1961 was the first year of production for the 16' Bambi trailer. 498 units were made (250 in California & 248 in Ohio). The 2 remaining years that Airstream built Bambi trailers, they made most of them in Ohio (roughly 150 in Ohio & 35 in California per year). A total of 866 were made during their production run in the 60's. Many consider these early 60s Bambi trailers as one of the most sought after by vintage trailer collectors.California built Bambi serial numbers will start with a 16TDSSxxxx. The first trailer built started with 1600 at the end of the serial number. For example, mine is 16TDSS1728, so that means she is the 128th Bambi built in California...
Ohio built Bambis will have I61T. The 61 changes to match the year produced. For example if a Bambi had a serial that began with I63T then it was a 1963 model. Unlike the California models, they did not start at 1600. So serial number I61T235 was the 235th Bambi built in Ohio in 1961...
The above information was provided by RJ Dial and others from discussions on various list servers in the past.
If you hear any differently or have comments to add, please post them here!
Cheers,
Andy
Hello everyone!
We just bought a '61 Bambi and we think, based on the information provided above, that it was the 147th trailer manufactured in California (16TDL1747).
We saw her last Saturday and fell in love with her.
We've posted images below.
We're so excited and can't wait to start updating her interior appointments and polishing her up!
We have two questions so far, although we're sure we'll have many more as we go along.
1) Can we strip off the interior paint, which is a flat white (latex, we think) not zolatone, and get to aluminum that we can polish? The paint on the front door has a few chips and it looks like it's made of aluminum or some silver metallic material.
2) Was there an original foldout stair/step assembly?
I don't believe there was a step of any kind originally. I know mine doesn't have one.
I'm not sure if the interior walls are the same alloy as the outer walls, so I don't know if you can get them as shiny. For me I think it would be a bit too shiny, but maybe that's just me.
Hi. My Bambi's serial no. is 1STS S1802. Does this mean it was the 2nd or the 802nd trailer built in California? (pretty tired these days & might be missing something; Lower down there is a second stamp 6201).
Thanks,
Susan
I think your number should be 16TS S1802. It would be the 802 built in California. It was the second year of production for these units. I would guess that the 6201 was the production date (January 1962) of your trailer.
Can we strip off the interior paint, which is a flat white (latex, we think) not zolatone, and get to aluminum that we can polish? The paint on the front door has a few chips and it looks like it's made of aluminum or some silver metallic material.
Yes, you could strip the interior paint & polish it. Although, you should remove all the woodwork and built-ins to do so. The built-ins look to be in good shape and the stripper would damage if it it comes in contact and the polishing is VERY messy.
Shari
__________________ Vintage Airstream Club - Past President 2007/2008 WBCCI #1824 - DenCO Unit Past President (2005) AIR #30 - Join Date: 2-25-2002
I would think very hard about interior paint stripping, it's not a small job and as Shari mentioned it should really only be done if you are going to pull out the interior (bigger job then you would think). If you are not planning to take the time/energy to do a total restoration then I would try to keep things in tack and just "make improvements". The last thing you want to is to keep pulling things out and run out of time or resources. Trust me, it happened to me. I am still working on her and one day she will be a beauty but in hindsight I regret not just leaving the interior in place and fixing her up.
Ok, this Airstream thing has hit me right between the eyes. I bought ANOTHER 1963 Bambi. I think it's time for me to quit buying Airstreams until I get one ready to roll. It's beginning to look like a trailer park around here. I did unload that 1972 Safari. I think three Airstreams is enough and will be my limit. I am looking forward to renovating the two Bambi's, and am enjoying using the '65 Overlander [as a guestsuite]. I am going to be rolling with a Bambi by next spring.
__________________
Highcotton - Mike
The closest distance between two points is usually under construction.
It has taken me 2 years to get my frame and floor ready. I will have the floor completely installed in our '61 Bambi.
I have also re-wired the 12v pigtail eliminating the need for the cable on the street functions. I will keep the cable and plug for the originality of the Bambi SR no. "1631"
We purchased a 62 Bambi last year. It is #162T449. It was in great shape when we bought it. We had it professionally polished and some major interior updating. It is a real head turner now!
I purchased a Bambi that ends in 601...does that make mine the first or second one built?i.e. is the first one 600? If so the one ending in 128 would actually be the 129th one built..or is my math wrong???
Hello everyone. I have installed the new floor, purchased a new 20 gal. water tank and demand pump. I also wired in a fuse panel, eliminateing the gob of soldered wires.
I begun the prep to repaint the inside. If anyone is interested, the end caps on my '61 are fiberglass, not sure if they are all that way or not.
I am installing LED marker lights on the rear and LED pancake tail lights. Once the painting is comlete, I will begin instlation of the new flooring.
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