Airstream: The Company & Rallies

I have always been interested in campers and travel trailers, but have never owned one.  My dad would bring home motorhomes and campers from work, which was cool for a weekend trip. Beyond that, I’ve never had an interest in owning one or dealing with all of the work associated with camping (athough, I think it would be fun to renovate an older camper like I shared in Camper Renovation For Summer Fun).

That may change based on some recent conversations with my friend Walt Banacki.

Walt is the 94 year old Chevrolet engineer that I met earlier this year. During my visits with Walt, he has given me some rich history about the 1977 Camaro Z28, 1977 Chevrolet Caprice and the 1985 Corvette.  I was pretty sure we were running low on topics until this week when Walt brought out a model of a 1960s Airstream trailer.

Related articles:  1977: Return of the Camaro Z28!; 1977 Chevrolet Caprice: Engineering The Quietest Car In The World;  Corvette Squeak & Rattle Exorcist

Walt’s Airstream

Walt is a crafty guy.  I like to go visit him at his senior community at least once per month.  Each time, he brings out a notebook or two of cool projects from his days at Chevrolet. They were significant projects that I remember from my youth, so it has been fascinating to hear his stories and read his documents.

During my visit with him this week, Walt had his walker loaded with goodies.  As we sat down in the common area of his building, he very carefully set a 1/24 scale model of a Franklin Mint Airstream trailer on the table.  He then went on to tell me how he bought a real 30 foot Airstream in 1967 for family vacations.

Walt described how he visited an Airstream dealer in Ohio five or six times before finally signing the deal.  The dealership had a lot of trailers in inventory, so Walt felt good about working a deal.  With his family of five, none of the trailers perfectly fit his needs. After all of the visits to the store, the dealer finally agreed to send the trailer back to Airstream for modification.  Evidently, the interiors are built in modules, so they were able to configure the rear section for his kids.  He had other requirements, which were addressed by the dealer.  Deal done for $6,800.

Pulling The Trailer

Since he was an engineer with GM, Walt had access to company vehicles.  This proved helpful when it came time to take the family on their annual trips.  The engineer responsible for putting together the towing packages on all of Chevrolet’s vehicles heard about Walt’s annual trailer adventure, so he hooked him up with different vehicles to evaluate.

The only stipulation with the tow vehicle loan was that Walt had to provide a written evaluation of the vehicle’s performance pulling the 30 foot trailer (which weighed about 5,000 pounds).  That was a small price to pay, since he didn’t have to buy a truck to pull his Airstream.

I asked Walt which vehicles were the best and worst at trailering.  He really liked the Chevrolet Suburban, but felt the Malibu was a mismatch of his Airstream.  Just like rental cars, company cars can do great feats!  No doubt Walk squeezed every ounce of capability out of the Malibu.

Airstream & Airstream Rallies

It was enjoyable to hear about the buying and ownership experience Walt had with his Airstream.  What caught my attention were the Airstream Rallies he would attend with his family. These are gatherings of fellow Airstream owners in camping locations throughout the world.

While his kids were young, the Banacki family attended four Airstream rallies across the country.  He had an opportunity to go to one in Africa, but it was too costly to ship his trailer.

Airstream Origins

Both the rallies and the Airstream company evolved organically.  Wally Byam and his wife, Marion, enjoyed camping.  Marion was not crazy about sleeping on the ground, so Wally devised a makeshift tent on the back of his Model T in 1929.  That became too cumbersome to set up at campsites, so Wally built a teardrop trailer to tow behind his car.

People who saw his trailer pursued his help, so Wally produced a DIY guide.  His friends and neighbors soon commissioned him to build trailers for them.  Eventually demand was big enough that Wally opened a small trailer factory in California to build what he called “Airstreams,” after the way they moved “like a stream of air” down the road.

Rallies

Like the company itself, interest from like-minded Airstream owners to gather and enjoy sharing stories evolved into a large organization.  These “caravanners” were repeat participants and soon they wanted to form a club. Wally eventually gave in and the Wally Byam Caravan Club was founded on August 3, 1955 in Nova Scotia during Eastern Canada Caravan. 

The club soon introduced a new type of Airstream event, the “Rally”. Rallies typically lasted a few days at a specific location and they opened up Airstream camaraderie to club members that did not have the time to take an extended caravan.

Today, there are 100 clubs worldwide (97 within North America) with over 16,000 members.  The clubs are grouped within twelve regions that are active in planning events.  You can learn more about the Airstream Club and the location of their rallies HERE.

Final Thoughts & Questions

Did Walt enjoy Airstream ownership?  He pulled it over 150,000 miles in nearly 40 years. During that time, he attended the four Airstream rallies and traveled between the coasts with his family several times.  

Remember the “other requirements” I mentioned earlier?  Walt wanted the Airstream dealer to balance the wheels/tires on the trailer.  By doing so, Walt knew it would extend the life of the tires. When Walt sold the trailer in 2004 (for $9,000), the original tires were still good! 

It’s doubtful I will buy a trailer of any kind, but I sure enjoyed learning more about the Airstream brand.  Like popular automotive brands, Airstream’s owners are fiercely loyal and enjoy spending time with each other.  I think that’s cool.

Please let me know if you have any thoughts or questions in the comment section below.  

Want to learn more about me?  Check out Meet The Vehicle Nanny.