The post-war years saw the expansion of the trailer industry despite difficulties in getting raw materials which closed some plants.³³ The demands of production during the war had improved expertise in the design and construction of mobile homes. In 1948 some manufacturers introduced innovations such as fireplaces, shower rooms, second stories and "expansible" units that unfolded like an accordion to provide up to triple the living space.³⁴

The length of these new models was expanding though the width remained at a narrow 8 feet which was most likely related to problems in shipping wider loads by rail or over the narrow roads of the time. More and more the trailer was becoming the mobile home; a comfortable and affordable housing alternative.

Trailer park, location unknown. Consumer Reports, 1956.

During this time of expansion and improvement in mobile home design, the Farrington and Brault partnership started to sell mobile homes along with the rental of park space. The war had familiarized people with trailers as homes and the post-war demand brought about a chronic shortage of suitable parks for home sites. Most park owners began to sell trailers to take advantage of this shortage, letting in only those trailers sold from their sales lots.

The late James Farrington, then a young man, was sent out to the manufacturers in Indiana and Michigan to bring the trailers back for resale:

We sold trailers over on the side here. That was funny, I used to lug them. I used to go out to Elkhart, Indiana and Flint, Michigan and bring them in. I had a car (1939 Buick). I used to use. I must have been 21 or 22. I used to bring them in for Jerry Brault and my father. They were eight-wides then, but they had bathrooms in them. They were really fancy inside, they were nice trailers.. It took me a couple of days, probably, just to go out. We'd come back through Canada. People used to stop and stare up there because they didn't have such a thing in them days. Quite a sight to see!...One trailer we sold was the Pacemaker. That one was all metal. There's one here on the corner. That was the heaviest thing I ever pulled in my life. It's all made of steel. In Ohio I got stuck on a hill. There was a lot of traffic and no one would let me back up to get a running start and I was burning the clutch out of the Buick. Some trucker got out and made the other cars move around me so I could back up and get a good start up the hill. You always had to figure the hills ahead of time.³⁵

Continue