Hello, For many years, our family used these old style suitcases during our family road trips. Our mom and dad had a large one that took up most of the trunk spaces. My brother and I had smaller striped ones for our usual, week long vacation clothes. Back then, no one stopped at laundromats to wash a smaller load during the vacation days. Just stuff the clothes worn in a separate bag and wear the new stuff from the travel suitcases. That was the plan for each day. My mom and dad had several material style old suitcases from their travels throughout their early lives. When my brother and i came along, those vacation road trips increased as my dad wanted to show us the road and destinations. We secretly knew he wanted to go trout fishing in every lake/stream or pond he could find. We went along for those long extended road trips because it was fun. The material suitcases were our first ones. They got beat to death going in and out of the Buick Sedan trunks on the many trips all over the West coast. Ours were getting too small and my dad did not like it that the two times we had to tie the suitcases on top of the 4 door Buick Sedans. We got caught in a driving rainstorm, once inland and once along the coastline. Of course, those material covered suitcases leaked and got totally soaked. My mom was not a happy camper... Jnaki My dad's solution was to get a couple of Haliburton Aluminum cased suitcases for my mom and he was proud of his choices. They were virtually indestructible and waterproof. My brother and I still had to use the material covered smaller suitcases. So, ours stayed in the trunk and sometimes, when the trunk was overloaded, the Haliburton Aluminum suitcases went on top of the big, Buick Sedans. They fought off the elements quite well and were almost bulletproof. Many years later, instead of those classy material 50s suitcases, my wife and I took the smaller Haliburton cases with us on a 40 day European road trip. Those luggage handlers did not care about dinging any suitcases, but the aluminum ones came out unscathed. We still have them resting nicely in the attic, today. The smallest one took over the camera suitcase duties as we no longer used them for travel. A little cut out foam inserts, inside, made the cameras, lenses and other equipment secure and safe. For all the years we owned the red El Camino, that was the one necessary thing that was missing. 90% of the time, the bed was empty, so quick access to that bed compartment was just an easy lean over the back rail. The custom footwell compartment never got built as we were downsizing to smaller waterproof, Haliburton Aluminum Cases for our travel needs. They fit on the floor of each footwell of the El Camino, out of normal sight. If something was amiss, we could stop and wash our clothes at a laundry or a one hour dry cleaner store. The nagging thing about that El Camino was security. We could not go anywhere with stuff in the back without having to put everything inside, when we stopped for lunch/dinner or even touring the cities we visited. But, as 20 somethings, we did not give it much thought at the time. It was a car that took us on fabulous road trips everywhere. Plus, it allowed us to sleep back there on a moment’s notice. The problem was even during the coastal summers, the nighttime mist covered everything, including us, in the back. My camera equipment, the suitcases, the small ladder, all had to be covered when going through mist, rain or coastal fog. The leather cases did not like fog or moisture. That caused a problem. The suitcases were changed to aluminum Haliburton suitcases and that solved the moisture problem over those old material covered, antique suitcases. But, the leather camera bag took up space everywhere, INSIDE.
Keenan Wynn and Lee Marvin, Marvin usually played a tough guy role and Wynn did a little bit of everything in acting.
The Jalopy Journal
