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 judgment 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 friends of ours bought a 1962 Bambi. They proceeded to renovate 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 aforementioned 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.
Leslie then set off to find the right Airstream for us. You can learn more by clicking the link above. 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.
But first we did have to find her and get her home….
