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Geophilist · 09-23-2006, 03:50 PM

Does anyone have an idea of how many Al-clad MoHos Airstream assembled? Is it in the hundreds, the thousands? I know there are not too many of us, but how rare are we?

Steve

RichardT · 09-23-2006, 07:14 PM

Steve check out this thread http://www.airforums.com/forum...uction+numbers For motorhome production numbers.

Geophilist · 09-23-2006, 08:59 PM

Richard,

I have read this thread. Several times. I am still not sure what the numbers mean. It looks like maybe 11,000 or so according to Alan if I am reading this correctly. Then there were the commercial ones that don't seem to fit the secquence.

I also wonder how many are still on the road.

I wonder how many of the folks in the forum have MoHos, and what percentage of all AS owners are represented here? Perhaps that could be a window into the numbers.

Steve

Chaplain Kent · 09-24-2006, 06:05 AM

When I was having a rile with an insurance company as to the value of Chummy I contacted AS to find out how many of our model were built. their reply was about 230, 280 Turbo Diesels. I am not certain where this number came from although they did state there were no actual records as to the exact number of MH produced. The Motor Homes we drive are rare and great looking.

noiva · 09-24-2006, 11:58 AM

Steve,

I did as thorough a search as I know how when I got the 370 from my brother. I think the real problem is that there is no way to have a starting point. Airstream is either genuinely not knowledgeable of how many units they built (much less how many of each model), or they have some reasons for not releasing the information. Frankly, I find it hard to believe they didn't keep some kind of records, given the fact that these vehicles, like all vehicles, have serial numbers - but that IS the first major problem. With that enormous gap, I found it impossible to know much more about the numbers. This forum appears to certainly be the largest collection of Airstream MoHo owners in the country, but even that doesn't give us much base to make informed decisions about how many are even STILL out there, much less how many were produced in the first place. As you probably know, the general assumption is that there were "about" 15 370s produced, but that is not verified by Airstream to my knowledge (although it appears the number was likely that low). There was also a very dubious general assumption that all 15 broke down on the way from the factory, as well as that they suffered from tail swag, and were so complex that they were unreliable. My contact with at least 4 other 370 owners on this forum has not found any of this to be true. None of us is having reliability problems, tail swag issues, nor any more issues than appear in the general forum discussions. (Well, I will say the axle ratio was too low

.)

Bottom line, I think it's probably impossible to get verifiable data about numbers, much less other assumptions that have been associated with certain models. I've read the thread mentioned also, and it's a good attempt to get at numbers, but we're still limited by people who participate in this forum. Very frustrating, but as a very smart man tells me quite frequently, "Don't sweat the small stuff"

.

Geophilist · 09-24-2006, 02:13 PM

Tim, Chaplalin Kent, and RichardT,

I have given the numbers on the thread mentioned by RichardT some thought, and I am wondering if there is enough data to draw some conclusions. I know little about statistics, but I bet there are those here who do.

If you look at the data, it appears that ALANSD's coach might have been built in 1981 and titled an 82. That would account for the number problem.

Taking the data from 1982 to 1990 and assuming that the numbers ae in sequence, then 1,512 coaches were built in the 8 years of data. That would work out to an average of 189 built per year. If you average the years in which we have at least two data points, you come up to an average of 115/year. So, somewhere between 100 and 200 each year. (The other assumption is that my arithmetic skills are somewhat intact after being retired for so long. Not a very good assumption).

Does this seem right? I would sure like to be able to answer the question we so often get. Up to now it has been "Not too many" from me.

As to how many are on the road still, I recall someone stating in the forum somewhere that the AS is valuable enough to repair rather than scrap in most instances.

However many of these wonderfull machines are on the road, I agree, they are great to look at.

Steve

noiva · 09-24-2006, 03:35 PM

Steven,

I think you are certainly correct in making those assumptions. For example, a 370 I was tracking on the forum was declared totaled by the insurance company after some vandalism. The owner was kind enough to send me all his manuals and papers. Although the 370 was "officially" built only in 1989, his was titled as a 1988. It shows an assembly date of late 1988, which is when they were first introduced as 1989 models. The VIN # is all I have, not the Airstream #, unfortunately. My conclusion is that Airstream labeled it a 1988. Interestingly, the manual for 1989 is basically the same manual everyone got, but with some pages added for the 370 on items that were unique to that model, as well as a Gillig chassis manual, and Ford engine/tranny manual. The odd part is that the manuals I received for the totaled "1988" model had none of the 370 pages in the Airstream manual. So, Airstream put out this particular 370 as a 1988, didn't update the Airstream manual, and never "officially" built a 1988 370 - go figure. Sorry for the long story, but along with Alan's, I think it leads credence to the idea that Airstream really didn't keep very good records, or at least not ones that always make sense.

One side note about still being on the road. The owner of the "totaled" 370 does not know what was done with the coach. According to his account, the coach wasn't totaled in any traditional sense. Just too expensive in the insurance company's view to repair all the damaged window frames and such. The irony is that he got a $37,000 settlement this past April for a coach he paid $39,500 in 1999! Not bad.

zamboni · 09-24-2006, 06:14 PM

Some basic facts we must always remember here on the forums is that...some owners of AS are members of ASforums and not all members of the forums are AS owners and ASforums members are not the majority of AS owners (though someday)...I mean, there many more AS owners than those AS owners that use the forums.

noiva · 09-24-2006, 06:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zamboni

Some basic facts we must always remember here on the forums is that...some owners of AS are members of ASforums and not all members of the forums are AS owners and ASforums members are not the majority of AS owners (though someday)...I mean, there many more AS owners than those AS owners that use the forums.

I couldn't agree more. As I wrote previously, "but we're still limited by people who participate in this forum. Very frustrating". However, the analysis of production numbers (as Steve has done) can help us draw some likely good data about the total numbers of MoHos built. Certainly not an exact science, but not totally invalid just because we can't get info from all AS owners, wouldn't you say?

Geophilist · 09-25-2006, 10:27 AM

I agree that the data we have is limited, however, it is the only data we have. (Unless AS were to "find" its production numbers). The population of AS owners is larger than the population of forum members, but some conclutions can be teased out of the subset of forum members.

It is possible to determine the number of MoHo owners on the forum. Someone in the teck area of this forum might be able to do it. I sure can't.

Think about the "typical" AS owner. I would guess that he/she is more tecky minded than the general public. That is what drew them to the "shiney ones" in the first place. There seem to be a good number of pilots as well. Tecky folks for sure. Anyway, I would think that these folks would be computer literate. Who could resist a search of their AS? There they would find the forum. There is so much good stuff here and helpful folks, that most, I think, would join. My conclusion being that the population of AS MoHo owners that are members of the forum is large. Hence, the data that we have is more likely to be representitive of all AS MoHos.

These are my assumptions.

A proper statistical analysis would lead to better numbers, but I have forgotten the process after so many years.

Steve