Summer in California: there is absolutely nothing else like it. Beautiful breeze, sunny skies and kids out of school. Makes me dream about summer things: being near the shore, listening to the calming sounds of the waves hitting the sand and…camping in an Airstream. Before I discovered the world of mid-century modern design I was always drawn to vintage Airstreams and the idea of having one to take to the beach for the weekend, or camping somewhere in the woods thrilled me. (The thought of sleeping in a tent gives me the creeps. I need to be safely and securely separated from anything that can scare, bite or kill me.) The perfect camping companion and-oh-so-shiny impenetrable fortress of fun just happens to double as an icon of mid-century pursuits: The Airstream.
Finding an aluminum dream on wheels to rehab for someone of my limited means seemed more attainable when I spotted this inspiring post on Houzz.com. It tells quite a story in pictures about a family who completely gutted and remodeled an Airstream they found on Ebay:
I fantasized about finding an old, slightly rotten and even more forgotten Airstream on Craigslist, or Ebay and bringing it back to life alongside my loving father, who would show me how to re-finish the wood and replace a few things. Together, we would restore our family camper to its original glory and create cherished memories on the vacations we’d have together. Perhaps we’d even lend our silver treasure to extended family for their camping trips! I’d mentioned this to my dad who said, “those things are extremely expensive.” Always up for a challenge, I later took to the world-wide web just to have a look-see.
Do you knoooooooww what I found? Just one such Airstream, 30 feet in length, built during the 60’s, for under 5K, OBO. In the vein daydreaming, do you remember the movie Field of Dreams with Kevin Costner? One of the famous quotes from that movie was, “If you build it, they will come.” Now…lately it seems for me, “If you search it, It shall be found.”
Now forget all the time and money it would take to get it ready for the road. Don’t rain on my parade! A girl can Airstream dream!!!
midcenturyobsession 
Did you by chance take photos of the inside? 🙂
Yep! I’ll add them too. 🙂
Don’t do it. haha.
Ha! I didn’t….and probably won’t. I read a post from a guy who lives and travels in his airstream, and he compares it to being like a baked potato during the summers…even with a/c running. Makes sense. Baked potatoes do get wrapped in aluminum.
I love Airstreams! I attribute it to my addiction to the Jetsons – my favorite cartoon!!
That show rocked. I can still sing the theme song.