1959 was the first year the Tradewinds were built. Bessie hails from the California factory, and stayed on the Pacific Coast. Here is the 1959 brochure for Bessie's model. They retailed for $5515 in 1959.
Here are some "As Found" photos of Bessie after she came home with us. Here's the exterior roadside:
And the lovely galley kitchen complete with double sink, faucet, spray nozzle, propane-fired stove AND oven, electric water-heater (thanks previous owner jackass - now I need hookups), Fantastic Fan, cupboards and drawers. No dishwasher or garbage disposal but we get around those pretty well in our house anyway.
Although we were told Bessie didn't leak, she smelled of mold and mildew from sitting dormant in Oregon for two years. We ripped out the stank mattresses before we even grabbed the camera for this unflattering photo of us dorking around:
It helps to reference the pictures we took with the brochure, but there are differences. Bessie's model is upgraded from the original brochure. Here's a video link for another 1959 Tradewind for sale. The Tradewind in the video is set up like the one in the brochure, and has some dark moments to it, but you'll get the layout. The video was posted Feb 2010, so I don't know how long it will stay active. I didn't take video footage of Bessie in her As Found condition, so I can't post anything here.
