In another place and time .......
my partner Stefan and I both had the vintage trailering dream. Although we were not together, we were doing it at the same time. He was living in San Francisco and I was living in Port Orford, OR. He had an older Airstream and I had a little box type trailer I am not sure the name of. Both of us had partners that did not have the same dream that we did. Stefan and I found ourselves alone when dreaming as well as alone when working on it. Soon the dream started to loose its luster when we were unable to share the dream with our partners. Stefan sold his trailer and I sold mine.
When we started living life together, we started comparing our vintage trailering dreams. We both had the same basic dream. To own and travel with one of the coolest trailers around. But Stefan helped my dream evolve. He introduced me to the vintage polished aluminum trailer. Wow I fell in love. He took me to the Airstream dealership to see the new models. How pretty they were. All decked out with themes and matching color schemes. We took home the sales literature and information fully intending to bring one home soon. After mulling over the beautiful photographs in the brochure we were sure of what we wanted. We wanted the Safari. The color combination was airy and light. The exterior aluminum, interior colors and floor plan made us think vintage. When we went back to the dealer to talk specifics we had an opportunity to take our time and really look the Airstream over. But the whole feeling we were seeking was missing. The first thing you notice is the lack of quality they put into a $60,000.00 unit. The overwhelming use of thin laminates and imitation everything was shocking. On the outside of the brand new unit we were looking at, a plastic storage door was already broken and there were several places in the interior where the laminates were separating from the counter tops, seating and cupboards. When we brought this to the attention of the sales rep he quickly reminded us of how " it is like an earthquake every time you take it out so these things are expected, but it would be fixed before you buy it ". We agreed and reminded him that this unit was new and had not been on the road yet.
This is when the lights went on for me. My dream to create the Vintage trailering experience no longer included a new Airstream. Especially at $60,000.00 for something so flimsy. But now what? Could it be that you cannot create the vintage feeling in a new trailer? Even if it looks like the old ones? We went back to the drawing board and started scouring the internet for Vintage Trailers For Sale. There were so few makers of this type of trailer that all we seemed to find were Airstreams. That is primarily what is and was available. We also thought that the older Airstreams might be built better. We found out that an Airstream is an Airstream. Built thin and light and inexpensive. And at the time, they were built and priced so anyone could afford one. After searching for a while Stefan was doing the regular scan of eBay when he came across a Silver Streak Sabre. Way cool. An aluminum trailer that was definitely not an Airstream on the outside and better yet not and Airstream on the inside. As popular as the Airstreams are their interiors have always left me flat when it came to creativity or style. Not the Silver Streak. From the wide flat roof and wrap around windows to the anodized aluminum with anodized gold trim it sets itself apart from all other aluminum travel trailers. Their interiors had beautiful oak cabinetry and textiles that were color coordinated in earth tones. The anodized gold used on the exterior was used again on interior trim. Now this was love at first site even though it had the dreaded 40 year old anodized aluminum exterior. The type of aluminum exterior that was treated to make the coach easier to maintain. The treatment makes the aluminum very resistant to everything, everything except age. After 40 years of living outside the finish changed completely. It went from a pewter colored satiny finish that glowed to a muddy, milky grey that showed streaks and stains. It is not the type of aluminum you can buff to a shine. The builders must not have tested the process for longevity.
It did not take us long to contact the owner, scrape together the money and get on the road to Southern California. I think we left the very next morning. We arrived in no time to find the SS backed into a small track house driveway on a slight incline covered with a tarp. When the tarp came off it was my first look at a 40 year old Silver Streak. Yuck! That dull, grey, stained, pitted and tired looking finish could only be loved by someone with a dream and a vision. And someone that knows the difference quality makes. You can't help but see the stoutness of the SS. There is nothing flimsy about it. Everything is overbuilt, heavy and solid. The outside did not sell us as much as the interior did. The love and care the owner had put into it was obvious. He loved this trailer. The updates he made to the SS were thought out well and well done. He updated it with essentials but left it original to the eye. (electric systems, black water tank, new water system, etc.) Everything was perfect right down to the original mint condition box springs and mattresses that have their original bed spreads made especially for Silver Streak. How wonderful it was to see such an old trailer in such awesome original condition. During our search we found that most vintage trailers had been horribly massacred. Massacred to the point of unusable. Or even worse, renovated with terrible taste and poor quality workmanship.
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| 1970 Silver Streak Mattress |
Needless to say we made our deal and headed home. I was totally in love with the SS but how was I going to live with the absolutely ugly exterior?
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| 1970 Silver Streak on its way home |
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