If you search for “Holiday House Geographic,” you’ll find several versions of the story behind these rare trailers. What is generally agreed upon is that they were created as a way to keep factory workers busy during the company’s off-season. The idea was to build a modern, futuristic travel trailer—something very different from the familiar “canned ham” styles of the late 1950s.
The first Holiday House trailers used standard aluminum skin over wood framing, but the styling set them apart with a sleek, space-age look. Among the rarest models was the Geographic—a fiberglass prototype originally called the “Star Craft” during the design phase, later marketed as “Model X,” and finally introduced to the public as the Geographic.
Only a handful were ever made—accounts vary, but most agree that around five were completed, while unfinished bodies were eventually destroyed at the factory in a fire. The Geographic’s expensive price tag of $8,495 (In 1960 you could buy a house for $13,000), was likely the reason no units were sold.
For decades, it was believed that just one example had survived. In 1962 the Showroom Model was sold to Joyce Woodin, the showroom manager, for $5,000. She kept all the original sales and service receipts and brochures that came with the trailer. The story is that in 1999, a Los Angeles architect named Bardy Azadmard bought the trailer and spent a decade restoring it with help from Iowa Boys LLC and Wayne Butters. After the trailer was completed, it toured some RV shows until it was sold to someone (in 2011) for a reported six-figure sum, and it then shipped to France. Until recently, it was thought to be the only survivor. Then, years later, another surfaced—this one tucked away and being used for storage. Though gutted and in need of major fiberglass work, its discovery was a revelation: there was still another Geographic out there.
The molds for the fiberglass bodies had once survived a factory fire but were ultimately discarded decades later, sealing the Geographic’s fate as one of the rarest travel trailers ever produced. Today, these trailers remain prized pieces of RV history—an ambitious vision of modern design that was perhaps a little too far ahead of its time.
This trailer was restored, and you can click here to see how it turned out.
