Well, I've seen David post around here, so maybe he knows more about this "classic" project than we do!
Anyways, good luck!
Mary
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Airstream makeover tests talents of local designer
Thursday, March 31, 2005
By John Hogan
The Grand Rapids Press
ADA -- The cult-like following enjoyed by aluminum-clad Airstream trailers may prove lucrative for David Winick, a self-employed designer.
The professed Airstream junkie has been tapped to help build a prototype of Airstream's 19-foot Bambi in his Ada-area workshop.
He'll have to work fast: Airstream wants the finished product in early June. It will be rolled out this summer at Airstream's 75th anniversary celebration.
The Ohio-based company tapped Winick to work on 75 of the limited edition, commemorative trailers. The price has not been determined, but Winick said he believes they will sell for at least $45,000.
If response if good, a second order for 75 more trailers will be placed, he said.
"We are working in collaboration on the prototype," Winick said. "They'll assemble the body and send it to me to work on the interior. It will be an empty trailer when it gets here."
Working in a well-equipped 40-foot by 55-foot workshop behind his home, Winick will finish the interior of the classic Bambi model, introduced in the 1960s.
Once the prototype is done, he'll build high-end interiors for the 75th anniversary edition Bambi. Assembly will take place at company headquarters in Jackson Center, Ohio.
"Basically, it is like building a house," said Winick, a 1969 East Grand Rapids High School graduate who studied art in Grand Rapids and Colorado. "You start with the foundation and build up."
Winick, owner of Winick Design Studio in Ada, is not the sort to buckle under deadline pressure.
The athletic 53-year-old in January was on a five-person team charged with building a
1950 Nashua trailer from the ground up. Winick was the sole designer working with four builders under the glare of television cameras. They were working for an upcoming episode of Monster House.
"We did 85 hours of work in five days," Winick said. "Work and eat; that was about it."
The episode, titled "Good Ol' Boy Trailer," will air at 8 p.m. Friday on the Discovery Channel.
For his efforts, Winick got $3,000 in power tools.
He was tapped for the show by a Monster House producer who happened upon his Web site. Winick about three years ago created a separate site devoted to Airstream trailers,
www.vintagetrailering.com.
"I'm amazed at the number of hits it gets," he said.
Winick has restored six Airstream trailers, a venture that started in 2002 when he bought his first in California. He drove it back to Michigan, restored it, and was hooked.
Winick was at an Airstream rally in Lansing last summer when company officials got a look at his work and asked him to help with the 75th anniversary model. He did not hesitate.
"I've always liked the shape of these since I was a kid," Winick said.
And he is not alone.
Airstreams suddenly are hip. Actor Matthew McConaughey owns one. A recent episode of NBC's "The Apprentice" featured an Airstream, while Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie took a cross- country Airstream trip on their Fox program, "The Simple Life."
Airstream trailer sales hit a record $1.4 billion last year -- a jump of 83 percent in just two years.
Winick appreciates the classic style, but notes some devotees can take the Airstream obsession too far.
"There's a fine line between cool and weird," he said.