CRICKET TRAILER TAKES IT OFFLINE 
How’d the Cricket Trailer do in its national teevee debut last night on Extreme RV, the Travel Channel’s new show? Former furnituremaker-to-the-astronauts Garrett Finney didn’t get top billing in the episode for the second version of his unique 2-wheeler pop-top vehicle, painstakingly crafted in his Woodland Heights workshop — that prize went to Simon Cowell’s behemoth 45-footer motor home. Still, the Cricket website attracted enough attention from the RV early adopter crowd to knock it off its server. From the Cricket’s Facebook page, Finney promises it’ll be back online soon. Update, 1/31: It’s back in business. [Previously on Swamplot]
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Tag: Trailers
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHERE TO SEND THAT NEW TRAVEL TRAILER FOR ITS SHAKEDOWN CRUISE “The question I have is whether or not it’d survive the conditions at Burning Man.” [‘stina, commenting on Faro Out Extra-Vehicle Activity: Cricket Trailer Prototype Hits the Streets]
Parked out front: The first working prototype of the Cricket Trailer, fashioned by International Space Station furniture designer, architect, and sometime blacksmith Garrett Finney. It’s now ready for the road! Or at least some test driving. Spotted recently tooling down Studewood, the lightweight, fits-in-your-garage camping vehicle is street legal, sporting a VIN, license plate (apparently a police officer had to come by to make sure the thing was legit), and an official Texas inspection sticker from the Kwik Kar Lube & Tune on 11th St. in the Heights.
After testing a full-scale cardboard-and-wood-frame mockup and several smaller models, Finney assembled the pop-top prototype from a custom-built frame, composite panels, and high-tech fabrics in his Woodland Heights studio. Finney, who calls his design firm Faro Studio, is aiming for a trailer light enough to be pulled by a standard 4-cylinder car.
How does the Cricket look when it’s opened up?
TRAILERS AND MOBILE HOMES SCATTER IN BAYTOWN “In addition to the 871 uninhabitable apartment units left behind by Ike, the city also listed 123 single-family homes as uninhabitable and 60, from the Lakewood, Southwest Addition and Roseland, as destroyed. To assist these citizens while they try to rebuild, Baytown City Council wasted no time in passing an ordinance allowing mobile homes on uninhabitable property until the homeowners can make repairs and move back in. Those utilizing this program can only do so for six months, with two opportunities for renewal – not to exceed 18 months. However, the city has said they won’t evict citizens making progress. ‘We have six people who are living in trailers on their private property for now,’ [planning and development director Kelly] Carpenter said. [FEMA’s Ericka] Lopez said 12 households on private sites in Baytown have requested manufactured housing from FEMA so far.” [The Baytown Sun]