I know that Airstream has been in business many years. are they a great product? do they sale good? is there a huge market for them? do they have any problems getting service?

Best trailer out there, bar none. Jody where are you from ?

There a lot of them still on the road that are pretty old. The original company was bought out a few years ago by Thor. From what I have seen, the pre-Thor trailers are much better built than the current versions.

Ken

steve, we live in the Northwest Washington State. I don't see that many Airstreams up here?

Airstream became a part of Beatrice Foods in the 70's and Thor since the 80's and each new owner has generated FUD mongering about quality decline and 'just don't build them like they used to'

But the fact is that Airstream can't build them fast enough right now to keep up with demand.

They have dropped the Class A motorhome idea that was popular in the 90's.

They do experiment like with the Basecamp or the new Safari Sport line.

They do sometimes have issues with some things.

But the basic build quality is still top notch, the design is still quite durable, the value holds up better than nearly any other other brand on the market, and the service network is generally quite good.

And the owner's group WBCCI is also a significant value added proposition for Airstream.

But they are not for everyone or every style of Rving. That is perhaps one of their biggest drawbacks and biggest assets.

BryanL, do you have an Airstream? if not would you every buy one?

quote:

BryanL, do you have an Airstream? if not would you every buy one?

I have a 1975 Ambassador (29') and a 1991 B190 Airstream B-van to tow it with. I'd buy a new one if I could swing a deal on the right model. I am active with the local WBCCI Unit and have a number of friends (including a neighbor) who have new ones. We have quite a time at rallies cussin' and discussin' and what-if'n and so on. The upshot is that none of them have regrets about the money they spent on their Airstream trailer. See Sierra Nevada Airstreams for a lot of pictures and other stuff.

Only down side to Airstream is the lack of interior space. Friends once bought a 25 foot Airstream, parked it beside their old 18 foot TT and started transferring stuff from one to the other. About half way through the Airstream was full and the other trailer was still half full of stuff. Needless to say, they did not keep it very long.

Airstream is short on storage space--period.
They are also short on insulation.

They would be a very poor choice for full timers.

I do not own an Airstream, although I considered it when I was choosing. For me the deal breakers were:
1. No slides. We like extra space and it is amazing how much more you get with a superslide.
2. Insulation that is "three season" at best.
3. Price. Very expensive!
Other than these, which may not be important for you, they are very popular and seem to retain value for much longer than any other trailer on the market.
As far as "best quality, bar none" I am not going to elaborate other than to say that a friend of mine bought an Airstream from the earler, "better built" models and took it all apart to rebuild. He found a lot of "oops" and "uh-oh" in both the design and implementation, such as rivets in skin missing the ribs, wrong sheet metal overlaps, etc. Of course a typical user may not have noticed that but he, being a top-notch aircraft mechanic, sees these things immediately. He is re-skinning the unit and made his own tools to manufacture 3D panels, putting disk brakes on it - you name it. When he is done that will be the best Airstream in existence I am sure.
-P