Hpo Vehicle One Covers

Vehicle One was a bus, built in 1941 to sort and deliver mail while traveling on highways. It operated between Washington, D.C., and Harrisonburg, Virginia. It allowed postal clerks to organize mail during the trip. After traveling about 750,000 miles, the bus was retired in 1955 and donated to the Smithsonian Institution. After being restored in 1988, it made a reenactment trip of the original route. The USPS gave the Smithsonian a one-day contract to deliver the mail on this trip. This event cover has a special cancellation that was created by the United States Postal Service (USPS) for the trip.

After being retired in 1955, Vehicle No. 1 was renovated in 1958 to participate in the Overland Mail Caravan from Tipton, Missouri to San Francisco following the route of the Butterfield stages. This caravan was part of the observance of the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Overland Mail. Reaching San Francisco on Oct, 10, Vehicle No. 1 took part in the ceremonies which accompanied the issuance of the Commemorative stamp used on this cover.
Mendocino was about to celebrate 100 years of postal service with dedication of a new Post Office, and the Post Office authorized Vehicle No. 1 to participate.

Thanks, that is great information that I did not know. I will keep my eye out for covers.

I collect the Butterfield Mail illustrated stage coach covers



As an add-on I sometimes buy the 100th anniversary envelopes with illustrated stage coach designs. Thanks to this thread, I learned that I have an HPO-1 design

You're both welcome! Glad I could offer some help.

A great resource for this topic:

https://stampsmarter.org/Learning/HPOHome.html

RIP Don