Riveted aluminium aero camper Road Chief relaunched

<p>William Hawley Bowlus who was born in America in 1898 invented recreational gliding, played a significant role in developing Charles Lindbergh&rsquo;s Spirit of St. Louis, and designed the Senior Albatross, the iconic sailplane in America. He is the man behind creating the world&rsquo;s first all-aluminium structured travel trailer, known as Road Chief. Wally Byam who used to work for Bowlus, borrowed the trailer, and founded a new company called Airstream in 1931.<br /><br />The original Road Chief was a vehicle that was much ahead of its time and this aero-dynamic, mirror-finish camper beauty predated Avion and Spartan with much &eacute;lan.&nbsp; Vintage car collector John Long wrote a book on Bowlus&rsquo;s design after tracking down an original model, dismantling it, and carrying out a complete restoration work on it. Recently, three years after acquiring the trademark, he is relaunching the company keeping up with the original theme.</p> <p><img style="vertical-align: middle;" src="http://www.alcircle.com/uploads/images/bowlus-road-chief-3.jpg" alt="News" width="602" height="400" /></p> <p><br />The all-new Bowlus Road Chief Limited Edition Lithium trailing is worth a test drive. This is the first-ever monocoque camper to use lithium-ion battery technology, that enables the 2,000-watt capability to run or receive charge from an electric vehicle. It also uses solar panels to capture and store energy, which is enough to operate the camper off-the-grid for a whole week. <br /><br />The plush cabin consists of a full galley including freezer, fridge, and cooktop, &frac34; feet bathroom, Wi-Fi routers, massive skylights, theater-style table, and a bedroom, which uses twin mattresses that can be transformed into a king-sized bed. It stays cool with the help of a 8,000 BTU air conditioner. The 24 feet long Road Chief is exceptionally lightweight, weighing in less than 2,400 pounds due to the use of aluminium in its body. It&rsquo;s priced at a whopping $219,000. However, it&rsquo;s worth the money when we consider the kind of effort going behind rediscovering and restoring an amazing but deserted piece of automobile engineering.<br /><br />Road Chief will be on display at Laguna Seca at Monterey Car Week&nbsp; and also at Quail at Pebble Beach.</p>