trailers. During this period trailers were redefined as ?mobile homes?.
In the 50s the competition rose very much and many new trailer manufacturing companies emerged. The prices of many models were below the prices of Spartan; consequently the company launched 2 new lines of trailers, the ?Sparcraft? and the super economy line the ?Sparlane? in order to stay competitive.
The company was successful until 1961 when the plant closed and the company turned into the insurance and financial businesses. Nevertheless the name of the company was sold to the Spartan School of Aeronautics that continues functioning today.
Another famous company that also produced airplanes and changed over to trailers was Beech Aircraft.