Age Ranges

[helloimnolan]

Hey! I just joined this forum. I'm just curious about the generational stratigraphy of this group and Airstream owners in general. I feel like I'm probably a candidate for the youngest member of this forum.

I'm 24. I'm currently renovating a 67 Overlander 27 (The Studio) and a 71 Sovereign 31 (The Residence). I'm about to close on a piece of land near Lake Erie where I live in Cleveland, and the plan is to live and work out of the trailers. I'm very excited.

I'm wondering how old my fellow Airstream stewards are, what stage in your lives and careers you're in, and what the Airstream symbolizes to you.

[PKI]

Welcome to the forum. Thanks for making the effort to bring one of the vintage coaches back to use.

Join the WBCCI in your area and meet your fellow ASers.

Get the coach up to aluminum tent safe travel status and meet your fellow ASers on the road.

Hope to see you down the road. Pat

[TouringDan]

Hello and welcome to the insanity. Great that you have a 67. I like the 66-68 Airstreams the best, but I am biased. I have done a fair amount of work on mine to get it just the way I want it. You can take a look at the thread Dan’s 66Tradewind Improvements.

I am semi retired. I don’t think that I will ever retire completely. I am a home inspector/fixer upper.

I have always admired Airstreams in the same way that I have always admired and wanted to own Porsche’s and BMW’s.

Dan

[flynmike]

I'm 60 but I've been towing Airstreams for 30 years. My first was a 65 Caravel (wish I'd kept that one but I know where she is). Next I had a 76 Globe Trotter but only for a couple years then a 29 foot Sovereign. I've had my Classic the longest at 12 years now and plan on keeping this one indefinitely. It's an awesome trailer. I'm retired from parallel careers in Law Enforcement and The Air Force/Air Force Reserve.

For me the Airstream is many things. Classic style and a huge cool factor. As a pilot and huge aviation geek I really like the aerodynamic design and that the Airstream is really built to last.

[Protagonist]

I'm 59 years old, for the first— but not necessarily the last— time. Any year now I expect to stop counting and hold on where I'm at.

I bought my 2012 Airstream almost 6 years ago, in December 2011. I was still working for a living when I bought my Airstream, because I've known too many coworkers who had no idea what to do with themselves after they retired, and I figured RV camping was an excellent retirement hobby to keep me active and involved. So from the time I bought my Airstream until I retired, every camping trip was "retirement practice." And my first AirForums rally after I retired— Canopener 2015, less than a week after I retired— was my official "retirement party."

I retired from the US Army Corps of Engineers in January 2015 after 34 years of Federal service, which ought to be enough punishment for any one man to take. Just kidding. My career was interesting, varied, and mostly enjoyable because of the great variety of projects I worked on, so it never got a chance to become stale or repetitive. That's the difference between having 34 years of experience and having 1 year of experience 34 times!

[helloimnolan]

Originally Posted by flynmike

I'm 60 but I've been towing Airstreams for 30 years. My first was a 65 Caravel (wish I'd kept that one but I know where she is). Next I had a 76 Globe Trotter but only for a couple years then a 29 foot Sovereign. I've had my Classic the longest at 12 years now and plan on keeping this one indefinitely. It's an awesome trailer. I'm retired from parallel careers in Law Enforcement and The Air Force/Air Force Reserve.

For me the Airstream is many things. Classic style and a huge cool factor. As a pilot and huge aviation geek I really like the aerodynamic design and that the Airstream is really built to last.

My dad is a test pilot in the army and always admired Airstreams. That was part of why I wanted to get one initially. I remember passing them on the road and my dad pointing out what they were and how they were built. Then I bought one to use as a studio and he said, "Well, you could've just rented a cheap office space in the suburbs...." Didn't really get why I wanted to do something more unique. Now that it's almost done, he asks about it almost every day and requests photos!

[ALANSD]

i was 50 when i got my first airstream, now 68 and have had a1966 overlander for 6 years, we have met all ages of owners at our rallys from 30s to 80s.

[dznf0g]

50 when we got or AS, 58 now. Been trailer camping for 32 years.

[moosetags]

We were both 57 years old when we got our first Airstream. We had both recently retired from the Federal Government. We wanted to see the the USA first hand on the back roads of America. We chose an Airstream to pursue our dream because it was the coolest thing out there, and we were the least cool people that one could imagine.

That was in 2006, and the rest is history. We found that we love the RV lifestyle and have spent over forty percent of our nights in the Airstream over the past twelve years. We keep a detailed log of our travels. We have spent over 1,800 nights of Airstream camping, and have towed our Airstreams over 170,000 miles. We have seen the nooks and crannies of this great country, and have visited all of the lower forty-eight and most of the Provinces in Canada.

We are now closing in on 70. The Good Lord has blessed us with good health, and we are continuing our exploration of America. We are living our "happily ever after".

Brian

[A W Warn]

first tent camping as a child
first travel trailer towing in my twenties.
first Airstream early/mid 40's (on my 6th now)
66, retired full time, camping/living in my trailers half time.
Good times!
What's next?

[Rich W]

Originally Posted by helloimnolan

I'm wondering how old my fellow Airstream stewards are, what stage in your lives and careers you're in, and what the Airstream symbolizes to you.

Hi, helloimnolan, greetings from central Kentucky and welcome to the forum.

I'm younger than dirt, older than water, still fairly active. I've retired a couple of times now, first in June 2013, again this past May. I think it will take this time. I like retirement. Every day you can do what you (pretty much) want to do. This morning my wife asked me what I was going to do. I said "nothing". She said "you did that yesterday". I replied, "I'm not finished yet".

I've had several jobs in my career, including 3 years in the Army a long time ago, but working with computer systems for the past 35 or so years. I started out as a programmer, then moved to systems analyst, then package software support and project leader. Worked on quite a few platforms from PCs to mainframes (not in that order), a little networking and some other stuff.

What Airstream symbolizes me? I'd have to say our 2006 Safari. Still looks good on the outside, a few problems on the inside, including odd smells and some plumbing issues. There are some scars from life's lessons but still moving down the highway A-OK; could use some new shoes.

Good luck with your restorations, you've got a lot of work ahead of you. Years ago I thought I'd like to do something like that until I saw some of the projects posted here in the forum. So we decided on what we have now and are happy with it.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by richw46

I'm younger than dirt, older than water, still fairly active.

I thought God created the waters before the dirt? Dry land didn't appear until Genesis 1:9, but the waters made their first appearance in Genesis 1:2. So younger than water, older than dirt.

I'm not quite there yet, but I'm older than the states of Alaska and Hawaii, older than touch-tone phones, 24-hour television programming, jet airliners, pocket calculators, microwave ovens, wireless remote control, fast-food restaurants, car radios with FM stereo, seat belts, the Interstate highway system, satellites, ballistic missiles, older than more than half of the countries in the world today. But I'm still younger than Airstream!

[1973Argosy]

I'm 44 now but bought my Argosy when I was 27. To me my trailer represents freedom and my future. My trailer was around for most of my children's childhoods. The children have all been told their future homes must have an rv port for us when we come to visit. Two of the three children will both be airstreamers themselves one day.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Like a lot of AS owners we are at "retirement age". That's been pretty common, at least since the 60's. At least in our case, the timing was related at least as much to time available as anything else. Putting the money into an AS implied using it a lot or spending a lot of time rebuilding one ....

Bob

[halfloaf]

42. Mine is a home that is a pleasant environment to be in - I couldn't cope with sitting in a trailer-y trailer all day every day (I work at home) (some people make non-Airstream trailers beautiful, for example The Freedom Theory on YouTube, but I don't have the energy for a remodel). It's not an abstract representation for me - this was a very concrete decision about where I needed to live.

[Wayne&Sam]

We bought a used SOB to see if we liked having a TT. We did so in 2007 we bought a new 20' Safari. We were 56 at the time. The next year I retired and my wife retired a few years after that. In 2014 we went to a 25' FC. We travel 2-3 months a year and Sam uses the Airstream when she's guiding (fly fishing) for several weeks each season to save on driving home every day.

[kendrick.l.j]

Welcome to the forum and Thank you, thank you for taking the time and money to restore such a cool Airstream. Awesome undertaking, lots of hard work but it will be well worth it in the end. They such iconic little boogers that never go out of style.
Me? new to Airstream but always thought they were so cool. I remember seeing the astronauts use them way, way back in my Capt. Kangaroo and Mr. Greenjeans day. Recently widowed and also recently retired (early) RN. 35 years in Emergency Department taught me that “next year” or “some day” might not happen so enjoy the time we are given now and don’t die with regrets so I stay very busy learning new stuff about Airstream every day and that keeps life interesting.
BTW- I know of two other owners about your age who are also restoring a 67 Bambi (I think that is her model) and a 1975 Globetrotter (again, not positive about the model ) so you are not alone. I think you will find that most Airstream folks are extremely welcoming and age isn’t an issue.

[DaveMc]

We’ve had ours for almost a year, I’m 40 and my wife is almost 40. Kids are 11 & 12. We think our kid’s graduation gift from high school will be an Airstream. Give them something to live in while they continue school or head down some other path.

We never know how much time we have left, but our whole family thinks we’ll be Airstreaming it as long as we can.

[Rich W]

Originally Posted by Protagonist

I thought God created the waters before the dirt? Dry land didn't appear until Genesis 1:9, but the waters made their first appearance in Genesis 1:2. So younger than water, older than dirt.

I'm not quite there yet, but I'm older than the states of Alaska and Hawaii, older than touch-tone phones, 24-hour television programming, jet airliners, pocket calculators, microwave ovens, wireless remote control, fast-food restaurants, car radios with FM stereo, seat belts, the Interstate highway system, satellites, ballistic missiles, older than more than half of the countries in the world today. But I'm still younger than Airstream!

Being the logical, techie that I am, that's always bothered me. If he made the waters first, where did he keep them until he made the dirt?. The Earth was a (flat) glob of water in space? I'll stick to the scientific version; dirt first, then water. In any event, I think I'm older than anyone else (so far) in this thread.

I remember when television in our city meant 1 channel and it had almost nothing but farm reports, a little news and maybe an old silent cartoon (Farmer Alfalfa) now and then. Programs started about 5 AM, stopped at 9 AM, back again at noon for an hour, then off until 4 PM. Everything went off at 11 or midnight.

I remember when transistor radios first came out. There was one phone in the house, a party line. You had to listen for your ring, but if you were real quiet, you could listen to someone else . In cars, heaters and AM radios were options. Standard windshield wipers were vacuum operated (If you accelerated too hard, they would stop. Let up on the gas and they went like crazy.) I remember home delivery of milk, cheese and cream from a truck that used blocks of ice for refrigeration. (Also neighborhood delivery of the polio vaccine and the bookmobile.)

I remember the morning our teacher told us that the Pledge of Allegiance was changed, adding "Under God" (1954). BTW, most people get it wrong. It's not "...one nation, under God..." There is no comma, it's all one thought. "One nation under God". We shouldn't be pausing. "In God we trust" was added to our money in 1957.

I remember doing a marathon at age 65.

Yep, I remember all of that but I don't remember where I put my extra set of car keys. They've been lost for 2 months now.

My kids used to ask me if we had television when I was a kid. I told them yes, but you had to shovel coal into the back of it since we didn't have electricity yet.

Airstream started in 1931, you must mean after Thor took it over, right?

[GeocamperAS]

When we woke up to a dead air mattress and not forecasted pouring rain on the day we had to break camp, age 50, we knew it was time for a camper. Found our 1st Argosy (1974 28ft) to remodel and never looked back. Currently remodeling a 1978 6.0 Minuet.
The forums are great for info.
Also I am following several young people with Airstream’s on instagram. Some are remodeling, some are full timing.