[VAC] Washington Post: Tinkering With A Legend

[Wayne <wayne2@xxxxxxxx>]

Hi, here's an article I thought you'd all like...

wayne

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To view the entire article, go to 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11065-2000Jun17.html

Tinkering With  A Legend

The decades-old mantra of Airstream travelers--"Live More, See More, 
Do More"--sounds tailor-made for today's practitioners of Xtreme 
sports. If only the trailer's decor were up to the modern challenge.

The Airstream, of course, is America's most famous caravan. Its 
gleaming aluminum hull, designed in the 1930s, is a model of 
streamlined design. But inside, old-fashioned vinyl and wood-grain 
veneers still reign. Even the latest interiors are "what you might 
find in a colonial home," says Richard Riegel, a vice president of 
Thor Industries, which owns Airstream.

Now, an all-star design team is proposing a make-over.

So far, the project--code named "Crossroads"--has led to a spiffy 
retrofit of a 1948 trailer. Together, an award-winning furniture 
designer, a product development firm and a longtime maker of laminate 
kitchen counter tops have turned a 20-foot Airstream into a sleek 
cocoon aimed at design-savvy consumers.

In the revamped RV, unveiled last month at New York's International 
Contemporary Furniture Fair, vinyl-clad walls had been torn out and 
the silvery shell exposed. Layers of cool ice-blue and gray laminate 
had been molded around the four-burner stove, sink, fridge and 
storage cabinets. Simple banquettes and a platform bed completed the 
furnishings.

"I've been obsessed with aluminum travel trailers for several years," says Jim
Huff of Inside Design, the New York instigator of the project. "But 
the interior never really looked as cool as the exterior."

Huff figures that young rock climbers, surfers and weekending dot-com 
wizards might be potential trailer travelers--if a trailer could 
reflect their generation's aesthetic. That's why the designers wished 
for space to add a computer station and wet-suit storage. They seemed 
unconcerned about the lack of a bathroom, at least in the 
demonstration model.

For materials, Huff's partner, design historian Grace Jeffers, 
brought in Wilsonart International of Temple, Tex., which has been 
experimenting with artist-designed, digitally printed laminates. For 
craftsmanship, they turned to Christopher C. Deam, a Berkeley, 
Calif., designer and architect, whose plywood furniture reflects the 
populist spirit and modern styling of the mid-20th century masters 
Charles and Ray Eames.

Deam quickly sized up the problem: "You could hit the open road, but 
you were taking your grandmother's kitchen with you."

Legend has it that Airstream founder Wally Byam created the classic 
travel trailer because his wife refused to go camping without her 
kitchen. Into his rounded, factory-made shells Byam tucked many 
comforts of a 1930s home. Authors Bryan Burkhart and David Hunt tell 
the story in "Airstream, the History of the Land Yacht" (Chronicle 
Books, 142 pages, $19.95). The book also shows a 1964 interior in all 
its avocado-green glory.

Airstream Inc. declined to participate in Huff's adventure, so the 
famous name had to be covered up on the designer prototype. Only in 
recent days has the parent company, Thor, entered into what Riegel 
calls "explorations."

Design firms and manufacturers, including Thor, are alert to business 
success stories, from Volkswagen's New Beetle to Target's image 
upgrade through design. Whether travel trailers will be next is 
anyone's guess.

Huff has had offers to buy this one, but that wasn't his goal. And 
Riegel says, "We don't feel our product will necessarily sell to the 
Gen-Xer. That's not our goal."

Riegel points out that youthful boomers are moving into the 
traditional trailer demographic--average age of an Airstream customer 
is about 50--and it's never too soon to get their attention.

The true test of designer chic may come on June 26. That's when the 
prototype will make an appearance at the Wally Byam Caravan Club 
International rally in Bismarck, N.D.  (Membership is one of the 
perks for people willing to spend $20,000 for a small Airstream, or 
more than $70,000 for a big one.)

Airstream owners may find the model oddly familiar. Though Deam tried 
to create a space that was "futuristic," he wound up keeping Byam's 
original floor plan.

"The layout was really efficient," Deam said. "Perfect."