1962 24' Oddball?

[Mark in Modesto]

I have owned my '62, 24' Airstream (Tradewind?) for nearly twenty years, written
the company, gone to Airstream events, flagged down other owners and have
never found anything about, or seen, another one like mine. Perhaps someone on this forum can assist?

What I have is (registered as) a 1962, twenty-four footer. The blue serial
number plate, next to the door,is about 4" x 9 1/2" with the guy on a
bicycle on the left and the stamped data to the right, laid out like this:

24DS S0706
10 61

The layout is similar to the '62 TradeWind shown, but my head is in the port
quarter. The counter with porcelain sink runs across the back and there's a small
fiberglass tub (gold metal-flake, no less!) occupying the port quarter. The galley is on the port side, with a gaucho across. The settee in the front converts to a double (uh huh) bed. There is no access door on the " back of the outside, as found on later models. But here's what makes mine different:

It has a tandem, Dura-Torque axle (other 24 footer circa 1962 have single axles);

It has Jalousie windows (like the '64), stacked one above the other, just forward of the door. Likewise on the port side.

The real oddity about this trailer is that one exterior panel (at about head-height) is a gold anodized color for the length of the trailer. I have seen Silver Streaks with this feature, but never an Airstream, yet I'm sure it was done at the factory.

Airstream (fifteen years ago) didn't have a clue and suggested it might be (what they called) a "lead" (leed, not led!) trailer, which (they said) would have had
all the options available for that model, that year, and was built to lead one of the
many Wally Byam caravans (and to plug the options to prospective new
buyers).

Might anyone be able to tell me something about my trailer?


Thanks,

Mark