Please join me in congratulating the latest inductees into the Alabama Manufactured Housing Industry Hall of Fame.

I’m not making this up. I have the press release to prove it.

Memories

My hall of fame discovery brought back memories from years ago when I attended an editorial board meeting with a group representing the manufactured housing industry. Their mission was to persuade newspaper editors to help dispel negative stereotypes about their products.

The group asked us not to use derogatory terms such as “house trailer” and “mobile home.” I am not sure when house trailers evolved into mobile homes, but 1976 was the year mobile homes transformed into manufactured housing.

One representative in our meeting vouched for the safety of manufactured housing.

If the dwelling is properly anchored, he said, he would rather ride out a tornado in a manufactured home than a stick-built house.

I tried to picture a scene in which he might yell, “Quick kids! A twister! Run for the manufactured housing!”

Incidentally, the National Weather Service recommends running in the opposite direction.

One of the greatest actors of all times — Tow Mater — re-enforces old stereotypes about mobile homes. Mater is the talking tow truck from the animated “Cars” movie.

“I’m happier ‘n’ a tornado in a trailer park!” he exclaims.

The manufactured housing industry should call Mater in for an editorial board meeting. They should invite comedian Jeff Foxworthy, too. How many of his punch lines end with “wheels on it”?

But Foxworthy would probably offend everyone in the room by asking if the Alabama House Trailer Hall of Fame has wheels on it.

Good sports

Despite the sensitivity of industry officials, most people who actually live in manufactured houses are pretty good sports about the jokes.

Manufactured housing might be a good choice for some. They can get more square footage for less money. And Alabama has plenty of inexpensive vacant property. Also, the modern version of manufactured housing looks more like a regular house than a tin box on wheels.

But anti-debt crusader Dave Ramsey says it’s a bad investment because it usually depreciates in value rather than appreciates like a traditional house.

“Mathematically, when you buy a mobile home, you’re buying a very large car in which to live,” he writes in a column published by uticaod.com.

I’m guessing Ramsey, Tow Mater, Foxworthy and yours truly will never be inducted into the manufactured housing hall of fame.

Scott Morris, executive editor of the TimesDaily in Florence, can be reached at 256-740-5721 or scott.morris@timesdaily.com.