A Look Back: Airstream Charts Global Success On The Open Road With Iconic Travel Trailers
The legions of “Airstreamers” who have taken to the open road since the 1930s in silver-bullet-styled Airstream travel trailers know what it means to “live riveted.” In short, they possess a curiosity for exploration which they support with an Airstream trailer, the “Rolls-Royce of travel trailers.” Today, the Airstream lineup includes the Atlas, Basecamp, Classic, Flying Cloud, Globetrotter, Interstate Grand Tour EXT, Tommy Bahama Interstate, and other travel trailers and touring coaches.
Undoubtedly, Wally Byam lived riveted. As Airstream’s founder and a diehard travel evangelist, Byam’s impact on today’s thriving recreational vehicle industry is undeniable. A Stanford grad, advertising manager, magazine publisher, and more throughout his life, Byam’s mission to develop a new way of travel is detailed in “Wally’s Creed.” The set of beliefs includes a desire to “place the great wide world at your doorstep for you who yearn to travel with all the comforts of home” and to “provide a more satisfying, meaningful way of travel that offers complete travel independence, wherever and whenever you choose to go or stay.”
From Airstream’s early Torpedo model of the 1930s to the recent Nest (a fiberglass-constructed departure from Airstream’s iconic silver-aluminum frames), Byam seemingly accomplished what he set out to. In this first of two posts, we explore Airstream’s early history through the 1950s.
Setting The Stage
Now based in Jackson Center, Ohio, Airstream is arguably the world’s most recognized travel trailer brand. The company, however, started modestly in the late 1920s as a one-man operation. Byam ran it in his back yard in Los Angeles, using plywood and Masonite to fashion a tent-like structure on a Model T automobile chassis. Soon after, Byam would construct a more protective teardrop-shaped towable unit that included an ice chest and stove.
With his early trailers proving popular, Byam offered five-dollar manuals to help others build their own. Strong customer demand for fully constructed trailers, however, led him to start manufacturing trailers full-time. After opening a factory in 1931 in Culver City, California, Byam released the Torpedo Car Cruiser, followed by the Silver Cloud and Airlite models. As Airstream notes, the Torpedo would set the stage for every Airstream trailer that followed.
Remarkably, when Byam opened the Culver City factory, fewer than 50 trailer makers were reportedly registered in the United States. Within five years, the total skyrocketed to 400. The Great Depression and World War II, however, wreaked havoc on the burgeoning industry and, today, Airstream claims it’s the sole survivor among those early manufacturers.
The Hawley Bowlus Influence
Now a division of Thor Industries—owner of a family of recreational vehicle companies that includes Bison Coach, Dutchmen, Jayco, Venture RV, and others—Airstream unquestionably owes a debt of gratitude to William Hawley Bowlus for his long-lasting contributions to the company. Besides being an early manufacturer of gliders, Bowlus is said to have overseen the construction of the Spirit of St. Louis, which Charles Lindbergh navigated from New York to Paris. He also designed and built numerous early gliders and seaplanes and played a major role in setting numerous glider world records.
During the Great Depression, Byam went to work for Bowlus, who had constructed his own travel trailer called the Road Chief, which sported a lightweight aluminum exterior and mimicked the rivet manufacturing style of early aircraft. Byam helped market Bowlus’s trailer, but after Bowlus’s company went bankrupt in the 1930s, Byam eventually acquired some of its assets and later release the Airstream Clipper in 1936. As historians have pointed out, the Clipper was essentially a rebadging of Bowlus’s trailer, which slept four and included its own water supply and electric lights. Various sources claim Airstream trailers from this era are still in operation.
The Post-War Years
As other companies did during WWII, Byam closed his factory and joined the war effort, working for aviation manufacturer Lockheed. After the war, trailer manufacturer Curtis Wright (no relation to aviation manufacturer Curtiss-Wright) hired Byam to develop two trailer lines. The Curtis Wright Clipper that resulted featured aviation manufacturing techniques Byam picked up during the war. The union only last shortly, though, and Byam would reopen Airstream in 1947, releasing the Curtis Wright Clipper as the Silver Streak.
With trailer sales increasing, Byam opened a new manufacturing plant in Jackson Center in the 1940s. During this time, Byam would begin cementing his reputation as an avid adventurer by embarking on trips during which he conducted in-field research on his trailers. Over time, he recruited others to join him on what became known as “Wally’s caravans,” which included treks through Europe, Mexico, Asia, Africa, South America, and other locations.
In 1955, the “Wally Byam Caravan Club” formed during one such trip, although “International” was later added to the name to reflect the club’s global reach. While the caravans initially included non-Airstream trailer, the club’s popularity led Byam to limit trip participation to Airstream owners, or “Airstreamers.” In 1959, only a couple years before his death in 1962, Byam led a group of 40-plus Airstream trailers on a multiple-month trip that stretched from “Capetown to Cairo.”
Byam’s travels, research, and motivation to continually approval travel led to 1958’s Airstream International, billed as the first “self-contained travel trailer.” The International featured the first hot water system in a trailer. Today, Airstream sells the International Serenity and International Signature models.
Today you’ll find an ample selection of Airstream recreation vehicles for sale on RVUniverse.com.
SIDEBAR
Wally’s Creed
Airstream founder Wally Byam dreamed of building a trailer able to “move like a stream of air,” one that was lightweight enough that a car could tow it, and yet luxurious enough to provide “first-class accommodations” anywhere travelers took it. Byam shared his dream with others through what has become known as “Wally’s Creed,” outlined here:
- To open a whole world of new experiences . . . a new dimension in enjoyment where travel adventure and good fellowship are your constant companions.
- To encourage clubs and rallies that provide an endless source of friendships, travel fun and personal expressions.
- To lead caravans wherever the four winds blow . . . over twinkling boulevards, across trackless deserts . . . to the traveled and untraveled corners of the earth.
- To play some part in promoting international goodwill and understanding among the peoples of the world through person-to-person contact.
- To strive endlessly to stir the venturesome spirit that moves you to follow a rainbow to its end . . . and thus make your travel dreams come true.
This is the first post in a two-part history of Airstream. Stay tuned for the second installment.