Made the move...

[newsgauger]

I joined the Airforums back in July of 2010, knowing that someday I would purchase an Airstream trailer. This was greatly influenced by my good friend out on Oregon, USA.

Since 2010 I have read many threads, looked at lots of pictures and narrowed my selection of trailers from 31’ with lots of room to middle bath shorter units. Weight specifications kept me in the mid 70’s and I certainly wanted units with fresh, grey and black water tanks.

My continued search in Ontario, Canada, led me to a couple of units, one that an Airforums member – DavidsonOverlander (Grant) help me with the inspection. As it turned out this unit had been neglected for many years and looked like a money pit. The road that I didn’t really want to go down

In speaking with my friend in Oregon he pointed me towards the Argosy line, as one of my many comments was “as you enter the trailer there is really no where to hang your coat.” Something that I found very odd in trailer setups.

Well, recently I made the move and purchased what, for all important appearances is an Argosy 28, built in 1976 and sold in March 1997 in Ellwood City, PA, USA. However, the brand name is Kustom Koach out of Medicine Hat Alberta, Canada…how can that be?

As you can see the Airstream/Argosy tag was removed and in its place is the tag from Kustom Koach. Hopefully, all of the knowledgeable members on the forum can give some insight to the how’s and why’s.

Grant, DavidsonOverlander, was kind enough to lend his driving experience Sunday past and assisted me in bringing it home.

As many before me have said, “Now the journey begins…” I look forward to uncovering the jewels of this trailer and hopefully will see some of you this summer at a local gathering.

Chris
newsgauger

[newsgauger]

Some pitucres of the interior

[newsgauger]

This last picture shows the Kustom Koach emblem covering the Argosy label.

[macofpei]

Welcome to the forms. Great pics

[Splitrock]

Nice! Good job! What's it titled as?

[newsgauger]

Hi Splitrock,

Titled as Kustom Koach.

It makes me wonder how many others there out there just like mine?

Oh, the two (2) Argosy name plates were on a shelf.

Chris
newsgauger

[newsgauger]

Thanks Mac.

[hissilver]

Congrats....see on the road...

[DavidsonOverlander]

Originally Posted by newsgauger

As you can see the Airstream/Argosy tag was removed and in its place is the tag from Kustom Koach. Hopefully, all of the knowledgeable members on the forum can give some insight to the how’s and why’s.

Hi Chris,

I found the web site for Kustom Koach, which gives the history of the company, but doesn't explain their name on an Argosy. Maybe if you write to them they could tell you some of the history of the trailer.

[rogerdodger]

Welcome to the forums and the wonderful world of Argosys. And thanks for the pics, we like lots of pics.

[Splitrock]

Me thinks there's a woodchuck in the wood pile.


`

[newsgauger]

I sent an E-mail to Kustom Koach to see what I could find out about my new-to-me trailer.

This is the response that I received from their Service Advisor..."Hi chris...unfortunately there are no warranty cards or paper work we can supply..there is a repair manual that you can purchase from any rv past dept..that will help on appliance repairs etc...the company that built the unit went out of business 2 years ago.."

With it being so long ago, over 35 years, they don't have any records to help me with it's heritage.

Oh well,
Chris

[DKB_SATX]

The more Argosy members the better, I'm going to call it an Argosy no matter what Kustom Koach tried to do to it. You do, however, have an interesting story to tell!

Welcome to the Forums and to the Argosy crew!

[DavidsonOverlander]

I saw nothing about this trailer to indicate that it is anything but an Argosy, with the exception of the Kustom Koach badges. My first thought when Chris told me about this was that perhaps Kustom Koach had purchased a shell and finished it inside in their own design, or gutted an Argosy and done the same, but I didn't see anything that didn't look like it came from the Argosy factory.

[Splitrock]

One time I bought a chicken that looked like a duck. It walked like a duck, quacked like a duck, and liked water, but the bill of sale said it was a chicken. I kept thinking . . . somewhere there's a farmer missing a duck.


`

[newsgauger]

Splitrock,

Wow, that is so true and the other side of the story is that I could have the 'Golden Goose'. You know 'The One of a Kind' article!

None the less, I am looking forward to putting this wonderful Argosy 28 (aka Kustom Koach) back on the road.

Chris
newsgauger

[aftermath]

How can one company simply cover up the Argosy name and claim that it is something else? Wouldn't that be the same as Chevrolet taking the Mustang name off of a Ford and calling it a Camaro? This has to be illegal.

We need Crawford Gene to weigh in on this one.

Regardless of the apparent theft of a company trademark, your Argosy looks like a good one.

[Gene]

Aftermath, thanks for letting me show my ignorance.

They didn't use the tradename "Argosy", so there's no problem there. They may have rebadged it and maybe there's a question of a design patent, but first you'd have to show there is a design patent and I have doubts Wally ever patented his designs. If he did, they may have expired by the time this trailer was built. But someone would have to look that up.

There could be a problem with misrepresentation or fraud if they copied Airstream's trailer and called it an Airstream or Argosy. There'd also be clear tradename infringement. But this is the reverse. How would anyone be damaged by buying a trailer with the wrong name on it? Maybe they could claim the cost of the proper badges and the labor, but the badges were left in it (or someone got them later and planned to change them?). Presumably, an Argosy badged trailer would be more valuable than the KK badge in the US, but the reverse may be true in Canada back in the '70's. Hard to have had a claim based on that back then.

Are those Argosy badges left in the trailer brand new or were they used and weathered? That may help flesh out the story.

Maybe Kustom Koach bought some Argosies and rebadged them so they'd have more product to sell in Canada. If they had permission from Airstream, no problem. It is not unusual for a US company to sell products in Canada under another name so Canadians think they made it themselves. KK could have been a distributor for Argosies in Canada. They may have made some modifications to conform to Canadian law making it easier to rebadge them. But leaving some Argosy badges in the trailer, or covering them up so badly—that is strange and maybe stupid. However doing stupid things is not unusual and provides lawyers with a steady income. But if you wanted to sell it to someone who brought it to the US, leaving the Argosy badges makes sense.

Is it also possible a dealer did this for some reason lost to time.

I'm not sure it worth the time to research this, although if I were the owner I'd start out with asking Airstream about it. It already provides some interesting stories and maybe that is good enough.

What is important is it sure looks like an Argosy even though it is titled as a KK (lucky it wasn't the Kustom Koach Kompany). Looks to be in good condition too.

Gene

[Splitrock]

Originally Posted by newsgauger

<snip>an Argosy 28, built in 1976 and sold in March 1997 in Ellwood City, PA, USA. However, the brand name is Kustom Koach out of Medicine Hat Alberta, Canada…<snip>

So . . . the trailer was manufactured in 1976 by Airstream, badged as an Argosy, probably titled as an Argosy, then sold in the United States in 1997 with a Kustom Koach title?

How many legitimate reasons could there be for a title (and badge) switch?

What am I missing?

`

[Del Gurney]

Or maybe it's a "draft dodger" trailer :-D