Traveling to Paradise: Tin Can Tourists on Parade
Saturday, November 5, 2011
10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
The Florida Historic Capitol Museum invites you to join us as we Travel to Paradise with the Tin Can Tourists!
The beautiful grounds surrounding the Florida Historic Capitol Museum are the perfect setting to view vintage vehicles, trailers and historic campers owned by members of the Tin Can Tourists Organization, which began in 1919 at DeSoto Park in Tampa, Florida. Avid collectors of these restored trailers will set up camp around the Historic Capitol on Saturday, November 5, 2011, from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. to showcase their "mini traveling museums." In conjunction with the current exhibit, Remembering Paradise: Souvenirs of Historic Florida Attractions, visitors will get a chance to tour the interiors of these vehicles, talk with the owners and learn more about what it was like to travel to Florida during the golden era of Florida tourism through post-WWII. The parade of vintage vehicles will include a 1950 Spartanette, a 1954 Holiday, a 1968 Serro Scotty, plus many more.
For more information on the history of Tin Can Tourists and their Pioneer Automobile Campers Organization, please visit www.tincantourists.com.
Also, visit us on FaceBook each day and follow journal entries and a chronology of the Tin Can Tourists to learn what it was like to be "on the road" traveling to Florida beginning in 1919!
Secretary of State Kurt S. Browning and the Florida Department of State's Division of Library and Information Services recently announced the latest edition to its Florida Memory online photo exhibits. "Tin Can Tourism" features a short historical narrative on the origins and development of custom vehicles and campers in the United States as well as numerous photographs depicting the culture of Tin Can Tourists (TCT) in Florida. The photographs included in the exhibit range from the 1920s to the 1970s.
Tin Can Tourist Photo Gallery
1955 Trotwood
1964 Airstream Bambi II
1955 Wally Byam Holiday
1949 Little Caesar and 1953 Chevy Truck
1965 Aristocrat Mainliner
Tim Heintz, proud owner, standing inside his 1950 Spartanette Tandem Trailer, which he restored.
The Spartanette was made by the Spartan Aircraft Company.
Interior of 1965 Aristocrat Mainliner owned by Alex Alexander
Municipal Tourist Camp and Community Hall on Charlotte Harbor, Ponta Gorda, Florida
Bathing Beauties promote Florida travel atop a Tin Can Tourist trailer
TCT on the road to Florida
Let the vacation begin!
Tin Can Tourists seek respite along the way to Florida
