[VAC] Re: Vintage Airstreams

["Don Hardman" <dhardman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I found my 1976 31' Sovereign last June and starting remodeling the moment I
got it home. To my delight, I found stuffed in overhead compartments, under
beds and in cabinets a treasure of information on the trailer. Not only did
I find the original owners manual, appliance information and a complete
service manual, but I also found a  history of this trailer provided by the
pervious first two owners. I am not talking about personal information about
the owners but what this trailer had been doing from 1976 through around
1992. There were maps, post cards, old RV park information and a history of
attending A/S rallies. I can tell from small octagon shaped thin metal
stick-on patches that this trailer was at the A/S International Rallies each
year from 1983 through 1989. Also it was at various other local and regional
rallies during these years in and around Texas. These small metal patches
were probably displayed somewhere in the trailer but apparently the person I
bought the trailer from decided to  remove them and I found them crumpled up
in a paper sack stuffed in a small garbage can he left in the trailer. It
took me days to get them all straightened out and I now have them displayed
on a plaque that I hang in the trailer.

All this rambling has to do with something that I have been thinking about.
Most of us that own these great Vintage Airstreams have accepted the
responsibility to preserve them not only for our own use and pleasure but
also for the future as well. Is there any means available through the
Vintage A/S club to maintain a registry and record the trailers history.
Again I am not talking about private owner information but a history of the
trailer tied to its serial number. Where its been, modifications made, ect.
I can fill in most of the life of my trailer through 1992. But there is
nothing from 1992 until I purchased it in 2000. During this time it appears
that the trailer sit abandoned by its condition when I bought it. I hope to
have this trailer for a long long time, but when the day comes that I pass
it on to someone I would like to feel that its history will continue. I
think it would be nice to have a source of information that could be updated
that would be specific to the Airstream trailer.

Just some thoughts.

Don Hardman
1976 Sovereign
Member
WBCCI 1068
Vintage Airstream Club