Growing up in my family, summertime meant camping trips. I don’t mean anything too intense or remote, more like extended weekends or weeklong trip to the ocean, maybe mountains.

We preferred tent set-ups over loading up the gang in an RV. Was this my parents attempt to instill an appreciation for simplicity in my brother and me or the economic necessities of a rural lower-middle class family? It’ll remain a mystery, I guess!

At some point along the way, my folks stumbled upon an opportunity to acquire a vintage RV. It would blend my Dad’s passion for classic vehicles with my parents’ mutual appreciation for the outdoors. And, as artists, it represented a really cool project to deploy their varied skills.

Specifically, they found a early 1960’s Airstream Bambi. Now if you don’t know a lick about Airstreams, this may not mean much. Some though get a little tingly feeling thinking about these.

The Bambi is the smallest model they made (at the time). It’s only 17′ long, yet you’ll find nearly every feature of a traditional RV: sink, refrigerator, bathroom, shower, heater… Lovely if you can manage the space, torture if you happen to be taller than say 6′ tall.

It was in good, not great condition, which, if you’re handy and patient, might be very appealing. The inside was clean, everything original and intact, but had a few dents, dings and, of course, needed a good polishing.

Long story short: My folks enjoyed the vintage airstream (and often towed it with my Dad’s 1958 Chevy Apache!) for over a decade. When they were ready, they put it on craigslist. A dude (and I mean dude) from upstate NY bought it unseen and drove the thing to Key West, FL to be used as a rental. My folks nearly 5x’d their original investment. Not too shabby. It’d be interesting to see where that little thing is now.

Sightings:

These memories (and economic facts) came rushing back to me as Ms IS sent me this picture.

Visting her mom recently, she came across this Airstream in a field in her hometown. In fact, it’s on the very same little country road where she grew up! To my surprise, Ms IS was more than a little excited about it. Immediately we went into brainstorming mode: Who owns it? Would they entertain an offer? What condition is it in? What vintage/model? What’s the current value? How crazy would it be to do a restoration? Where would we store it?

The gears were turning for sure, but our knowledge deficiency became quickly evident. Like any good millennial, I called my Dad while feverishly researching the internet. Fully rabbit-holing down blogs, forums, classifieds and Airstream restoration business sites, I can know say that we’re slightly above the fully ignorant mark… which is nice.

What We Learned:

Airstream classified listings are a great way to see what’s out there. There’s a lot! From unsightly rustbucket forest finds to fully decked out (and modernized) luxury units. Prices range from a couple thousand to over $100k! Oh my gosh, how could we possibly understand what we’re dealing with?!

A simple and widely accepted method for valuing an Airstream is a basic cost approach. First find the model/vintage baseline retail value as if it were fully restored. Next, subtract the sum of the market rate restoration costs to get your fair market value.

For example: the model and vintage fully restored for X is $10,000, but it’s plopped in a ditch (down by the river). You need to dump $8,000 to restore it. Therefore, fair market price should be $2,000. Simple enough, right?

Wrong. What if that number turns negative based on the amount of work needed? Are your cost projections inclusive/exclusive of labor costs? Will you replace all appliances and other gizmos to original or go some other direction? Are you including initial transportation costs to get the thing to your workshop (or your ditch down by the river)? Do you want to restore it to original or go modern? The list goes on…

The Meet:

Ms IS took the reins on the initial meet and great. She corresponded with the owners, who were very nice, but seemed to be talking about an entirely different reality. “Oh, we’d never sell it. It’s our plan to restore it and take it to yadda, yadda” and in the very next breath, “Well, it’s been sitting for over a decade now so I guess we’d be open to maybe…”

I got a distinct wishy washy vibe. Are these folks serious about a restoration? Do they have a realistic understanding of fair market value? I couldn’t be sure until we met face-to-face, feel them out a bit, do a thorough inspection of the trailer and learn its history.

It came time to do the dance in person. After some small talk, we got down to it, inspecting the thing for real and artfully learning as many details as possible. In my limited experience, it’s often more about building a rapport with the seller and making them feel comfortable with offloading the item to “a good home,” rather than the actual price. In fact, with this initial encounter, numbers were never even discussed. Instead we mutually, but amicably left it at the timelessly ambiguous: “let’s keep in touch.”

More importantly, we got some much needed details.

We learned it’s 1972 Airstream Tradewind Land Yacht 25′. Based upon the conversation, technical details would be difficult to obtain from the current owners. Not because they didn’t feel comfortable divulging, but because they didn’t know themselves.

It appears to be solid, with the exception of some rot on the rear bumper (does this extend???). The floor is firm, without any soft spots indicative of rot. It’s old though and has been sitting for quite some time so it may be naive to think that there aren’t some ugly spots hidden from the first go over. Appliances and systems are non-operational. This would be a full gut project.

Working Conclusion:

Initial excitement has waned a bit. Research and discussions with my Dad give me a fuller appreciation of the magnitude of such a project. Do we really want to take this on? Could we? Gulp.

Ha! Of course we do…

But does it make sense? And can we do this within a reasonable turnaround time, without breaking the bank?

What do you think? Should we jump in? Should we cool our jets? What’s your crazy idea?