The thing about publishing is that I get to meet a lot of really nice people with fascinating stories to tell about the places they’ve been to, and things they’ve done in order to get there.
My latest adventure took me to Family Classic Cars in San Juan Capistrano, California, where I met up with long time friend Bill Sundin, who happens to be one of the curators there and Yank Sefton of the West Coast Airstream club. Bill's got a lead on a very interesting vehicle that relates to the early history of classic trailers, and he introduced me to Yank, who happens to be a serious Airstream buff.
I invited Bill, Yank and our contributing writer Bobby Black for burgers and fries at one of my favorite spots, and together we talked about what it means to go vintage. Yank and his wife have traveled quite a bit in Airstreams, and together they own three of them. Two of his Airstreams are vintage, and the other is new and very customized. After our lunch, Yank showed us around his 1960s Airstream that was being stored nearby. It still needed some work and so we talked about what was being done to it so he could get it on the road. It was a fascinating story about the hobby that opened the door to what kind of issues do-it-yourself builders might run into restoring their projects.
The same day I met with Uwe Salwender of Area 63, an Airstream restoration business out of Orange, California. Uwe is at the other end of the spectrum, he takes orders on old Airstreams, and does the restoration work for you. Uwe is a certified craftsmen when it comes to making something old look new again.
Unfortunately, the day we met he was getting ready to head to New Mexico so I promised to meet up with him after he returned, to continue our conversation. I’m sure he’ll have a lot to say about vintage trailers and their role in RVing.
Obviously, I hope to hear from other Airstream and vintage trailer enthusiasts about your personal projects too. If you’ve got a photo to go with it all the better! Maybe they’ll make their way into the next issue of RV.
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