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 Topic: Fun finding caravans!
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25/1/2008 at 3:22pm
Location: Miami Beach Costa BlancaESP Med coast!
Outfit: 1956 Airstream Calif Bubble 16'
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Joined: 06/12/2004 Standard Member
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Hi Folks! Nice story from 'cross the pond!
Part of my "hobby gone bad" of collecting old Airstreams- the most enjoyable part, is going out with my wife- now 7.5 months pregnant- on our motorcycle (currently using a 2002 Triumph Tiger 955i) and finding old caravans...
We had some luck recently- these things got really hard to find after the TV shows started telling everyone how movie stars were buying these for 100K. We see them deep in the woods, sometimes, but not often.
We came across 2- both Spartans, and in the most unusual, but rewarding situation. One is a 1949 Spartanette 24', the other is a 1950 Spartan Royal Mansion 33'. The Mansion was bought brand new, by the current owner- a sweet elderly (88 years) lady from Ohio who transplanted to Florida with her husband. The couple bought this 33' Spartan for a winter home, and towed it down. The Missus decided she couldn't handle driving while it was in tow, so they bought the smaller 24' Mansion, used, from a dealer in Ohio, the same year. That one was used as the traveling camper, the other larger one stayed in Florida.
These were buried in black mud up to the body. It somehow preserved the metal frame perfectly. When the bearings and running gear were removed, there was no wear on them, even the grease on them looked new.
All the fabrics are original in both caravans, which is amazing, but not really usable, even the curtains, the Venetian blinds, all the woodwork- all original.
Unfortunately, owning so many of these, I had to choose, and I'm keeping the giant one- will look great all polished up, and is big enough to both travel with and use for extended stays when we go on month long trips in the USA. Thats one that will never see Europe- I learned my lesson trying to camp in Spain with a 28'er... :)
I posted pix of the Spartanette 24 on my gallery pix, take a look, and enjoy. Its gonna hit eBay in UK in the next week or so.
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31/1/2008 at 11:00am
Location: Miami Beach Costa BlancaESP Med coast!
Outfit: 1956 Airstream Calif Bubble 16'
View Profile
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Joined: 06/12/2004 Standard Member
Forum Posts: 71
| Site Reviews Total: | 0 |
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| Site Reviews 2024: | 0 |
| Site Reviews 2023: | 0 |
| Site Reviews 2022: | 0 |
| Site Reviews 2021: | 0 |
| Site Reviews 2020: | 0 |
| Site Reviews 2019: | 0 |
| Site Reviews 2018: | 0 |
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| Site Nights 2024: | 0 |
| Site Nights 2023: | 0 |
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Thanks, its a life-long love with these caravans- my dad was an owner and we camped in one as a family when I was a child.
The USA market is really strange- you couldn't buy a legal Smart For2 here until 2 weeks ago. They must make them in Mexico now, so it should be interesting. You could, however, buy a Daihatsu that was able to get almost the same economy, just that it wasn't built nearly as nice, and felt incredibly unsafe.
We have some crazy things here- I'm living over half the time in Europe, so I see both sides, and Europe makes way more sense. We have these giant trucks, driven by guys who drink and do drugs, and they have 600-700HP, and they crash and kill people by enormous numbers, yet they're all over the lanes in the highway- no really enforced "Trucks stay in right lane" rule, no 89KM/h rules- nothing, just haul butt and get there.
I see people towing these big heavy caravans with F150's and Toyota Tundra's, which would scare me. They don't have the ability to haul properly, and people try it a lot without trailer brakes. Its insane.
I agree that they weigh too much, I'm also not looking with resepct at any new Airstreams, as the weight has gotten out of control. A new 22'er can weigh 4300 pounds, and my 1954 22'er weighs in at under 3000 pounds- still too much, but its a tremendous difference.
Every so often, you see an Award from Canada, Scamps as mentioned, or an imported Eriba, but as the rule, Americans will buy an overweight plastic and wood disposable caravan, bigger is better, they cry about the fuel prices, but never see the ability to change and adapt to the European system of caravans, which are built better in most cases.
That new EU Airstream, in my opinion, is junk, and a cheap copy of the old ones that the reputation is built on. Hope my straightforward approach doesn't offend, but its my honest opinion. Cheers, Philip
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