OMG! I get comments where ever I go and I don't even own a Vintage trailer (which I heard draws even more attention)! Even if we stop at a rest area, invariably people come over to gawk (and some are even bold enough to ask to peek inside). I even see people on the side of the road pointing at us to show their friends as we drive by. It took awhile to get accustomed to.
My husband's favorite story is the time we stopped at a grocery store to pick up supplies while we were enroute to a camp ground. I stayed with the car (and trailer) reading the map while he went inside. When he came out of the store, there was no sign of me (where he left me in the car), but the trailer door was open and there was a swarm of strangers around the trailer and inside! His first thought was that something had happened to me but, as it turned out, I was just showing off the trailer to some friendly people that stopped by! Next thing you know, more people stopped by and hence the "swarm".
We just got back from eight nights on the road. We were asked only three times for tours of the inside, which was fewer than I would have expected since we have a vintage model. But in retrospect, that's OK. I liked giving the tours but too many would start to be like real work.
I think I'll never polish my trailer. Then I'd probably be inundated and never get any relaxing done on my trips!
On our most recent trip in our '54 Flying Cloud were trying to find a place to overnight in Missoula, MT. We saw a place called Jellystone RV park without any shade trees on the left but just across the street was a beautiful little RV park with lots of trees called Jim & Mary's. As it was about a 100 degrees we would welcome the shade. However, the sign out front said park was full. But we pulled in anyway.
My wife went inside to see if there were any spots available. Next thing I saw was my wife and owner (Mary) coming out and going inside our AS. A couple minutes later her husband shows up and now both of them and my wife are looking inside the trailer. They didn't have any spots remaining but they made room for our little trailer under the many shade trees near the office. He provided a long extension cord and water hose from the extremely well maintained restrooms and laundry for us.
Sometimes it does pay to have an AS as people do notice.
Also, we also had very pleasant experiences with the people working at Walmart and the wonderful waitress at the diner (Ruth's??) we ate at the following morning. Hats off to Montana courtesy.
The only comment we have gotten was from another Airstream owner. He was rigging up his blue awning lights on his Excella. (Full of dents BTW) We said Hi and that his trailer was very nice. We told him that we had a vintage Caravel across the street
He made a face and said, "Oh well, If it works for you."
We dont talk to anyone anymore unless they come to us.
On our way to the Sheboygan VAC Rally this summer, we pulled into a rest area in southern Wisconsin. Four Wisconsin state troopers were having lunch at a picnic table near where we parked, and their three cruisers were parked between our trailer and their table. I took our dogs over to the "doggy" area to do their thing and noticed the troopers watching my husband and our trailer.
I went back to the trailer with the dogs and watched two of the cruisers drive away. The third, however, pulled up right behind us, and two officers got out. Right away I started wondering to myself where the trailer registration was and if Ben really had renewed the tags. As it turns out, they just wanted to see the trailer and ended up spending about 20 minutes talking to us and looking at the trailer. The other officers had wanted to see it as well, but they thought three cars and four officers swarming the trailer would have made us nervous.
The best thing was that they thought our 32-year-old trailer was new and that we must have been really wealthy for our age to be able to buy a big new Airstream.
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Ben & Molly (but Ben never types, so it's always Molly )
We've recently got ours and were immediately overwhelmed with positive comments.
The gas station attendant kept on jumping to take a peek through the windows, people in cars slowed down to look at it and would compliment us when going by.
On the way to the campground we crossed another AS who waved at us after we honked, we smiled at each other and went our own way.
Once at the campsite we were very surprised to find another 3 AS. A 2001 Safari, an older Bambi and a 1974 Argosy, who's owners were extraordinary nice and asked us for a tour - which we gladly gave. All the lady could repeat was "it's beautiful! beautiful, beautiful!", funny the few camp neighbours we gave a tour later, repeated the same broken record word "beautiful". We really felt like proud parents!
One couple saw us pulling out and stopped us begging us to see the inside before we left, since they had heard how "beautiful" it was.
It's great owning an AS but it sure takes getting used to and loads of hard work: you can't have all these visitors in a messy AS and you have to have something to offer, cookies, cofee...
I'm sure that if you do polish your AS you'll get plenty of comments. We'd sure love to see it. Vintage is cool!
Don't let bad experiences put you down, campers are the friendliest people. Smile, say hello and they'll smile back and start conversation.
I got the "thought it was new" thing, before, too. I was showing off some pictures of it at my old office...(I had stopped in to say hello), and one guy commented that the computer business must be even better than he thought. I wasn't even sure what he meant....espcially since this guy has more expensive toys that I do. Then it dawned on my, and I said, "well, its 30 years old". he was shocked. of course, that's just from looking at a picture, but still.....
Don't feel too bad, Safari Tim, we have had the same experience. Not a single person at any of the campgrounds we've been to has so much as spoken to us. We have had two people stop us in town and ask if we wanted to sell it, but otherwise no comments at gas stations or otherwise. However, it got lots of attention at the Star Party, but hey, astronomers are stuck there all day wandering around looking for SOMETHING to do, so I'm not surprised. We did get to show it off to one couple there who had a vintage trailer themselves.
Now our 68 corvette convertible - THAT we cannot take out without honks, thumbs up, people at the store or gas station want to see under the hood. People next to us at stoplights say 'nice car' and people driving by get whiplash trying to turn and watch it go by. We get extra special treatment at the mechanic and oil change place. If we're ever feeling down and need an ego boost, we just take the vette for a drive!
In the almost one month we've had our A/S, I'm seriously considering charging admission for tours! It has been parked in my driveway until I can clear a spot in the backyard for it and has become quite a "tourist draw". My wife and I started counting on our respective fingers how many tours we've given to the neighbors and drive-bys and quickly ran out of fingers. From sheepish "you're going to think this is stupid" to "congratulations, can I see inside?", we've had a blast. We've lived in this house for 7 years and we have met more neighbors in this last month than the whole time we've been here. Several of the lookers had been considering them but dismissed them as "over the top" or somehow out of reach. After talking with them and explaining our rationale, they couldn't wait to stop by the dealer for the next step. Most everyone told me they were sure they weren't making them anymore and couldn't believe how well made they were (compared to their SOB's). Most were horrified by the mess I was making taking it somewhat apart to add a black tank flush, fantastic vent and custom wired Hott rod (and fixing some things the factory/dealer should have...rivets, caulk, etc.) saying I must be crazy for touching it. I explained that A/S's have the same attraction to me as Harley-Davidsons (I have a couple) and that customizing MY trailer was half the fun!
I can't wait to take it on the road next season! This season is over for us with the kids just starting school.
I have found that virtually everyone thinks that A/S folded. Some think it was back in the 50, others think the 80s, but virtually no one realizes that A/S stayed in continuious production and is very much alive and well.
Maybe we should have a bumper sticker that says "YES!! they still make them"
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david & bret
'02 Bambi LS
'99 34' Limited
Air Forums # 2159
President Heart of Texas Camping Unit
WBCCI # 7548
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