Do all Caravelle's have the name Caravelle on them?
While what I am about to report is based upon speculation and inference, it is something that has circulated about the Vintage Airstream community for several years. The Caravelle was a one year series for Airstream in 1980, and it had numerous similarities to the Argosy Minuet series that met its demise when the Argosy went out of production at the end of the 1979 model year. The Caravelle was offered in three lengths . . . 20-foot (6.0 Metre in Minuet) . . . 22-foot (6.7 Metre in Minuet) . . . and 24-foot (7.3 Metre in Minuet); and the Caravelle was also narrower and lighter than its typical Airstream family members. The floorplans offered were also quite similar to the 1979 Argosy Minuets . . . but there was always a family resemblance in the floorplans so this would not be unexpected with similar sized coaches. Speculation has been that Airstream may have had a surplus of Minuet components at the end of the Argosy line and that this was the method utilized to make good use of those components. The line could have just as easily been a reaction to the call for lighter trailers that could be towed by the down-sized tow vehicles resulting from the late 1970s energy crisis.
Kevin
__________________
Kevin D. Allen
WBCCI (Lifetime Member)/VAC #7864
AIR #827
1964 Overlander International
1978 Argosy Minuet 6.0 Metre
|