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Jun 14, 2023

A 1963 Airstream Safari: A Retro Home On Wheels

This is a 1963 Airstream Safari, it’s a smaller single-axle travel trailer with

This is a 1963 Airstream Safari, it's a smaller single-axle travel trailer with a lower tongue weight, making it towable by smaller vehicles than a full-sized Airstream like the one Tom Hanks was selling a couple of years ago.

Despite its smaller size this caravan has all the amenities you need for life on the road, including a toilet, a kitchenette with oven and fridge, a sink with running water, two couches that fold into beds, and some cabinetry.

The gleaming aircraft-inspired styling of the Airstream has become an American industrial design icon in its own right.

The Airstream story began in the early 1920s when Wally Byam, a lifelong traveler, built a small tent trailer for his own camping adventures in the United States. His creation caught the attention of fellow travelers, many of whom asked him to build them similar trailers.

Recognizing the potential demand, Byam founded Airstream in 1931, the company quickly grew to become one of the most important travel trailer manufacturers in the USA.

No story about Airstream should ignore Hawley Bowlus, the inventor of the Bowlus Road Chief – the first all-aluminum travel trailer that used aircraft design principles.

Bowlus was the Superintendent of Construction on Charles Lindbergh's legendary aircraft, the Spirit of St. Louis. This was the aircraft that completed the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight from Long Island, New York, to Paris, France in May of 1927.

Here you see Wally Byam at the Airstream factory in the 1950s, he's in the front row with the gray arrow pointing to him. Image courtesy of Airstream.

Although Bowlus’ travel trailer company only lived for a few short years in the 1930s it would inspire a number of other very similar designs, the most famous of which are the trailers built by Airstream.

During WWII Airstream had switched their production over from caravans to help the war effort, and after the war they switched back to building their gleaming aluminum travel trailers – riding the wave of consumerism through the 1950s and beyond.

Today vintage Airstreams are in high demand, with clubs dedicated to them existing in many countries from America to Australia and beyond. The company is still in business building modern versions of their classic designs which are always in much demand.

This Airstream has been renovated in more recent years, and it now includes accommodation for up to four people with everything you need for life on the road.

The 1963 Airstream Safari you see in this article measures in at 19 ft long (or 22 ft if you include the hitch), and it comes with the original awning and poles. The polished aluminum exterior presents well with windows on either side as well as the front and rear, with the door located traditionally on the left side.

Inside it's clear that the trailer has been renovated more recently, with blue/gray cabinetry, white curtains throughout, aquamarine blue countertops, and darker blue upholstery.

As noted above it has a toilet, a fridge, oven, and sink with running water. It also has gas burners atop the oven, a sink and running water in the bathroom, and a shower. Both couches fold into double beds so the caravan could accommodate up to four people, though two would be more comfortable, perhaps with a couple of kids in tow.

This Airstream Safari is now being offered for sale on The Market by Bonhams out of Bury St. Edmunds, in the United Kingdom with a price guide of £23,000 – £30,000 or approximately $28,600 – $37,300 USD. If you’d like to read more about it or place a bid you can visit the listing here.

Images courtesy of The Market by Bonhams

Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.

Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.