Hard to find AS history on internet

[aircooled4]

With the purchase of a rare 1958 World Traveler, we have a renewed interested in finding (scoping) Airstream history, especially as related to the world caravans. But there's one problem: history of the caravans, and AS's in general for that matter, are hard to find on the internet!!

Where can you find the documentary episodes of the caravans that were narrated by Vincent Price? Why isn't the PBS Airstream episode of History Detectives on YouTube even though so many others are?

We know there's great info out there, but there doesn't seem to be a central location for all this. Are we just missing the mark???

[goransons]

We have a trailer from the 63 Around the World Caravan and just got a whole bunch of color scans of slides from the trip posted on our photobucket.. Congrats on the new rig, I know there will be plenty of people jealous of your new toy!

Around the World Caravan Photos by the Tolles pictures by sgoranson - Photobucket


Airstream and WBCCI History - PeeWee Schwamborn is Peewee's info from the various caravans etc...

[aircooled4]

Thanks Scott and Megan!!

We've been told that ours did not go on a caravan. However, since it was built exactly for that purpose, we keep hoping that perhaps there was an "oversight"

Any more old pics we could find would be great. But I'd still love to see some of the movie/tv documentaries of AS in general. We're hoping to visit the factory in a couple weeks, so maybe they'd have something there??

[cosmotini]

The limited edition (aluminum holder) of the book Wanderlust Airstream at 75 came with a nice DVD with the Cape to Cairo narrated by Vincent Price.

The Cape to Cairo rally participants last September also received another nice DVD full of images and movies.

Contact Soldiermedic to see if he can provide any info on where to get one.

[aircooled4]

Thanks Dennis!! We'll have to do that...

[azflycaster]

To view the PBS show go here: Season 6, Episode 4 | History Detectives | PBS Video
Fast forward 18 minutes and 30 seconds.

[aircooled4]

Originally Posted by azflycaster

To view the PBS show go here: Season 6, Episode 4 | History Detectives | PBS Video
Fast forward 18 minutes and 30 seconds.

You guys are all awesome; what a resource this forum is!!

Thanks Richard! We can't seem to make the video work. But looks like we can purchase it. Thanks for pointing us there!

[azflycaster]

You might need to update your Adobe Flash Player.

[CanoeStream]

It looks like questions about the travels and suggested limits for this trailer were posted by Fred at http://www.airforums.com/forums/f142...tml#post816234. Somebody liked the type and had the California plant build one? And then stayed close to home?

There is some documentation of which people attended which events but you are right in assuming that this has not been put on the internet in any organized fashion.

streamer23 has a fairly full collection of WBCCI directories. You might message and see how long #918 & the Leuenbergers were registered. PeeWee is a resource as some have said (he's not posting regularly here but may respond to a PM). I don't recall right off who has posted broader rally attendance figures -- but it does tend to come out on occasion. Good luck in your quest!

[aircooled4]

Originally Posted by CanoeStream

It looks like questions about the travels and suggested limits for this trailer were posted by Fred at http://www.airforums.com/forums/f142...tml#post816234. Somebody liked the type and had the California plant build one? And then stayed close to home?

There is some documentation of which people attended which events but you are right in assuming that this has not been put on the internet in any organized fashion.

streamer23 has a fairly full collection of WBCCI directories. You might message and see how long #918 & the Leuenbergers were registered. PeeWee is a resource as some have said (he's not posting regularly here but may respond to a PM). I don't recall right off who has posted broader rally attendance figures -- but it does tend to come out on occasion. Good luck in your quest!

Thanks Bob. We're not really thinking we're going to find much about our trailer in particular, but we're really just looking to browse other historical documents, pictures, brochures, etc. regarding the caravans. Just having a trailer that was built for caravanning has piqued our interest in the caravans themselves.

We've PM'd SoldierMedic in the hopes of gaining a DVD of the Capetown to Cairo documentation. We're grateful for any info people have to offer!

[soldiermedic]

PeeWee contributes tons of relevant data on past caravans at Sierra Nevada Airstreams

Check it out!

Steve

[Yhottys]

aircooled4,

You may want to consider purchasing or borrowing MacGregor Smith's book, "Thank You Marco Polo". It documents the Around The World Caravan. The attendees are listed by name and WBCCI number.

Aah, if only our trailers could talk-what tales they could tell!

Good luck with your research and please keep us posted with what you learn!

[aircooled4]

Thanks Gemma and Murray! We're hoping to get to "the Mothership" in a couple weeks to learn what we can about restoring this trailer; who knows what we'll find around that place?!

Thanks for the tip on that book. We'll keep an eye out for one!

[66Overlander]

You are right that not much is available on the internet about the big caravans of the past. I have been researching the 1959-60 Cape Town to Cairo and 1963-64 Around the World (ATW) Caravans and have written stories about them for the Vintage Airstream Club (VAC) Newsletter (the Vintage Advantage) and even a short story for the last Blue Beret. Much of what I have discovered came from reading written accounts from books and magazines. It takes lots of research from various sources to piece the stories together.

Fred Coldwell, the past VAC Historian, did a great deal to advance our knowledge of the technical details of vintage Airstreams. As the new VAC Historian, my main focus is to develop our knowledge about how those vintage Airstreams were used (i.e. caravans and rallies, etc.).

As time goes on I will continue to publish articles on the African and ATW caravans as I discover more information about them and I have plans to research and write about other caravans, too. But progress will be slow as I have other interests, like my job and restoring my 1955 Airstream. The best way to keep up to date would be to become a VAC member as I intend to publish my findings in the Vintage Advantage.

[aircooled4]

Thanks Joe... beat ya to it though! We're already VAC members!!!

We look forward to reading more of your publishings!