Airstream

OVERVIEW

In 1931 Airstream began with a dream to create lightweight travel trailers that slipped cleanly through the wind. And with it was born another dream, one of new freedoms, new places, new experiences, and new friendships. It was a dream so powerful and so enduring that it did far more then create a new way to travel; it created a new way of life shared by thousands upon thousands of families.

Today, Aistream continues the tradition of extradordinary design and hand-crafted quality that has made it the most recognizable travel trailer in the world. Following founder's Wally Byam's credo, "Let's not make changes, let's make only improvements," products have continued to showcase the latest technical advancements and conveniences in a way that is distinctly Airstream.

In an effort to promote the Airstream lifestyle, the brand has been using the tagline "Adventure, inspired by Airstream" since 2008.

AN AMERICAN ICON

Because of its unique design, the Airstream's core purpose is easily identifiable. It's mean to be lived in. It's mean to move. It's mean to help people reconnect with their world, without trampling it.

Seven decades after its introduction, art historians and design experts are still extolling the purity and emotional appeal of this "self-contained living accomodation," as Geoff Wardle, chair of the transportation design department at Pasadena's Art Center College of Design, called it. "The Airstream really is a pure object, which is why it has lasted so well," he continued. "No one has yet to surpass them," sad architect Margaret McCurry in Architectural Digest.

Airstream Chariman Larry Huttle said "There's a spiritual aspect to owning one. There is a wandering spirit to the people who buy this product. They don't know what's over the next horizon but they want to go see it..."

VALUE, STABILITY, DURABILITY... AND BETTER FUEL ECONOMY.

Built by hand in Jackson Center, Ohio, Airsteams are known for their incredible durability. Designed to spend time on the road and not in a landfill, nearly 70% of all Airstreams ever built are still on the road today. While other products are designed to wear out, Airstreams are designed to be handed down through the generatations.

Airstreams also work with nature, not against it. Their low profile and rounded, slippery shape make for better towing capabilities. As a result, Airstreams enjoy a 20% advantage in towing efficieny over standard "white box" trailers and thus reduces the tow vehicle's overall fuel consumption.

With a fanatical attention to quality and functional design, Airstream consistently out performs other travel trailers. Designed with exceptional rigidity and a low center of gravity, Airstream is considered to provide better stability and driving safety than their boxy counterparts. Airstream's remarkable longevity has resulted in equally impressive resale values.

HISTORY

Airstream was founded by Wally Byam, who began building trailers out of Masonite in his backyard in Los Angeles during the late 1920s. A lawyer by training, Byam published a magazine selling "how-to" kits to customers wishing to build their own trailers. He then acquired the struggling Bowlus Company. In 1936 Byam introduced the "Airstream Clipper", which was essentially a rebadged 1935 Bowlus, with the door relocated from the front to the side. The design cut down on wind resistance and thus improved fuel efficiency. It was the first of the now familiar sausage-shaped, silver aluminum Airstream trailers. Of more than 400 travel trailer builders operating in 1936, Airstream was the sole survivor of the Depression. During World War II, travel became a luxury most could not afford and non-military industries faced an acute aluminum shortage. When World War II ended, the economy boomed, and people's attention once again turned towards leisure travel. Byam's company went back into production in 1948. In July 1952 a new facility in Jackson Center, Ohio, was established. 1979 saw the last Airstreams to be manufactured in California as the company and its worldwide production continues to be based out of Jackson Center.

In 1974 Airstream began manufacturing a Class A motorhome, badged "Argosy". They began as painted aluminum 20- and 24-foot (6.1 and 7.3 m) models, and were followed in 1979 by the first examples of the Classic model motorhome, with both a painted and unpainted aluminum body much like the trailers.

Airstream-badged Class A motorhomes began as 24' and 28' (7.3 and 8.5-m) models in 1979, and in the 1980s and 1990s, models ranging from 25 up to 37 feet (7.6 up to 11.2 m) were marketed. The aluminum motorhomes were followed by more traditional-looking fiberglass models in the 1990s. Airstream discontinued manufacture of Class A motorhomes in 2006. TSkydeck, featured interior stairs leading to a deck on the roof.

Starting in 1989, Airstream built Class B motorhomes based on the Ford Econoline chassis and the Dodge B-series van chassis. Production ceased after the 1999 model year. In 2004, Airstream introduced the Westfalia and Interstate. The Parkway model, based on the Interstate, was introduced in 2006. All models are built on the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter chassis. The Westfalia was discontinued in 2006 as was the Parkway model. In 2010, Airstream will introduce a new Class B touring coach built on Chevrolet chassis.

Airstream produce five models of travel trailers in lengths ranging from 16' to 34'. They models are: Sport, Flying Cloud, International, Classic, and Pan America. While each embody Airsream's iconic exterior design, their floorplans and interior decors are distinctly unique.

San Francisco-based Design Within Reach (DWR), a retailer of innovative furnishings an accessories, commissioned longtime Airstream collaborator Chris Deam to create a holistic model for an Airstream as a tribute to classic modern design. The DWR Special Edition Airstream debuted in 2008. Deam also designed the 2002-2009 International models for Airstream.

In 2008, Airstrem unveiled its PanAmerica "crossover" trailer. The 34' unit can haul up to 3,000 pounds in its attached rear garage.

In 2009, Airstream partnerd with Victornix Swiss Army to celebrate the 125th annivrsary of the original Swiss Army Knife. A customized Pan America toured the US and touted the arrival of an all new 19' Victorniox Swiss Army Special Edition. Only 125 units were made and each is embellished with a numbered badge.

Airstream also manufactures models for the European market.

PRODUCT INNOVATION : FAST FACTS

• A 1961 Airstream Bambi Travel Trailer is on display at New Yorks' Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in honor of its excellence in style and design. It can be found in the Architecture and Design section of the museum.

• It takes approximately 2,940 man hours to build the average Airstream.

• Every Airstream is inundated for 40 minutes at 100 pounds of pressure in a special rain test booth to ensure that it's water-tight.

• Airstream was the first trailer to have a holding tank, the first ladder frame, the first pressurized water system, and was the first fully self-contained travel trailer.

• Some innovations were brought directy to Wally Byam inlucing Frank Sargent's novel toilet valve that used steam pressure to flush waste into a holding tank. Since 1961, Sargent's Thetford toilets have been used in Airstream models and Thetford is now a major supplier to the RV industry.

UNIQUE USES : FAST FACTS

• Several specially-built Airtream trailers are commonly used to transport American officials around the world. The trailers are strapped inside of miltary cargo planes, usually a C-18 Globemaster II, an American strategic airlfiter. Vice Presidents, First Ladies, Generals, and Admirals are among the more frequent travelers. The trailers feature leather chairs, carpeting, wood paneling, television and DVD players.

• In 2008, First Lady Laura Bush was cocooned in her own private Airstream trailer which had been towed on board the Sprit of Strom Thurmond as she few across Afghanistan.

• In 1955, the United States military used an Airsteam in atomic bomb testing in the Nevada desert.

• President John F. Kennedy had a mobile Airstream office which he used during a visit to White Sands, New Mexico where the Army demonstrated its latest weaponry in the early 1960's.

• In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson's daughter Lynda Bird toured America in a caravan of Airstreams to help publicize the nations beauty in the "See America First" campaign. The was was covered by National Georgaphic and McCall's magazines.

• In 1969, Neil Armstrong and members of the Apollo 11 were quaratined in a specially-built Airstream after returning from the first voyabge to the moon. They remained there for three weeks until it could be determined that there was little likelhood of them having brought back "lunar pathogens" with them. President Richard Nixon visited them while they were quarantined.

• For decades, NASA has used a fleet of Airstream motorhomes to transport astronauts to the launch pad. The space shuttle program has used a modified 1983 Airstream Excella since 1984 dubbed the Astrovan.

AIRSTREAMERS : FAST FACTS

• Airstreamers are a group of RVers who share a community spirit because of their mutual love of Airstream trailers. In the early 1950s, Airstream company founder Wally Byam began leading groups of owners on travels to many portions of the world, where the towed trailers were quite remarkable. Photos taken of the trailers in front of many famous tourist sites were common. This promoted a mystique which surrounded Airstreams and exists to this day.

• In 1951, the first Airstream caravan left California for Central America traveling from Mexico to Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

• The Wally Byam Caravan Club was formed during the 1955 rally in Kentville, Nova Scotia, Canada. Later, the word "International" was added to the club name, resulting in the acronym "WBCCI" and more commonly known as the "Wally Club".

• The Cape Town to Cairo Caravan began in Africa in 1969. More than 100 caravanners visited the pyramids of of Egypt and the camels of the Central African desert. The group also met Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia and visited a Pygmy enclave.

• A caravan of 100 people in 45 Airstream tralers set out from Singpore in 1964 to trace portions of the route that explorer Marco Polo had traveled in the late 13th centurey. They covered 35,000 miles in 403 days -- visiting almost every country in southern Asia plus the western Soveit Union and most of Europe.

• In 1974, a record 4,493 Airstreams attended the WBCCI Rally in Lexington, Kentucky.

• The first Airstream Caravan to China departed in 1985.

• On August 17, 2005, a commemorative plaque was dedicated to the WBCCI in Kentville, Nova Scotia.

• Club members join together for one large International Rally each summer (which by club rules always includes the dates of July 1 and July 4), and hundreds of smaller local rallies are held coast-to-coast by "units" (chapters).

• There are about a dozen Airstream parks throughout the United States. These are RV resorts or campgrounds where owners of Airstream-manufactured units are allowed to buy, rent or lease a site. Some of these facilities welcome non-Airstream products, while others are more strict in their admission. Some of the parks require membership in the WBCCI to be admitted. Several of the resorts are owned and operated by the local unit of the WBCCI.

• Airstreams are more popular than ever, and restoration of older models is a passion shared by many.

External links

• Airstream Company Website
• WBCCI
• WBCCI Airstream Community Forum
• Vintage Airstream Club
• AIRForums
• Airstream Life magazine