The Untold Truth Of Airstream

In an alternate reality, the Airstream would simply be dismissed as a sardine tin on wheels, shunned by all who appreciate the spaciousness and luxury of a well-designed living space. However, we live in a world where the Airstream is adored by millions, and for good reason. For nine decades, this hipper-than-thou trailer has been plowing a unique path across the highways and byways of the United States and beyond. Sleek, silver, and to a certain eye, sexy, these mobile homes have become as much a part of the American culture as apple pie and the Fourth of July. The Airstream is far more than a bullet-shaped caravan made of highly-polished and well-crafted aluminum. According to the brand, it is an instantly recognizable global icon and beloved by petroleum pilgrims everywhere.

To hitch an Airstream to the back of a car and set sail for new horizons is perhaps one of the last remaining adventures to be had in the digital age. A life lived in the "silver bullet" is an existence free from the pressure cooker of the global village. When the road is open, the sun is rising, and the wild is calling, there's nothing that screams freedom like an oven-ready and well-stocked Airstream. These handy little campers are your passport into a new day and a new dawn. So get your motor running, but before you depart into uncharted territory, why not brush up on a bit of the colorful history behind the silver dream!

As a visionary who had the skills to pay the bills and make his dream a reality, Wally Byam was a pioneer, a poet, a philosopher, and a prince of industry. Born on the Fourth of July, 1896, in Baker City, Byam's fate appeared intertwined with the American dream, as per Airstream. Byam was a farm boy who grew up in a wooden wagon that a donkey towed. He didn't find living in the same rustic living conditions as his forefathers a hardship, but rather fell in love with having all his basic needs met in one handy wagon. Sound familiar? Byam self-financed his way through college, and in 1921, the Stanford graduate dabbled for a while in journalism.

Yet Byam's true love remained the great outdoors. Alongside his first wife, Marion, Byam would lie beneath the stars and sleep on the soil. Trouble was, she didn't like roughing it in a tent all that much, and so Byam took a Model T chassis and erected a tent-type contraption upon it. The year was 1929, and Byam had taken the first tentative steps on a long and winding road. Yet there was a hiccup. Although mobile, the gadget was hard to assemble and could be dispiriting in the rain. He remedied this by creating a teardrop-shaped shelter containing an ice chest and stove. It proved a hit! As word got around amongst the camping fraternity. Byam decided to go into business.

An Airstream isn't just a toaster-on-wheels or iconic brand. For the dedicated cult of owners and enthusiasts across the globe, it's a way of life. Perhaps Harley-Davidson is the only other brand that generates such a fiercely loyal and committed community. That's exactly the way Wally Byam would have wanted it. Regardless of whether you're a weekend warrior or a hardcore full-timer, the "silver bullet" code is all about taking to the road less traveled and forging a bond with nature and like-minded souls. It's a philosophy that Byam once waxed lyrical about in little gems of enlightenment that are now treasured and known as "Wally's Creed," as per Airstream.

Explaining to fellow campers that, "My dream belongs to you," Wally explains that an Airstream's purpose is, "To place the great wide world at your doorstep for you who yearn to travel with all the comforts of home. To keep alive and make real an enduring promise of high adventure and faraway lands, rediscovering old places and new interests. To open a whole world of new experiences, a new dimension in enjoyment where travel adventure and good fellowship are your constant companions." And if that wasn't enough to make you want to throw caution to the wind and set sail on the lost highway, try this for size, "To lead caravans wherever the four winds blow, over twinkling boulevards, across trackless desserts, to the traveled and untraveled corners of the world."

Where do old Airstreams go when they die? Well, if you were traveling along I-4 between Tampa and Orlando, you might be forgiven for thinking they go to Seffner, Florida. On a patch of land in the Sunshine State, you'll find eight silver bullets buried nose down in the ground with their rear ends sticking up for all the world to kiss. They look like the space-age tombstones of some forgotten race of flamboyant giants, but they're not. Known as the Airstream Ranch, they are the brainchild of Frank Bates, who, according to Atlas Obscura, owns the land and the nearby RV dealership.

The idea of erecting an Airstream version of Stonehenge came to Frank after he found inspiration in the Cadillac Ranch installation in Amarillo, Texas. Deciding to immortalize Airstreams in the same way, he set to work on what has become a popular tourist attraction. However, you can't please all the people all of the time. Even though some of Bates' neighbors complained that the Airstream Ranch was an eyesore and attracted undesirables, the court ruled otherwise. Like Elton John, the Airstream Ranch is still standing!

Although "Stella's Dream Trailer" may sound like a dodgy film with plenty of unexpected twists and turns, it is, in fact, the name of a one-off Airstream model created in 1957, according to the brand. Stella was Wally Byam's second wife, and the trailer was named in her honor. As Wally was a light sleeper who tended to cat nap for a couple of nights rather than the night through, he often awoke pre-dawn to listen to the radio and jot down notes. This disturbed Stella's slumber and undoubtedly left her in a foul mood. To resolve the issue, Stella and Wally put their heads together to create an Airstream with a revolutionary floor design. The result was a partitioned area for Stella where she could dream peacefully while her insomniac husband drank coffee and waited for the dawn.

Although all that glitters is not gold, "Stella's Dream Trailer" definitely was. Fresh off the production line at the Ohio factory, it broke norms in that instead of being regulation silver, this Airstream was dripping in gold. It was also the first 22-footer to have tandem axles. It debuted at the Kentucky Derby and Indianapolis 500 and wowed everyone in attendance. Airstream had gone bling, Stella had her gold Airstream, and Wally had added another feather to his cap.

An Airstream is synonymous with adventure, and as founder Wally Byam points out in his creed, Airstreamers should "Strive endlessly to stir the venturesome spirit that moves you to follow a rainbow to its end." It's definitely a philosophy that Virgil and Grace Golden took to heart in 1963 when they spent 403 days traveling through 31 countries and chalking up a tally of 31,000 miles in their trusty Airstream. The Statesman Journal reports that the adventurous couple embarked on an epic trip through Asia, the Middle East, and Europe as part of Wally Byam's Around the World Caravan. Joining 103 other Airstream adventurists, the Goldens were proud to participate in what Airstream branded the "expedition of a lifetime."

In total, 47 trailers created what, in effect, was an American hometown on wheels. The participants parked in front of pyramids, tallied beside ancient temples, and loitered outside of the Kremlin in a bid to put Airstream on the map. They were ambassadors of Wally's dream, but sadly he died in July 1962 of a brain tumor before he could see it made a reality. Nevertheless, Virgil, who was 67 at the time, and Grace, 59, proved you're never too old for a grand adventure. Following a similar route forged in the late 13th century by Marco Polo, the Airstream ambassadors set out from Singapore and ended their trip in Libson. It just goes to show that the trajectory of the silver bullet is truly open-ended.

Never one to miss an opportunity to impress a lady, Playboy mogul Hugh Hefner once surprised "Baywatch" actor Pamela Anderson with an all-white Airstream that he playfully named the Lovestream. Autoweek reports that the seven-year-old trailer went up for auction in 2008. Apparently, Anderson used the trailer as a dressing room when she was on set, and the auctioneers described the interior with the curious phrase: "fully-loaded." The inside of the Lovestream was customized, and there was a disco ball and a dance pole. It's safe to say such exotic things are not standard in most Airstreams.

The seats inside Anderson's former wagon are also emblazoned with pink Playboy bunnies to remind everyone that Hugh was there. Those who bid on the rare vehicle at auction got to meet Anderson as a bonus, since she was selling it herself (via AutoEvolution).

Airstreams have always had a futuristic, almost Sci-Fi flavor to them. It's part of their appeal. As such, it's no surprise the company has enjoyed a relationship with NASA since the first moon landings to the present day. Forbes reports that in 1969, Airstream was commissioned to create a mobile unit where Apollo 11 flyboys Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Mike Collins could quarantine safely after sticking the stars and stripes in lady lunar. NASA was concerned that the space team might bring back some alien germs from their trip into outer space and decided that an air-conditioned Airstream would be the perfect place to isolate them in. Airstream CEO Bob Wheeler explained, "They wanted to keep the astronauts isolated for a time in that kind of environment. It seems quaint at this point, but put yourself back then."

The services of Airstreams were again called upon by NASA in 1983 when they needed a trailer to ferry astronauts to their shuttle in Kennedy Space Center. The vehicle was aptly named the Astrovan. Fast forward to the 50th anniversary of the first moon landings, and NASA once again joined forces with Airstream to create the Astrovan II. In partnership with Boeing, Airstream designed a vehicle to take astronauts to the launch pad of the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft. Airstreams have always made it their mission to go where no trailer has been before. The question is, will we ever see a "silver bullet" on the moon?

An Airstream is a metallic embodiment of throwing caution to the wind and following the road wherever it takes you. In the middle of a global pandemic, Dana Haim, Jaron Glinsky, and their two young children did exactly that, according to Vogue. They gave up the lease on their San Francisco apartment, packed everything they owned into a 25-foot Airstream nicknamed La Tortuga, and embarked on an odyssey across the U.S. When a large chunk of the population was pulling up the drawbridges and battening down the hatches in a frantic bid to keep Covid-19 at bay, the Airstream version of the Swiss Family Robinson decided to flip the script. They reasoned that America's great outdoors and National Parks were probably safer spaces than crowded cities.

Roaring thousands of miles into the unknown with a 3-year-old and an 18-month-old, Dana and Jaron knew life as a nomad would not be without its hitches, and so it proved. With little personal space and less chance for any alone time, coupled with the chores of RV maintenance, things got a little frayed and claustrophobic. The couple described some days as "RV hell." However, waking up beneath a canopy of towering Redwoods to a birdsong serenade, or stepping outside and finding the swell and surf of the Pacific Ocean on their doorstep made such trials and tribulations worthwhile. The family discovered that nature truly is the best medicine, and an Airstream was the only prescription required.