Re: [A/S] Looking for an older Airstream or Argosy...

["Tuna" <rctowns@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

candie and lou -

despair not - over the past three years, i've spent some time in the detroit
(shelby township) area, and noticed several older airstreams sitting in
driveways and yards in just a couple of square miles or so between 23 mile
road and 25 mile, and dequindre and shelby road... i just got back to reno
from a three-week road trip, with a week in shelby township, and saw at
least three airstreams parked here and there... and those are just the ones
i could see from the street...

rv storage lots might be able to forward inquiries to owners who've been
storing their airstreams, and who may be willing to part with them.

rv/trailer dealerships usually want to move the new inventory, and probably
won't mention the fact that they've got a few older airstreams tucked away
somewhere - unless you ask them directly.

from my own experience:  i found my first airstream - a 1965 20'
GlobeTrotter 'TravelTwin' - within 20 minutes of having the brainstorm that
i 'needed an airstream'... july 8, 1976. I picked up the yellow pages for
the DelMarVa region (where i was camped out at a friend's home) and found an
rv dealer in Dover, DE... i called them, told them what i wanted (a
serviceable smaller airstream), and they said they had one they'd taken in
trade a year earlier... two hours later, i was in dover, closing the deal.
($1,500.00). I
towed it across the continent to santa monica california, and lived in it
full-time for about three years.
the only necessary repair i had to make was to replace the water pump, which
froze when the temps in santa fe dropped below freezing that first
thanksgiving.

of course, that was an unusually fortuitous deal, but they *do* happen that
way.

when i was moving back to the mainland from kona, hawaii in 1993, i needed a
pied-a-terre in the bay area for the year or so that it was going to take me
to complete the transition... i really liked the woodside/half moon bay area
south of san francisco - i'd lived in redwood city/san carlos for about five
years before i moved to hawaii - so i started looking around for an old
airstream, and a place to put it...

the first day i started looking, i found a nice 27' 1972 airstream
'overlander' parked in a weed-overgrown lot alongside a real-estate office
on the main drag in half moon bay... i went into the office, made an offer,
and by the time i had found the pelican point rv park near the ocean about
1.25 miles down the road, the real-estate guy called and told me i could
have it cheap, if i'd tow it away a.s.a.p.... another fortuitous deal - i
was 2 for 2 at that point. that one took a little more work to get all the
systems working, but i moved into it the day i bought it.

it was my home/office on the mainland for about 18 months; when i moved to
reno in 1995, i sold it to a guy in south san francisco for a little more
than i paid for it.

my current airstream is a completely different story - around may of 2000, i
was looking for a truly vintage airstream; 1948 or '49, and, having the
advantage of the Airstream list, the vintage airstream list, Fred Coldwell
(jeep and airstream historian), and the internet in general, i found one in
southern california at 'iowa boys' in north hollywood (wonderful people -
sue murphy, bob - thanks again!)... i flew down there to look at it, and a
week or so later, drove down with a flatbed trailer to tow it back to reno -
i was not confident in its structural integrity, even though it had been
towed there by the consignor... from montana, no less.

it's sat in my yard, gutted, for almost four years now, but i've assembled
most of the important structural components i need to get going on the
frame/floor, and may have a tow-able airstream by the end of this summer
(fingers crossed).

someone else has suggested that you *not* jump at the first airstream you
find - unless it's a creampuff, and a sweet deal... and i agree, completely.
'your' airstream is out there waiting for you... and probably within a few
miles' radius of home...

keep the faith!

tuna
reno, nv
'48 Airstream "Trailwind"