After many years and much prodding for folks that I’ve met on the road, I’m excited to join the ranks of the TCT! And of course as a total vintage trailer geek when you asked me to say a few things about my rigs, how could I resist?
My hobby got started as a young kid when at some point the vision of the most American thing possible was a silver Airstream parked underneath a Redwood tree. That vision stayed with me and as a newly wed back in 1994, I convinced my long-suffering wife to allow me to purchase a virtually destroyed and decrepit 1976 Airstream and fix it up. That I did back in 1995 and we have been remodeling it and travelling with it ever since. We had that trailer before we had children and now both of our boys are grown and off in the world on their own, and we still have the trailer.( Its name is Barnaby, by the way). According to our log book we have pulled Barnaby close to 100,000 miles and visited much of this country, but there’s still so much to see. We started with dogs and then remodeled the trailer as our children got older and their needs changed, and now that they’ve moved on we’ve remodeled it again back to a 31 foot rear bath just for two.It works great. We never get enough time on the road and in fact this weekend we’re going to be out for one of hopefully a couple more fall camps before I have to put Barnaby away for the winter.
Barnaby is my first recreational vehicle, and he is a 31 foot 1976 rear bath. Yes, the one that is prone to bend in the middle. I started polishing him in about 1998 and have not stopped, always in search of the ultimate shine. As I’m sure you have learned it takes a special kind of crazy to want to Polish such a big trailer but I do love to do it and fortunately having facilities to allow me to do so in the winter in T-shirts. Barnaby’s interior is done in a semi original retro road trip vibe. For a time he had his own agent while we lived in California, and was featured in several magazines, music videos, etcetera. It’s quite a hoot to go to YouTube and call up his music video. Good memories! Perhaps the only time in my history when a recreational vehicle actually made me money.
My brother and I built for him a custom 1972 Airstream (Betty) during COVID and he is now a die hard rivet head and travels all over the southwest with his trailer. I’ve also infected several other friends and family members with the Airstream vibe and when needed I can gather a small rally together!
Then a couple of years ago I got a wild hair that maybe I could renovate trailers in my retirement years (sometime in the future) and decided I would test the waters and renovate an argosy. In all of our years we have never noted an Argosy on the road. Sitting in yards, yes, but never adventuring. As you’re probably familiar, argosy was a down market version of an Airstream that was made in Versailles, Ohio in the early to late 70s, and then for a short time in the 80s as more of a fiberglass box. I found a 1978 Argosy 24 in Cincinnati; seemed like it was in decent shape underneath all the crud, and then found out that I had bought a complete turd. It was rusted from the frame up and had been infested with mice over the years. The result was that I tore the trailer down to the frame, fixed it, and basically rebuilt it all the way up. While the floor plan remains the same, the quality of cabinetry and interior work is modern and residential level. We did all custom upholstery, floors, and of course all new infrastructure including power heat and water. This trailer has been christened Olive and we travel with friends pulling her, and have rented her to qualified folks sometimes as well.
When our kids were young we used to attend Wally Byam rallies, but we haven’t done so in many years.
As for tow vehicles, it varies. I have a car problem that is specifically survivors and time capsules. I’m lucky to have a 1978 boogy van ( Shaggie) with side pipes and shag carpet stem to stern that can tow Barnaby on mid range runs, and we also have our road warrior Moby who is a 2004 E 350 van with the V10 that has done the lion’s share of towing Barnaby around the country for the last 25 years. Both great rigs! Just that one is a lot quieter and more fuel efficient than the other. My wife Karen finds screaming big block side pipes “ really loud”.
Last winter I got a wild hair and decided that my 1979 Lincoln Continental (Prince George) would be a great tow vehicle for the Argosy, since the original owner from which I purchased him used it to tow their camper trailer when they bought it new back in the late 70s. I had the original trailer tow mirrors, set up a new brake control system and modified the rear springs on the Lincoln and voila! I have a super cool vintage rig. One just doesn’t expect to see a Lincoln towing a camper trailer, much less a 70s rig!
Why did we join? Each year for the past 15 years we’ve attended the motor muster at the Henry Ford Greenfield village museum in June. For the last couple we’ve started taking the Airstream and Argosy with us because we forget that most people don’t get to see these vintage trailers every day like we do. The response has been phenomenal and especially this year I had several folks that were tin can tourists implore me to come hang out at the Camp Dearborn rally in the spring. They told many stories of some of the great rigs that are there and the fun people that are around. Well, I just couldn’t resist that anymore so I signed up. I just learned last night that I can’t even sign up until after the first of the year, but I put it on my calendar to do so!
As for camping plans they are as stated above. Our weekends are generally pretty full but we have a couple more trips until weather makes it just too cold and unpleasant to be outside. I might take a run down to the range vintage trailer park in February to hang with my brother for a week or so, but other than that both olive and Barnaby will be asleep for the winter in the next six weeks or so. Very sad.
I’ll attach some pictures for you. Thanks, and I look forward to seeing you in the future!