Professional hauler Robert Houghton made his way from Washington State to Andrew Herman and Jane Powers’ secluded property in Lutsen to pick up the 1956 Sovereign of the Road Airstream they recently sold. Houghton towed the vintage trailer to the Port of Baltimore, where it was shipped to England. Airstream dealer and restorer Sam Harkness, who bought the trailer, has been negotiating a deal with another potential buyer.
A mind is a terrible thing to waste. So is an old Airstream. A sleek, aerodynamic silver bullet that’s been around the block a few times.
A trailer that is believed to have been to Canada and Mexico with Wally Byam, the inventor of the Airstream.
A trailer that just took a big cargo ship ride to England where it will be restored and hopefully sold to a fbusinessmoan who is a big supporter of an internationally acclaimed scientific organization that advocates for wild animals and the environment in Africa and around the world.
A trailer that had been enjoying a peaceful rest in the woods beside Bigsby Lake in Lutsen for the last 10 years.
Andy Herman and his wife Jane Powers have now become part of the midlife history of Wally Byam Caravan Club Airstream No. 1234. It’s a “Sovereign of the Road,” built in Ohio in 1956 and likely owned by a “VIP” club member, according to Sam Harkness, owner of Vintage Airstreams of Gloucestershire, England, a company that buys, restores, and sells vintage Airstreams (www.vintageairstreams.co.uk/). Sam recently purchased the trailer from Andy after seeing his ad on a vintage airstream website.
Staff photos/Jane Howard
A few disasters have played a part in this Airstream story. Andy and Jane were staying at Clearwater Lodge while shopping for land in Cook County when the July 4, 1999 Blowdown mowed down much of the Superior National Forest. They ended up buying land on Bigsby Lake in Lutsen.
At first, they stayed in a tent and then a pop-up trailer at Cascade State Park and the Grand Marais Municipal Campground, enjoying their property by day. In 2000 they bought the Airstream from a dealer in Rogers, Minnesota and spent a year fixing it up at a friend’s house in St. Paul. About a year later, the trailer made its way down the very long, narrow dirt road leading to their 20 acres.
Andy and Jane were in the Airstream during the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center in New York City. “After listening to the radio for a while,” Andy told the Cook County News-Herald, “we went for a quiet paddle up Murmur Creek — very cleansing and spiritual.”
That day played a part in Sam Harkness buying Andy’s Airstream 10 years later. “I worked for my father’s caravanning business in Ireland during school holidays,” he told the News-Herald. “I went on to work around the world in the oil business…in the Far East and New York but decided I wanted a change of life after being in New York on 9/11 and in London on 7/7 [the July 7, 2005 suicide bombings on London’s public transport system].”
It seems Airstreams may have a calming effect on the world.
Like the first people to enjoy them back in the 1920s, Andy and Jane found Airstream living to be a big step up in camping. Their Airstream no longer had its built-in kitchen table or beds, but the bathroom still contained its original big, squarish tub and filled up with light from the large rear windows. Midcentury modern cupboards and counters still lined the walls. Original light fixtures were intact.
“Life sure got comfortable once we started ‘camping’ in our trailer,” Andy said. “The size (31 feet) was cavernous compared to our four-person tent and screen shelter. The luxury of being able to have a dry, bug-free environment was awesome. Having a propane refrigerator was a tremendous plus….” They also appreciated “being able to stock a few supplies (like cans of soup, an extra coat, or a game of Yahtzee).”
The old eventually had to make way for the new, however. “Last year, our neighbors on Bigsby Lake started building a cabin and put their modern trailer up for sale,” Andy said. “We bought it and only had room for one trailer, so the trusty old Airstream had to go. It served us well and was quite a conversation piece.”
On June 15, 2011,
Andy’s Airstream made its way back down the long dirt road to the Caribou Trail, to Highway 61, and to roads leading east to the Port of Baltimore. Robert Hougton, a professional hauler, picked it up on his way east from his home in Washington State. This was his first excursion to northern Minnesota. He loves the scenery of America but found the North Shore to be exceptionally beautiful.
After delivering the Airstream two days later, Robert headed down the East Coast with a Nautica yacht tender and a Bayliner Avanti. From there, he was off to Alaska to deliver a big trailer for a military family to live in. Robert knows a lot about boats and trailers. He called Andy and Jane’s Airstream “extremely stout,” “lightweight,” and “very well-built.”
A peripheral point to this whole story is that advertising does work, something the News-Herald wants its readers to know! While Sam found the Airstream through a vintage Airstream website, Andy got a few other bites from his ad in the News-Herald classified section. “The ad worked great,” he said. “[I] received some good response, especially after I changed to a display ad (the picture helped generate interest). … The display ad in the Cook County paper generated several very promising leads, including a couple whose cabin burned down (they were going to use the trailer while they rebuilt), a construction guy who had a project near the end of the Gunflint Trail and wanted a crash pad for Monday through Thursday, and several people who wanted to use the trailer as guest accommodations at their cabins.”
“It sure was a classy old trailer,” Andy said. “The neat thing about it was anything dented or broken just added to the mystery of its past. …I asked Jane what her fondest memories were of the Airstream. She said the first time it rained and we were dry and comfortable was a big day.”
The life of Wally Byam Caravan Club Airstream No. 1234 now continues. On June 16, Sam met with the potential buyer’s agent while he was in Wimbledon filming with a 1961 Airstream a shoot for Professor Steven Hawking on how the world began. Somebody will eventually wear the old thing out, although it will have a lot of miles ahead of it after its upcoming restoration.
The Airstream website (www.airstream.com) paints the picture of Airstream longevity well: According to one third-generation owner, “We’ve crisscrossed the United States more times than I can reliably count. We continue to attempt to wear the trailer out. Perhaps my son will get the job done.”
The legacy of the Airstream
According to www.vintageairstreams.co.uk/, the website of dealer Sam Harkness, Airstream inventor Wally Byam stumbled into the trailer business in the 1920s. He “became a publisher, starting a number of magazines. One of these, a do-it-yourself magazine, published an article describing plans for the construction of a travel trailer. When readers began complaining about the plans, Wally tried them out and found himself agreeing with his readers – the plans were no good.
“Thereupon he set out to build his own model…. It was widely admired and Wally began selling sets of plans for five dollars. Soon, in response to demand, he was building improved versions of his trailer in his backyard in Los Angeles.
“…Those first trailers were built of plywood, but he soon switched to masonite and began adding amenities like ice boxes, gasoline stoves and water pumps. The trailers began to take on a more aerodynamic look as he incorporated aircraft construction methods in order to lessen wind resistance and improve the strength-to-weight ratio of his trailers.” In 1936, Byam introduced the “Clipper” which, with its riveted aluminum body, “had more in common with the aircraft of its day than with its predecessors.
“…Of more than 300 trailer builders operating in 1936, only one, Airstream, would survive. “…Over 60 percent of all Airstreams ever built – including some built from the original five-dollar plans – are still rolling down the highways.”
The Airstream website, www.airstream.com, cites five reasons to buy an Airstream: With their low center of gravity and independent torsion axle, they are safe. They offer approximately 20 percent better fuel economy than conventional box trailers. Because they last so long, they are cheaper than other trailers when their purchase price is amortized over their length of service. They have really good resale value. They turn heads when people drive them down the road, and people who own them feel like they are part of a community.
The company also considers itself to be green because Airstreams are made to last, their aerodynamic design creates better towing efficiency than box trailers, and their primary components — aluminum, steel, and wood — can be easily recycled.
Sam Harkness is always on the lookout for vintage Airstreams and has a “soft spot” for those from the mid-1950s. When he restores them, he prefers to retain original details and tends to reuse most vintage parts.
What is so special about Airstreams? Among other things, Sam says, “They look cool.”
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