AirstreamTrailers.com Blog

Blogosphere? What’s that?

From Wikipedia: “Blogosphere is a collective term encompassing all blogs and their interconnections. It is the perception that blogs exist together as a connected community (or as a collection of connected communities) or as a social network.”

After writing a few posts on the AirstreamTrailers.com Blog, I got curious as to how many Airstreamers where blogging on the word wide web. I checked the list I had collected on my site, and then did some surfing to see who else was typing away in some weird destination, dumping all the details of their Airstream experience with fellow aluminum junkies like us.

Guess what?

There aren’t that many.

I copied down the feed URLs from all the blogs I found and aggregated them in one place on my site. You can now read posts from every known (to me) Airstream blogger on the planet. Of course, as always, please email me links to any I have missed and I will add the to the page.

Here is the link:

http://www.airstreamtrailers.com/blogs/

What you’ll find here is an easy to scan page that has the first few-hundred words of the most recent posts from each Airstream blogger. If one peeks your interest, click off to their site. I’m sure the author would appreciate your visit. Be sure to leave a comment or two if you feel so inclined. Blogs are more fun when they are dialogs, not just some strung-out trailer head with a keyboard ranting at the world all alone, right?

I hear from a lot of people who do trailer restoration. I’ve always keep an eye out for people doing great work. I wring my hands together every time I find a new one as I think to myself, “one day these people will build my dream trailer,” as I laugh in a creepy voice.

Then I was hit in the head one day by an email from Brett Hall of Timeless Travel Trailers. I thought I was reading his email wrong when he said he REMANUFACTURED vintage trailers. I kept trading emails with Brett until I got it. Yep. He remanufactures vintage trailers. From the ground up, he’ll rebuild your trailer to its original specs, or to modern day RV specifications if that’s what you want.

This Vintage 1950 Westcraft caught my attention when I was browsing his site. Here’s what he had to say about the trailer and his business:

“The Westcraft you are about which you are inquiring was one of our more complex commercial projects. It came in the door weighing about 3100 pounds and left weighing just under 10,000. It contains a full commercial kitchen capable of serving upwards of 200 meals per hour. The menu includes everything from ice cream to chicken Caesar salad to fried grouper.

This trailer, as with most of our projects, left the plant as an essentially new vehicle. We are the only licensed vehicle manufacturer in North America that is undergoing inspection and authorization to certify these vintage trailers as meeting the 2007/08 codes for recreational vehicles when we complete them. There are several small shops in the country that refurbish, remodel, restore, or revitalize old trailers but none return them to new or better-than-new condition or even meet current safety codes and standards.There are several small shops in the country that refurbish, remodel, restore, or revitalize old trailers but none return them to new or better-than-new condition or even meet current safety codes and standards.

We work with clients from around the world; some we have never met in person. We are the largest shop of our kind in North America with 10,000 square feet and 24 full time employees. We run 10 to 13 projects at any one time depending upon sizes.

We have a designer on staff to work with you and/or your designer to arrive at just the right coach for your use. Our design process takes from two to four weeks and the build time runs from three to four months.

There are many advantages to having Timeless remanufacture your vintage trailer. The key among these are: vintage styling with modern safety and convenience features, custom interior and exterior finishes, individual floor plans and equipment selections, natural materials far superior to production models and the same maintenance schedule as a new vehicle.

Some people are seeking factory original vintage trailers and feel that they carry a higher value similar to all-original automobiles and to a certain extent this true among collectors. However, there are more travelers and campers than there are collectors and curators. For the user crowd a comparison to an old, original house from the 60s is more applicable. In the case of an RV, it is a house that is under constant earthquake conditions.

Many trailers are good candidates for full custom rebuilds rather than a restoration to factory original appearance. One of the reasons is economics; there is a plentiful supply of original Airstream trailers from the vintage era that are in mostly serviceable condition that can be purchased for a third the cost of remanufacturing. These units can offer maybe a few more years of service before requiring significant attention. Constant maintenance of water, gas, electrical, and running gear is generally required on this kind of trailer. Hidden damage to axles, chassis, fuel lines and appliances, plumbing lines and fixtures, floors, doors, windows, and insulation can increase the maintenance issues. Safety features such as smoke, carbon monoxide and propane detectors and a fire extinguisher should always be installed in any RV.”

Check out their site: http://www.timelesstraveltrailers.com/

Brett can be reached at:

Timeless Travel Trailers, LLC
12250 West 52nd Ave
Wheat Ridge, CO 80033
Tele: 303-432-3819
FAX: 303-432-1287

Paige Bridges sent me an email several months ago, and when I saw her work, I immediately begged her to send me not one, but four of her prints! Why four? Because I couldn’t make up my mind about which one I wanted. Airstreams, Shastas, Spartans and teardrops are all subjects of these colorful paintings. A must see if not a must purchase. Good luck narrowing it down to only one.

http://www.vintagetraveltrailerart.com/VintageTravelTrailerArt.htm

Stephanie Nance is an artist on the go from Austin, TX. Her pop-art trailer designs are fun and refreshing. I got an invite to one of her regular gallery shows, but Austin is a little too far from San Francisco on short notice. Perhaps some day I’ll make it to her gallery.

Be sure to click on the Available Art button once you enter her Flash-based site. From there you will see a series of thumbnails of her fine trailer paintings. Click any to preview.

http://stephanienancestudio.com/

Michael Joseph Depraida is a New York born classical painter whose work has been published and exhibited around the world. The prints available here are reasonably priced and truly vintage in look and feel. Matted and signed for your convenience.

http://www.artlink.net/air.htm

Airstream Stuff has an interesting item for sale. It’s a T-Shirt of a bear searching for honey through the top of an Airstream. Their site says, “Every Airstream enthusiast will love this shirt. It’s a one of a kind. You be the judge:

http://www.airstreamstuff.com/

A little out of season now, but the holidays will be here before you know it. These sites sell cool Airstream-inspired cards.

http://darsartworks.com/airstreamcard.html

http://mycampingstuff.com/airstream_type_postcards.html

As his websites states, the Eyelusions Traveling Museum is “A hands-on museum of science and magic in a beautifully restored 20-foot Airstream trailer. Fascinating and fun for both kids and adults. Ready to add visual magic to your next birthday party, festival, wedding reception, bar/bat mitzvah, family reunion, or any gala gathering!”

I visited Doug Payne at his house in Sebastopol with filmmaker Aaron Drury to see this trailer up close and in person. The idea of setting up a tribute to long-forgotten machines of visual deception, reminiscent of carnivals and fun houses of a bygone era, seemed attractive to me. Housing them in a beautifully restored and brightly polished 1968 Airstream Globe Trotter also had it’s allure.

Doug gave us a tour of the trailer and explained each of the items in the museum. I found myself fond of the X-ray Your Head machine, the Wake the Zombia and especially the Face-o-Matic where Aaron and my heads were merged together like some freakish alien offspring of the two of us.

Check out a video of our visit below (click the image):

Click to Watch Video

Not only is Doug a gifted Airstream restoration artist and the curator of this old-time illusion museum, he is also the author of several popular books including:

• Youth in Revolt: The Journals of Nick Twisp
• Revolting Youth: The Further Journals of Nick Twisp
  
• Cut to the Twisp: The Lost Parts of Youth in Revolt and Other Stories
• Young and Revolting: The Continental Journals of Nick Twisp
  
• Revoltingly Young: The Journals of Nick Twisp’s Younger Brother
• Queen of America: A Royal Comedy in Three Acts
  
• Civic Beauties
  
• Frisco Pigeon Mambo

An interesting guy indeed.

You may see Doug around the San Francisco Bay area at fairgrounds and rallies with his Eyelusions creation. If you do, be sure to take a few minutes to say hi and do a walk through. You wont be disappointed, if at a minimum, to be inside a beautifully restored Airsatream with a (Jack) twisp.

Doug’s Eyelusions Traveling Museum is available for all sorts of private gathering for a very low price, so spice up your next party by calling Doug today. Contact information and rates below:

Basic rate:
$185 for 2 hours (30-minutes set-up, 90 minutes exhibition).
$40 for each additional half hour.

Travel time/fuel fee will be charged if your event is more than 1/2 hour from Sebastopol (in Sonoma County).

Typical charges:
Central Sonoma County, Novato: no charge
San Rafael, Mill Valley: $45
Oakland, Berkeley, S.F., Vallejo: $90
Concord, San Mateo, Moraga, Hayward: $135
San Jose: $180

Here is Doug’s contact info from his site. Tell him I sent you.