Modern Airstream
Changing Attitudes
It's funny how one's thoughts change about
things over time. For a long time, I didn't understand mid-century
modern design and architecture, because I was not exposed to good
examples of it. Starting in 1996, my ideas began to change.
Growing up in Oklahoma, I always though of Airstream trailers as kind of "trashy".
This was due mostly to the sorry state of the ones I saw here and
there in trailer parks and at resort lakes. I now realize that the particular
examples I was seeing were, in fact, trashy. The problem was that
I extended that judgement to the whole category. I have
now realized that Airstreams are as much an icon of mid-twentieth-century
american modernism as Eames chairs and Saarinen architecture.
In 1999, some freinds of ours bought a
1962 Bambi. They proceeded to rennovate it and turned it into a glorious
showcase of their design expertise (they are both architects). We
were amazed and and astounded at how beautiful it was. Still,
I had no idea where we would store one. When we were remodeling
our home in 199-2000, Mark Marcinik (the architect we used, and the owner
of the afforementioned Bambi) designed a pattern of concrete pavers that
crossed the front of our house and wrapped around to the back. A
few months later, I realized we had a place to store an Airstream,
and agreed that we should get one.
Acquisition
Leslie then set off to find the right Airstream
for us. We own five Land
Rovers. One of them was going to have to be the tow vehicle,
as we are obviously fanatics about this type of vehicle. The towing
capacity of the Rovers we own with engines large enough to be considered
pullers is between 6000 and 7000 lbs. Thus, I felt it was necessary
to keep the overall length of our Airstream under 20', and one that was
'vintage'. To us, vintage means before 1974, when the designs started
changing quite a bit, and the trailers became much heavier. With
two children who could be expected to camp with us, we decided a Bambi
was too small, leaving us with a Traveller, Caravelle, or Globetrotter
as options. In February of 2001, we found a Globetrotter in Sequim
(pronounced squim), Washington.
Restoration
The trailer was in very good condition overall,
but had two glaring problems. The first problem was the total
absence of a toilette, and the second was that the electrical system did
not function when the trailer was not connected to shore power.