The Beginning - Part 1
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Sometimes it’s funny how some things happen. Due to road construction, I was forced to take a different route home from Red Cross training at Kenyon College. My sister and I were traveling home after a near sleepless night and an uneventful logistics-training course. We were about 2 ½ hours into our 3-hour drive when I saw a blur of aluminum along the curvy roadside. Being that we were already running behind, I didn’t have time to stop. But, 200 yards down the road I brought the truck to a halt and turned around anyway. Much to the dismay of my sister, I knew I had to go back. As a fan of “My name is Earl”, I was very aware of the rules of karma and that if I didn’t at least get the phone number, I wouldn’t have a chance to own the trailer.
Turns out, all I got was the phone number. I did note the general size, smaller than a tradewind, but I wasn’t allowed outside the truck to investigate the model or condition. A total of 15 seconds was all that was spent. Even that was with me on the brakes, and my sister writing down the number. After all, we were late for dog obedience training. Wow, I can’t believe I typed that.
Did you ever have the fear to make a phone call? I put the paper with the number down, and kind of put it out of my mind. I’ve been kicking around the idea of getting an Airstream for several years now, but I haven’t initiated a search. Truthfully, I’ve never been inside an Airstream. I’ve looked at a couple, but never got passed asking a couple of questions. At this time, I’m not sure I was prepared to make an offer or what to say if the trailer was still available.
After a couple of hours, I composed my call, and picked up the phone. Although I’m somewhat knowledgeable about values, inspection technique, and things to look out for, I’m far from being an expert on vintage Airstreams. I would place myself somewhere between “knows what aluminum is” and “what’s an Olympic rivet”. I am savvy with a computer. Prior to calling, I already looked up whom I would be talking too, where they lived, and various other information found across the Internet.
Philip picked up the phone; he was obviously an older gentleman. He was somewhat hard-of hearing, so am I, but sounded honest enough. He told some other people were looking at it, and one guy wanted to buy it. Typical story, but I wasn’t surprised.
Philip told me that he had used trailer in the summers at a local campground. It didn’t move from its home in 12 years. “Everything works, except the shower.” He was sure to mention the AC, furnace, and fridge was all functional. When asked about leaks, I was told there were none. When asked about the exterior, I was told the ends had some but they couldn’t be seen from the ground.
After a few minutes, I told him I was 90% sure I wanted the trailer, and asked if he would consider it sold. After expressing some concern, he agreed! I told him that I’d go down and take a better look, but unless something was drastically wrong, there shouldn’t be a problem.
posted by danb @ 11:59 AM
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