A home away from home

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This great picture was taken 81 years ago, in December 1940, at Camp Livingston in Alexandria, Louisiana. Thousands of military troops were trained there during WW2. But the man seen here was not a soldier himself. Our first thought: a lumberjack. Wrong again. The original caption reads: "Construction worker's trailer (home-made house car). He has a job at Camp Livingston."

Home-made house car

We reckon he was kept busy for much of the day and then spent the nights in his trailer. He surely was a handy man, too, being able to build that cosy little thing. After a day of hard work his own ‘house car’ must have been a real comfort, with a clean shirt, dried by the heat produced by the little Ford engine right below it, ready for the next day!

It looks to be based on a Ford Model T chassis to us, surely lengthened and strengthened. Was it still driveable? We think so, since the radiator is still there. The only trouble must have been moving it around a corner with a rather limited view!

Words by Jeroen Booij. Picture Library of Congress / Marion Post Wolcott.

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