Roll on...Roly Poly

I bought my 1964 Airstream around 2002 with the full intention of using it for traveling, however it needed work on most of it's inner systems.  As life changed for me the function of the airstream also shifted.  Until I could fix it up I used it to store my ebay items I had for sale.   I considered turning it into a portable business for kid's birthday parties or as the backdrop for a little TV show a friend and I wanted to create. 

Then at one time I thought I may even have to live in it. 

 Ultimately it just became a really awesome looking storage unit.  At the beginning of covid I cleaned it out and decluttered it and the idea kinda started to seed that it may be time for it to move on.  It was starting to get leaks and it was wasting away.  I didn't have the funds to do a restore or have the skills/vehicle to pull it for camping.  Then when my mom passed away a few months later my thoughts about it did a drastic shift.  I didn't want my family to be burdened by having to deal with it when I am gone.  The day after Christmas 2020 we happen to have a young woman knock on our door who noticed the trailer in the backyard and offered to buy it.  She owns a business that buys and restores vintage trailers that she finds all over the states.  I hadn't even discussed letting it go to Mr. Husband so he was a bit shocked that I seemed to be entertaining the idea.  I told her it was on her to get it out of our yard and to deal with the title etc.  I would also need time to clear everything out of it yet again.  Since she agreed to all of this along with I wasn't going to have to list it or deal with copious people just wanting to look at it I agreed to sell it for really next to nothing.   It was very hard to let it go.  It was a part of my identity for 20 years.  But I know it was for the best.  I put together a little photo tribute here to Roly Poly.

These photos were taken when I first got it:

Look how shiny!

It came with all the original paperwork and owner's manual.

Here are the diagrams of the exterior and interior layout:

This brochure was among the papers.  I love its MCM look:

Here are the photos I took in march 2020:

The interior was never much of anything special looking because someone had yucked it up in the 1990s with carpet, beige paint, and blah fabric on the couch so I don't have any neat photos of that to share.

Here is a vintage post card that was mixed in with all of it's paperwork:

When the mover pulled the airstream out he had to drive it around the block to get it in position to put on the flatbed.  I can't tell you how happy I was to see it in motion and bopping down the road on it's own wheels.  It looked happy.

It's bittersweet I guess. 

Here are a few past posts where Roly Poly was featured:

In search of...Aliens

Skellimingos at ground zero