How did you get into Airstreams & Airstreaming?

83Excella · 04-14-2002, 06:57 PM

How did I get into Airstreaming? I went camping alot as a kid with my parents and those times are some of my most cherished memories as a kid so I wanted to start camping again and pass the fun of it onto my daughter so we went to an RV show and started looking. I just wanted a pop-up, but my wife said "I want solid walls and a bathroom" so we looked at trailers and there were some models we liked but in the back of my mind I knew these trailers were just screwed together with wood screws and will pull itself apart with all the twisting and bouncing from the road and if we ever got in an accident it would literally disintigrate as I have seen many times driving past an accident scene involving a trailer or MH. They just are'nt built to last.
Then I remember'ed my dad commenting once how well Airstreams are built and the search began. After not finding any used ones locally I went to an Airstream dealer near Kansas City and looked at the 27' Safari and we were going to go for it but the day before we were going to sign the papers we chickened out, it was just too much money. We then heard a friend of the family was selling their Airstream and after going through it three times we shook hands and the rest is history. Now we love to go camping (yes, even my wife) and my daughter thinks its GREAT. Although it can be stressful on a couple/family, packing unpacking, hitching/unhitching, getting lost, etc... I think its the best quality time a family can have.

John

Don · 04-15-2002, 07:46 AM

We were fortunate enough to inherit my parents 1980 Excella 2. This worked out well since we have four kids and like to camp. It was a nice gift and our family really enjoys it . We were also interested in a pop-up trailer but my folks had hauled the Airstream around the country a couple of times and were ready to settle down to time-sharing instead of trailering. When they asked us if we wanted the it we did not hesitate to say yes. I believe they were the second owners. They used it for about 15 years. It needs some fixing up here and there but all in all it is a nice trailer. it is 31' center bath with a queen bed in the back and the sofa pulls out in the front. Everything works and it has the slotted aluminum wheels (which I try to keep shiny..."it ain't cool if your chrome don't shine").
I agree with you John, some of my best memories and love for the outdoors came from camping as a kid with my family. Now I hope I can pass that along to my kids too. My wife chronicles our events with photos in albums (it won't let me spell "s****book")as a hobby and all the pages about summer fun in the book have our camping pictures as well as a few of the airstream too. Don

**jcanavera** · 04-15-2002, 09:04 AM

We bought our first Airstream new last year. We have been camping since early 1970 using an old VW bus, tent, 2 pop up campers, a Hi-Lo, and an Electra travel trailer.

My wife and I had looked at Airstreams at the local RV shows in the past, but I never liked the inside tunnel vision from the rounded sides.

It had been years since we looked again but at last years RV show we saw the 70th anniversary slide out unit. This was the first time we saw a wide body from the inside and it knocked our eyes out. Well the price was well out of our ballpark and the weight of the trailer was beyond my tow vehicle capacity. So we sighed and I went back in for one last look.

While prowling around I found the Airstream booklet with the different models and dropped it in my RV show bag. Later on that week I resurrected the book and found the Safari line. I told my wife that there was a "light weight" Airstream that we could pull and asked if she wanted to visit the local dealership. She agreed and four weeks later we made up our mind to sell our Electra and buy the Airstream.

Jack

davidz71 · 04-15-2002, 09:15 AM

I lived in TX. when growing up, was a Boy Scout and loved to camp out. I have tent camped for 22 years while deer hunting and finally got tired of the rain blowing tent sides in, twisting poles and putting pans on the floor where the tent leaked. I was always warm in my sleeping bag but those 14-20 degree mornings were rough getting dressed for the morning hunt. I finally had enough. Some of my friends were in popups and then graduated to the hardside trailers. I bypassed the popup and bought the Airstream and have never regretted it. It is the only Airstream in the hunting camp of some 50 trailers during hunting season and does it stand out. I've always wanted an Airstream and get chills whenever I see another one on the highway.

dmreilly10000 · 09-19-2007, 03:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidz71

I lived in TX. when growing up, was a Boy Scout and loved to camp out. I have tent camped for 22 years while deer hunting and finally got tired of the rain blowing tent sides in, twisting poles and putting pans on the floor where the tent leaked. I was always warm in my sleeping bag but those 14-20 degree mornings were rough getting dressed for the morning hunt. I finally had enough. Some of my friends were in popups and then graduated to the hardside trailers. I bypassed the popup and bought the Airstream and have never regretted it. It is the only Airstream in the hunting camp of some 50 trailers during hunting season and does it stand out. I've always wanted an Airstream and get chills whenever I see another one on the highway.

My story is pretty much the same as yours. Boy Scouts, tents, and hunting camps. I started out at deer camp with a tent, then graduated to a back yard storage building built up on a plywood base. I then bought a 26' SOB. It had leaking problems and smelled "funky" no matter how much I cleaned. Another guy in the camp had an Argosy trailer. Even though it had sat under an oak tree for years and the white paint was green with moss on the outside, the inside was perfect. No leaks, no smell. A "perpetual trailer"!!. I sold the SOB and bought a 1963 Overlander. I restored it and even took a vacation to Branson Missouri in it. I then bought a 1953 Cruiser to restore. When my family came along, I bought a 1991 34' Excella. I owned 3 at once. (crazy

). I am now down to the 1953. My wife wants to buy a 5th wheel trailer when finances work out

.

Alaska1966 · 09-19-2007, 03:34 PM

Growing up, my parents sold antiques. So, I always had a special place for things that were old. I always thought "WOW" when they have driven by.
Now that my children are getting older and the sports are becoming travel events. It was time to look into something. One plays competitive soccer (they just won state!!! Hawaii here we come) and they both do freestyle wrestling. That includes about 5-6 road trips a year for us. Hotel bills in the summer here are crazy. I could have payed off a few Airstreams by now. I kept telling my husband "What are we doing?" So we began looking. After looking into a Land Yacht and being heart broken when someone outbid us. We found a Caravel in the paper a week later. First callers in the morning and it was ours. WE LOVE OUR AIRSTREAM...

AlbertF · 09-19-2007, 06:21 PM

It was during a conversation with a brother-in-law a few years ago that I realized a travel trailer made a lot of sense for family vacations - economical (once the initial cost is addressed), convenient, comfortable, flexible. I started researching, and my wife and I came to the conclusion that we could settle for something less than an Airstream, but we wouldn't be happy. For us, form follows function, and quality is something worth paying for.

The old Overlander always needs some attention, but it's a hobby, and we've gotten plenty of use out of it in the first year of ownership. We're looking forward to many trips with our sons.

drag'nwagon · 09-19-2007, 07:34 PM

It was all her fault...!!!! She found it and had to have it. That's about all there is to it.

apple 1 · 04-15-2002, 09:46 AM

I raced sports cars with SCCA from '68 - '85. When traveling around the mid-west to various race tracks my wife and I camped in the full size van we towed the car trailer with. When the kids came along we raced only in the local area so we could stay at home, as there wasn't room in the van. Comming home from the race track in August of '80 we spotted a used Airstream for sale and stopped and looked at it. The track where we were racing has a nice camp ground with water and electrical hook ups where many of our fellow racers spent the weekend. After talking to a friend at work who owned an Airstream we went back and bought the tralier. It was a 1965 22' Safari that need a lot of work. We fixed the trailer up and used it for 8 years before selling it (in '88) to a good friend who used it until 1998 when he sold it to buy an Airstream classic motorhome.

We had started to travel around the country with the Safari and found it was the best way to go with the kids, who loved to camp. We sold the Safari to purchase a '81 31' Excella II from another friend whose kids had grown and he had just gone through a divorce. This was a great trailer, it was a rear bath with center twin beds with factory installed upper bunks. This was great with the kids as they could bring along friends.

After the kids left home for college we decide to purchase a new wide body for our retirement years. In '96 we ordered a 30' Excella 1000 with rear queen bed and center bath. This is our current trailer which we enjoy.

Over the years we have traveled to 45 states and have many great memories. This August we will pick up the last three states when we travel west again. We are going to the Monterey Historic Races with one of my old race cars and after the race will be headed to Oregon, Washington, and Idaho which will complete all 48 states.

thenewkid64 · 04-15-2002, 10:26 AM

In 1994 I bought a Ford Pickup with the factory tow package; my wife and I had been truck camping and decided to try a trailer. We looked at used pop-ups; I wanted something that was easy to tow. All of the used pop-ups we looked at were terrible! Even the new ones had the weird smell from all of the particleboard. So we started researching and found out that we could buy a used Airstream for about the same money as a pop-up.

We went to a dealer that was 5 hours away and purchased a '74 27ft Overlander. We loved it and trade up 2 years later to a 31ft Sovereign. We semi-retired in 1997 and full-timed in the 31 ft for 2+ years. After rejoining the work force we found we really did not have time to use the trailer and sold it.

We have recently re-joined the Airstream ranks and have a 28ft Argosy Motorhome. We love it!

LKappenman · 04-15-2002, 11:07 AM

I was one who said NEVER would I want to go camping. At the time my ideas of camping were a motel 6. I thought of it as work without the conviences of home. Well we bought our AS 31 FT MH and I love it. And how can you call it camping we have all the comforts of home plus a built in blender/food processor/knife sharpener etc. Micro convection and Ice maker. At the time (7 years ago) I didn't have some of those in my home. We have met wonderful people that you never would meet at a hotel. Carring and very helpful people from all walks of life. I wouldn't consider ever giving up our Airstream. Dave and Louise

ALANSD · 04-15-2002, 11:16 AM

I have camped since my Boy Scout days also. I had a VW Vanagon, with the pop-top and ice box that served me well in the early 70's. Then a few Ford Vans I converted..hadn't camped in quite a few years, and then last summer I saw an Airstream motorhome in someone's driveway. I flipped around and stood there like a nut case trying to figure out how they got their trailer to look like a silver bus....after much research and realizing that yes Airstream did make a motorhome- we actually came across one for sale, after we checked it out, and realized the fun we could be having...I spent 2 months looking for one to buy. Found ours an 8+ hour drive away, and now we are having a great time working on it, and driving and staying in it as often as we can.
I too love to see the trailers on the road.

Inland RV Center, In · 04-15-2002, 12:57 PM

A friend of mine, that was an officer in the Air Force, bought a 1966 30 foot Airstream, in the early part of 1966, from a dealer in San Antonio. He wanted the Airstream roof airconditioner installed. The dealer said "we don't know how." My friend said "I have a friend (me) that I think can do it. So the dealer got the Airstream AC, and my friend got the keys to that dealers shop. We went in at night time to get the job done. I had never seen an inside of an Airstream until then. I looked at a couple of other new Airstreams, to see how the factory did it. Seemed simple to me, so we proceeded, cautiously, with the installation. We did not finish the installation that night, so we came back the next night. We then saw that the dealer was also installing the same type of AC in another trailer, but went no further than we had gone. That second night, our installation was completed, and tested. WOW!! It work and work well. The next day, I received a call from the owner of that dealership, wanting to talk to me, the next night.
I went to visit that next evening, and he started off by asking me, what kind of work I did. After I told him, he offered me a job, working on Airstreams.
In one month, I was the "working service manager."
That was in June of 1966.
My life has not been the same since.

Andy

Jim W · 04-15-2002, 05:43 PM

In 1965 I bought a new VW bug & a tent & four sleeping bags for the family. We went our first camping trip to the Russian river in N Cal. The kids & I liked it, but my wife didn't care much for it, but kept going with us for a few years. We kind of just stopped after a few years. The years I worked, I kept planning on buying a RV when I retired. I retired in 1992 & my wife & talked about it. We decided on a used TT so we could sell it & not lose to much$$. We found a 15 year old 31' A/S. Rear twins & very good shape that I got for $7500. With in two weeks we took off for Oregon too meet up with some friends that use to spend the Summer in Netarts bay. For these ten years we get out for 4 to 8 weeks a year & a few week ends. My wife likes it better than she thought she would & I like it alot. Wife can only take about four weeks before she wants to come home. Its been great time. My 41 year old son loves it. We go out a couple of times a years. We always go to the Russian river to watch the world series. He has a 9 mo old son & can't wait to take him with us. I told him okay when he gets him house broke. He thought that was a good idea.