Silver & Golden Despite rising gas prices, Airstream trailers celebrate 50 years with Ellsworth visit

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The first time Caroline Zimmer made the Wally Byam Caravan Club trip in 1955, gas cost 20 cents a gallon, if you can believe it.

On Monday, Zimmer paid $370 just to fill up her Airstream motor home. “We didn’t pay that much for the whole trip in 1955,” the 62-year-old Florida resident recalled.

Zimmer is the star of the Caravan, which started pulling into Ellsworth on Thursday. By Saturday, 99 of the distinctive “silver Twinkie” trailers and RVs were expected to have streamed into Ellsworth from Sault St. Marie, Mich. as part of the 50th anniversary of the first caravan organized by Airstream company founder, Wally Byam.

The caravan is the annual celebration of the “silver twinkie” trailer that is recognized from Maine to Alaska, according to caravan public relations spokesman, Bill Schrader.

On the 1955 trip to Bangor, company founder Wally Byam organized the caravan club, which now boasts 156 club units around the country. The annual trip is so popular that participants are chosen by lottery.

The first Airstreams were built of plywood in Byam’s backyard 70 years ago. The streamlined “clipper” model was produced in January of 1936 with a riveted aluminum body for the price of $1,200. The construction was closer to airplane design than trailers of the day.

Airstream trailers have been named to the Money Magazine of “99 things America does best” and are exhibited at the Smithsonian Institution and other museums. Today’s trailer models range from the 19 foot “Bambi” to the 34 foot “slide-out” Limited, at $35,000. Motor homes of 30-39 ft. were introduced in 1979 and sell for as much as $150,000.

“Airstreams are an American icon. They have been around since the earliest trailers. They are the only ones that were made in the 1940s that are still around.” Schrader said. “More than 60 percent of the Airstreams that were ever made are still on American roads,”

Of course the $1,200 models have increased along with gasoline costs, but the heavy-duty frames covered by aircraft aluminum are still treasured by trailer enthusiasts. “When you consider inflation from the 1940s the prices are not that high,” Schrader said. Not when you can easily spend $140,000 on a motor home today.

Like boat owners, Airstream aficionados get into it with a small, used model then keep trading and working up. Schrader is on his fourth model, a 1987 edition.

‘The good thing is you can’t tell from the outside whether it is brand new or 30 years old.”

If you buy an older model, there are a number of companies that will rehab your unit from stove to potty. Airstreams are built with one unit construction with the frame riveted to the aluminum frame. They are reputed to be much more energy efficient because of their aerodynamic design.

If you join the caravan you get to show a club number on the side of your trailer.

“Everywhere you go, people will recognize that number and stop and say hello and ask where you are going,” Schrader said.

If there is a problem with older Airstreams, you will hear around the campfire that the rivets leak after a few decades, and like a boat, you will have a problem figuring out where the leak is. But usually, a caulking gun will solve that.

During a stop in St. John, New Brunswick, trip leader Chuck Kiple, a retired attorney from Iowa, said this year’s event has been spectacular. It is his seventh caravan. On each trip the popularity of the distinctive silver trailers surprises him.

“I think they are popular for two reasons, First they are the most durable of all RVs. More than 60 percent of all Airstreams ever built are still on the road,” Kiple said. “Some people buy 40-year-old Airstreams and have them rebuilt. The other reason is they are so easy to handle, because of their aerodynamics.”

Kiple bought his first Airstream 20 years ago, as a sort of portable hunting cabin. He has bought three used trailers and two new ones since. Like boat owners, once Airstream owners get established they buy newer and bigger models. The worst part of camper trips is the lack of closet space for the women. The best part is the camaraderie of the nightly camping gatherings.

The Ellsworth event is small potatoes compared to the annual “International” gathering where more than 1,000 “Silver Twinkies” show up.

“It is a way of life. We have retired policemen, teachers, dentists and military people. It is a cross section of America,” Kiple said.

Camping – and the country – have changed in the last 50 years, Zimmer said.

“On the first trip, we drove from Marion, Indiana to Bangor. My father pulled an Airstream trailer with his Cadillac. That was the appeal of them,” she remembered. “You didn’t need a truck to haul them.”

Those Airstreams were primitive by today’s pampered standards. “We didn’t have showers. We didn’t have electricity. We didn’t have television. We would just stop at fairgrounds and baseball fields. It was such an oddity then, we created such a commotion. At night we would gather around the campfire and sing.”

There were no chemical toilets. The men would dig latrine pits, which would be covered before the caravan moved on.

The 1955 trip covered mostly dirt roads through Canada.

“Most people had never seen an Airstream,” Zimmer said. This trip is much more organized, on paved roads with all the comforts of home, she said.

“It seems to me that there was a lot more drinking in those days. We would sit around the radio and the parents would drink cocktails,” she related. “We would bring our own food and not eat at restaurants at all. I had never seen a lobster before that trip.”

Zimmer travels in style now in a 39-foot Airstream motor home. “It is ridiculous, compared to 1955. We even have a shower. As a child, we would only take baths once a week. It was a whole other world,” she said.

The caravan has grown used to the insane gas prices.

“If you want to play, you have to pay,” she said.

The trip will end in Ellsworth this weekend and Zimmer is not looking forward to going home.

” I am an irresponsible adult,” she said.

The 99 “Silver Twinkies” will spend the weekend at Timberland Acres on the Bar Harbor Road in Ellsworth. Another club unit will converge at Timberland Acres the weekend of Sept. 14-16. Information on the caravan or the distinctive trailers is available at Airstream.com or from Schrader at bschrad500@AOL.com Emmet Meara can be reached at emmetmeara@msn.com.