Part of my agreement in writing this blog is that it would stay close to the topic of vintage Airstream trailering. That limitation does make it a challenge though, especially in the winter when I’m not traveling.

Still, I’ve been to a couple of RV shows and yes, I do look at other brands and makes of RVs. Each time I do I come away with the conviction that Airstream is the best RV for my wife and me. One of the things I like about Airstream travel trailers is that they are relatively close to the ground. Two steps up and you’re in.

I read somewhere, not too long ago, that the number one cause of injury in RVing are falls. This is a big concern for me since my wife is handicapped. Getting in and out of our trailer has to be something she can do without my help. Airstreams are about the only travel trailer or RV she is comfortable with.

Some examples of other manufacturer’s stairs prove my point I think.

This is what you might see after falling out.

Too narrow and steep for adults, these stairs leading to a shallow sleeping loft are obviously for kids only.

With that in mind, it is easy for me to eliminate 90 percent of the RV’s out there. It’s astounding how many steps and stairs some of the other makes have, and some are just plain ridiculous. Miss a step with some of these rigs and you’ll likely find yourself in hospital.

They’ve got to be kidding! I wouldn’t attempt these stairs even if I was drunk.

I’m always disappointed with the small turnout of Airstreams at the RV shows, but it is understandable. I’m told that for the shows to be profitable an Airstream dealer ought to sell around six trailers, but consider themselves lucky to just sell one. Shows are just not good from the sales perspective. I think it’s worthwhile from a showcase perspective though, and maybe the salesmen, who often are not exclusively Airstream, just don’t do a good job.

There seems to be a lot of apologetics when it comes to price. While I was standing around, I noticed a couple of men commenting on the price of the Flying Cloud. The salesman wasn’t around and so I mentioned to them that they were looking at the price the wrong way. “It’s a long term investment, versus a short term one,” I said.

“How’s that?” One of them asked.

“Look at all the RV’s on display here – hundreds of them. This Airstream will outlive all them. Twenty or thirty years down the road every RV on the floor will be junk, but this Flying Cloud will still be on the road, looking as good as it does now.”

I could see their attitude change as I said that. Then I told them to watch the movie running on the TV inside. “Watch this slalom test, wait for it, wait for it… here it comes.” As I said that, the SOB being tested head to head with the Airstream nearly tipped over. “That’s why you want an Airstream.” The men stayed and watched the movie again from beginning to end.

I ought to be a salesman. Airstream is a product I can get behind. Oh, wait, I guess I am a salesman, I just don’t get a commission.

“Tiny” Berry’s pop was an Airstreamer, back around the time of the golden age of Airstream trailer travel. “Tiny” though, is a motor home owner and doesn’t have the energy or desire to fix up his pop’s old ’64 Tradewind, and wants to sell it. He called a friend, who in turn called me, to see if he could get an idea of what the trailer might be worth.

‘64 Trade Wind, curb side view.

I always dread that kind of call because usually there is little information, and perhaps only a handful of photos to look at. This happened to me a few months ago when a friend asked me if a trailer on eBay was worth the Buy It Now price. I gave him my usual admonitions and repeatedly stressed that he shouldn’t buy until he’d seen it and inspected it in person. He really wanted it though and trusted the seller.

He agreed to the price and drove to Idaho to pick it up. At first, everything seemed copacetic, but when he returned, he learned the truth. Not that it is as bad as it sounds, but in the dead of winter, he discovered that both the auxiliary and septic holding tanks were full, and worse, the dump valves were stuck.

“How can anyone tell such a bold face lie with his children standing next to him?” It was a puzzle to my friend, but unfortunately, when it comes to money, people will lie to their own mother. So, we shouldn’t be surprised when they lie to a stranger, or even to a friend.

He didn’t want the tanks to freeze, for obvious reasons, but couldn’t drain them either. Local RV service centers turned him down, most saying that they didn’t have the facilities to dispose of the contents. This was a lie too of course. They simply didn’t want the job.

For a week, my friend kept a heater going in the aft compartment. Then he decided on a plan of action – you might want to skip the rest of this paragraph if you’re squeamish, and maybe you should turn your children away from the screen. His solution for the septic tank was to lower the hose from his wet/dry shop VAC through the toilet, a straight drop into the holding tank, and suck out the contents. The procedure required several trips to flush the contents down his home toilet.

I admire his gumption. However, the auxiliary (wash water) tank needed a different solution though and that’s when he called me for help. Not only was the dump valve stuck, but also the handle had been pulled off. Fortunately, the VAC library has the shop manual for his year trailer, and I’m the librarian. I noticed in the diagrams that there was a clean out plug located under a twin bed. So, the idea I had, was to feed a hose through the clean out, down into the auxiliary tank, and pump out the contents. It worked! He calls me his “hero” now.

I’m not sure how I feel about that. There is still the problem of fixing the dump valves, but that can wait until the weather warms up. Hopefully, we can get them working again. If not, they will have to be replaced and that is problematic. It involves dropping the pan, and using a hacksaw, among other things. But at least the tanks are empty!

“Tiny” Berry’s ’64 Tradewind isn’t in another state. It is just seven miles or so from where I live. I’m much more comfortable with that. When I can inspect a trailer in person, I am more confident in giving an appraisal.

I love the layout and the wood cabinetry. At 24’ feet, it really is just the perfect compromise. It is big enough for extended travel but small enough to slip it into small campsites, such as what the National Parks offer. It is easily towed with a half-ton pickup too.

The good news – it is all original, the shell is in great condition with few dents or scratches, and the chassis appears to be in very good condition. The bad news – the vent covers have all been compromised and water leaking in has damaged a couple of cabinets and rotted the floor in a number of places; and the wheels are the split rim type.

Just to get it ready to sell “Tiny” has a big clean up job ahead of him, will need to replace tires and rims, repack the bearings, and ought to replace the dead battery and install new propane tanks. The very first thing I recommended he do though is to cover the broken vent covers with plastic and tape them down. There is no point in doing any other repair until the leaks are stopped and the wet areas have dried out.

He asked me if I thought he could get $2,000 for it if he did all that, and I am sure he can. With a little more work on it, such as replacing the vent covers, and replacing a cracked pane of glass, he could easily raise the value to $5,000, but he doesn’t seem inclined to do that.

‘64 Trade Wind, street side view.

Someone will buy it for around those prices and will have a very restorable and desirable trailer. I only hope that they restore it to its original condition as opposed to gutting and refurbishing it. If I had the facilities to do so, I would have made “Tiny” an offer right there and then for it, but I don’t and so I didn’t. As my wife says, they are too big to collect.

Since Rich appears to be getting excited about the Palm Springs Modernism Week I figure it’s fair to give Denver’s a plug. This past August, the 4th Denver Modernism show put mid-century art, furniture, technology, cars, and YES, Airstreams on display at the National Western Stock Show Expo Hall. I know, Denver is still considered a backwater cow town by both East and West Coast crowds, but we had lots of fun and if you weren’t there, you didn’t. Boohoo for you!

Still modern after all these years!

Vintage Airstream Club members were invited to this event in 2008 and I believe this was the first time Airstreams were included as exhibitors at any modernism show in the country. So, cow town or not, we made a little bit of history.

Airstream exhibitors, Randy Leitner, and Jim Lane, relax before the start of the show.

Unlike Palm Springs though, new Airstreams with a retro design are welcome. Airstream trailer collectors, Chris Hildenbrand and Jim Lane (oh, yeah, Airstreams are collectibles now), brought both a 1978 Tradewind and a 2006 Bambi Quicksilver hitched to their 1969 Cadillac (at one time they owned six Airstreams, but are now down to only five). Second generation Airstreamers, Randy & Margie Leitner, brought their 1964 Globe Trotter. Although I was present, my 1965 Globe Trotter wasn’t. It needs me to finish putting it back together. Oh well, there’s next year and I’m looking forward to it.

Vintage Airstreams on exhibit.

One nearby vendor at the show, Silver Stream Productions, rents their 1959 remodeled Overlander out as a mobile office, dressing room, and/or advertising prop.

Young SilverStream Production Trailers entrepreneurs, Hanna and Jason Smith, outside their refurbished Overlander.

It was great fun. We were well received and hundreds of people looked at the trailers and asked questions. Yes, the most common question was, “Do they still make these?” We had fun watching people’s surprise when we told them the Globe Trotter wasn’t new, but that the Bambi was. As in past shows, there were belly dancers, comedians, slide shows, an open bar on the first night, and on Sunday a car show. Fellow Airstreamer, Harry Truitt, entered his bright yellow hot rod in the competition.

The Serpent Moon belly dancers are a hoot!

The Modernism Show is a great promotion and just gets better every year. So, give it some thought and make a note on your calendar, August 27th (Friday) through the 29th (Sunday), 2010. I’ll be the Airstream “point person” again. Email me at: forrest@airstreamlife.com

I want to thank the show’s promoter, Dana Cain, for making the show possible. This year she really took care of us. 2008 was a bit of a challenge getting our rigs into and out of the Expo Hall, but it was ‘pull-through’ easy this time. Read about Dana at http://www.danacain.com/ . The show’s website is at: http://www.denvermodernism.com/

After reading some of the other blogs, about wasps (I hate them!), mice, and other invaders, I now consider myself blessed. One of the great things about condominium living is that most of the duties of being a property owner are taken care of. It is one reason we thought it would work for us. A condo or townhome is a lock and leave lifestyle.

If only we could leave! I’d had thoughts of traveling, at least to some places around Colorado, but winter keeps invading our fall. It has absolutely killed what should have been a glorious autumn. Early freeze and snow at the beginning of the month turned green leaves straight to brown. It has depressed me to no end. Autumn is my favorite season, and old man winter stole it. Where did that good global warming go?

October along the Front Range in Colorado is usually a quiet month with mild sunny days and clear cool nights. Snow can come even in late September, but most often, we count on our first good snow and freezing temperature closer to Halloween. This October, we’ve fluctuated wildly between warm days and nights to sub-freezing temperatures and heavy wet snow. Local weathermen have taken to calling it the “warm before the storm.” For instance, Tuesday afternoon I played golf, but that night and since then we’ve been inundated with snow. In fact, there is a blizzard outside my window as I write this. I’d take a photo and post it, but what would be the point? If you need to know what it looks like outside my window, just take a piece of typing paper and hold it up close to your face. There it is!

So, the weather this month has me stymied. I’d hoped to get more work done on my Excella. I did fiberglass the floor under the bathroom sink where there was some minor water damage. I installed the stainless steel rock guards I purchased from Airstream back in June. I fixed a roof leak caused by cracks in our front Fantastic Vent. Whoever installed it didn’t use the foam gasket that comes with the kit. Instead, the outer flange was screwed directly to the aluminum skin and now there are cracks radiating out from the screws. Ultimately, I’ll have to replace it, but for now, my fix was to replace the old caulk and cover the flange and screws with adhesive backed aluminum tape. It’s a temporary fix, but will likely last for a couple of years.

I still have a long list of things to do though. I bought a five-gallon bucket of Napier RemovAll 220 from Vintage Trailer Supply. It is reportedly good for removing the clear coat on Airstreams, but I need a steady supply of 60+ degree-days to use it. If you are planning to do the same with your Airstream, get some now. The Napier factory has closed and RevovAll is no longer being made.

The bottom of the storage box behind the propane tanks has nearly rusted out and that will be a future project. Then there are the wheel wells, axles, and brakes. That will be a big project. The list goes on and on, but I’m closing the gap between projects and just doing maintenance – I think.

As involved as all this sounds, it isn’t unusual in the first three years of vintage ownership, and the Excella is very livable in its current condition. In fact, it has grown on me to the point where I like it as much as I do my Globe Trotter, but work on it and travel with it is now on hold. The good thing about being cooped up is that it gives me the opportunity to get some reading and writing done. I just checked out three books from the library written by Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jr. He and Wally Byam traveled together through Europe in Airstreams twice, the first time right after WWII ended and again in the Fifties. Cornelius lived a very interesting life and was a world trailer traveler even before Wally was. I hope to have more on that in a future article. Until then, stay warm!

Driving south on I-25 between Loveland and Denver I nearly lost control of my rig. We were returning from a rally. The weather was perfect. The road was straight and dry. Traffic was heavy as it always is in that area. I was towing at my normal highway speed of sixty mph when the road surface in the number two lane (farthest to the right) pitched up and down in a series lasting about a quarter mile. This wave like surface created an unsettling oscillation and sway, so much so that I was only able to regain control by using the trailer brake controller to activate the trailer brakes. I’d already taken my foot off the gas pedal and so we were slowing, but the trailer was pushing our Suburban around. By activating only the trailer brakes, we were able to slow down and stop sway.

Some of you may think that if I had a Hensley hitch, instead of the Reese dual cam, that this wouldn’t have been a problem, but you’d be wrong. Later that day, Rich Luhr and his family drove the same route and encountered the same problem. Rich even anticipated it because he noticed the undulating surface and slowed down somewhat prior to driving into it. His rig has the latest and best equipment – Hensley hitch, Kodiak disk brakes and of course his tow vehicle is a Mercedes – can’t get much better than that. My rig is all circa 1985 technology.

When we later compared notes, we came to the same conclusion. The only solution to that bad patch of road is to drive through it more slowly, perhaps at forty mph (the speed limit there is seventy-five). What we believe happened was that our trailers began seesawing and when the rear of the trailers went down the fronts went up, taking the rear of our tow vehicles with it. This effectively un-weighted the rear axles of our tow vehicles, causing the trailer to push instead of be pulled. Even with his Mercedes and its all wheel drive, the front wheels alone can’t control a thirty-foot trailer (mine is thirty-two feet, but a little lighter).

Our ‘86 Excella and ‘85 Suburban are in the foreground. Rich’s Tour of America bunk house is in the background.

The leaves are turning for autumn and nicely frame Rich’s Airstream.

Fortunately, we both arrived at Cherry Creek State Park no worse for wear. The park is still Five Star, even though the staff there was on furlough the day we arrived (the Governor recently mandated four furlough days for all State employees due to a budget crisis). Both Rich and I have commented in past postings about this park, but it deserves repeating. The RV sites all have level concrete pads, full hookups, and graveled picnic table and fire pit areas. The overall scenic appeal I’d rate at least an eight and in the fall perhaps a nine.

All the RV sites, whether they are back-in, such as this one, or pull through are excellent.

There is a lake for swimming, boating and fishing. The bike paths are simply the best in the world and can take you into downtown Denver and Aurora, or out into the country if you’re so inclined. There are excellent nature trails and even a remote controlled model airplane airport, complete with paved runways and spectator stands. Outside the park is all the shopping you could hope for, in any direction. Access into and out of the park is straightforward because it borders I-225. Rates continue to go up though. That is the only downside, but it is still a better deal than any private RV park in the area.

Mt Evans (14,240 ft), in the background, and Cherry Creek Dam are visible from much of the park.

The community I live in is a retirement community. When it first opened, it was designed for “active mature adults” and the minimum age to live here was fifty-five. That was a little over thirty years ago, and so now many of the original home buyers are in their eighties and nineties. This is still a very pleasant place to live and my wife and I love it. However, it does have its peculiarities.

I’ve been selling some Airstream related items left over from when we moved here. I just don’t have much room to store extraneous items. One of these is a dinette cushion set designed for late model Bambi trailers. I don’t own a Bambi, but the cushions were on sale at a dealership at a relatively low price and I thought, erroneously, that I might be able to adapt them for use in my Globe Trotter.

They didn’t fit my Globe Trotter; not even close. The only usable part I could have salvaged was the foam. Even then, it would have been a mess. The curvature and dimensions are radically different. So, instead, I decided to sell them. I put them on Craig’s List and a month went by with no serious inquiries. Just as I was about to give up, a buyer from out of state wanted them and would pick them up in person because he and his partner were passing through Denver on a road trip with their Bambi.

We no sooner worked out a deal via email than I had three more buyers interested in them. It’s somewhat odd how that works. When it rains, it pours I guess. My buyers stopped by this morning and it was a pleasant transaction. It’s a beautiful day, Labor Day, and there must be an old people’s walking marathon going on. Just about everyone is out and about. The buyer and I are on the street talking about their Airstream and mid-sentence two old women interrupt us. They excitedly ask, “Are you going fishing? If you have a fish fry, could we come?”

I know, I know, they were just being friendly, and you probably think they were sweet. They were, but I run into this every day here. Old people can be just plain nosey. Besides, I was in the middle of making a sale. It was business, but I’m not a good salesman, and that causes me anxiety. When I’m anxious, I get a little short tempered, but I bit my tongue and didn’t say anything. If I had, I might have said something like this, “You old biddies, do you see a boat? Do you see any fishing gear, poles, tackle boxes, waders? No? Then what makes you think we’re going fishing? And even if we were, what’s it to you?”

Instead, I just stood there silently, a furrow in my brow no doubt, while the buyers, both easy going Californians, joked with these two old women about how they would be welcome to frozen fish instead. A few minutes later, I completed the sale, wished my buyers a good road trip, and shuffled back to my condo talking to myself. Yikes, it suddenly dawned on me; sooner rather than later, I’ll be one of those “old” people. In a couple years, I’ll be sixty. It just doesn’t seem possible. Am I going to be one of the grumpy old men of Heather Gardens? Am I there already?

The battle was lost. It’s an old saying. A more mundane paraphrase might go like this: For lack of a nut a wheel was lost. For lack of a wheel the truck was lost, and so on. The lesson is that one thing leads to another. There is such a thing as cause and effect. This is what preventative maintenance is all about, breaking the chain of cause and effect.

I took my ’85 Suburban in to have the tires rotated at Big O Tires. As I waited in the customer lounge, I became concerned hearing an excessive air impact wrench screaming, screaming, and screaming. “Good God,” I thought, “just how tight do they think those lug nuts need to be?” Or, were they taking them off? A few minutes later, my fear was confirmed. The manager came out with two lug nuts in his cupped hands, holding them gently as though it was some small dead animal.

“What do you think is causing this?” He asked. The lug nuts were busted apart. I looked at them in amazement. I’d never seen lug nuts fractured in half. “The good thing is that your lugs and wheels are okay, but when we torque the nuts to spec they seem to be breaking on us. Has this happened to you before?”

Stunned, I simply shook my head, “no.” The manager hinted that it wasn’t the result of anything they’d done, implying that the old lug nuts must be defective or had been subject to abuse. However, a short time later both of us came to the same conclusion, the nuts were the kind that have a threaded sleeve. Mine are 9/16” 18 thread mag lug nuts with a 1” sleeve, and require washers. The sleeve and openings in the mag wheel mate to close tolerances, and if the lug nut is wallowed in, as an air impact wrench is inclined to do, the sleeve binds in the hole and fractures. Then, when it is torqued to spec (120 ft. lbs.), the nut breaks apart. Retail, they are about $3 apiece.

At first Big O only wanted to replace the two that were broken, but I wanted the entire set of 32 replaced, free of charge. There was no telling whether the remaining lug nuts had fractures and I didn’t want to find out while towing my 32’ long Airstream down the Interstate. Besides, I had a matched set, now I didn’t. Big O was only a little reluctant to do this. No business wants to eat a mistake, but they did. Except the nuts had to be special ordered. They had none in stock.

The next day, Big O telephoned and told me the nuts were in. So, I returned and they installed the new set, mostly by hand. That took two employees nearly an hour. This was late in the afternoon and I was in a hurry to get back home. As a result, I only gave the wheels a cursory look. Surely, they couldn’t mess it up a second time.

The following morning, I spent preparing for a rally near Pikes Peak. As I was adding air to the front right tire, I discovered that one of the lug nuts was missing. Apparently, it had not been tightened and had come off on the drive home. I telephoned Big O and the manager agreed to give me another, and assured me that they had more in stock. When I went there though, the manager realized they had used up the entire order – on my wheels. He said he’d order another and I could come back for it. By now, I was extremely tired and annoyed with the expense and time spent driving back and forth. So, Big O agreed to deliver a single lug nut to me at home.

Later, that afternoon, their driver arrived, handed me the lug nut and drove off. That’s when I realized I should have also asked for a mag washer. I was now so frustrated with this particular Big O that I’ve decided I will never return. It took me over an hour to locate an appropriate washer. None of the local auto parts stores had them in stock. It is special order. I found an acceptable substitute at an Ace Hardware store. In all, I used five to six hours of my time, spread out over three days just to rotate the tires.

Of course, Big O didn’t come out on top either. They bore the expense of parts, labor, and delivery. To be fair, Big O gets an ‘A’ for effort, they really tried hard to accommodate me and make good on their mistake. However, they are a tire and wheel company, should reasonably know what they are doing and incompetence has a limit. It’s not a very good way to run a business.

A couple of good things have come from this though. I do have a free matching set of brand new chrome mag lug nuts. It also got me to thinking about my spare tire. It doesn’t have a mag style wheel. It has a standard steel wheel. The mag lug nuts won’t work with that. To mount my spare, I need standard open end acorn style nuts. The taper on that kind of nut is needed to center the wheel openings on the lugs. Mag lug nuts are not tapered. That is why they need a washer. So, all the time we’ve owned the Suburban I’ve carried a spare that I couldn’t mount. After an exhaustive search, I now have 8 lug nuts for it, but that’s another story altogether.

The VAC parades into the International Rally

The Vintage Airstream Club parade into the International Rally is always one of the big highlights. Not only were there great trailers and tow vehicles but wonderful people as well.

Rob Baker by his fabulous 30′ 1951 Sovereign of the Road.

David Winick sitting on the porch of his soon to be completed 1948 Wee Wind restoration.

I finally met Rob Baker and David Winick, talked with the seemingly always present, Dale Schwaumborn, and linked up with friends from Colorado, California, Nevada, Florida, New York and well… everywhere. It is the one time of the year when we are all in the same place at the same time. That’s how special it is.

My very special friends from the Denver CO Unit, Luke Bernander and Ray Velasquez.

I also met some really interesting people I didn’t know, and would never had known if we hadn’t made the trip to Madison. While exploring the downtown area, off-campus so to speak, we stumbled into the House of Wisconsin Cheese. We went in ostensibly to look for post cards (yes, we bought some awesome cheese too), but discovered that it was also a hotbed of Airstream devotion. The owner, Jeff Price, has a history. His parents were friends and fellow travelers with Wally Byam. He even has childhood memories of Wally and Stella coming over for dinner and cocktails.

When we went in, The Long, Long Trailer was playing, a model of an Airstream was on display, and an official looking street sign at the curb in front read, “Airstream Parking Only.” So, Rob Baker couldn’t resist. Even though the street is a really a dedicated pedestrian mall, he towed his Airstream there, honking no doubt at the college students to get out of the way, and parked under Jeff’s sign. Quick, someone fly a pirate flag! We’re breaking all the rules!

House of Wisconsin Cheese owner, Jeff Price, displaying the photo he took of Rob Baker parked at the curb in front of his shop.

Alas, it is Wisconsin for pity’s sake, and it is all just for fun. It made our day, for sure, and put a big smile on our face. And that is the flavor of the month at a vintage rally. The happy face flag says it all.

The new RV Museum in Elkhart, IN

I needed more time to do research at the RV Museum in Elkhart, so before leaving for Mackinaw City, MI, I spent the morning in a rush going through old trailer magazines in the library. This is another place I could spend an entire season. If only they’d let me camp in the parking lot.

Vintage trailers on display at the museum.

But we nearly spent too much time there. It wasn’t that we had a reservation to make because we had none. It was the weather. It had rained exceptionally hard the night before and more was on the way. There was a window of opportunity I wanted to take advantage of. The weather was supposed to clear for a a few hours between storm fronts and that was all the time I figured we’d need to head north and away from the violent weather.

When I went into the library, I found Forrest and Jeri Bone there, researching early Tin Can Tourist articles. They’d original thought they’d be on the road, but they decided to wait out the thunderstorms. I promised Patrice we’d have lunch at 12:30 then leave, but typical of me, I was late, so we didn’t actually get on the road until 1:30.

Oh my, that was nearly a very bad mistake. About an hour into Michigan we ran straight into the storm that dumped eight inches of rain in an hour on the village of Holland and spawned a tornado east of there that damaged four homes and lifted a barn from its foundation .

“Why is the trailer swaying so?” Patrice asked.

I watched the tops of trees along state highway 131 bending into the shape of corkscrews and did not answer. Should I stop? Should I speed up? The rain blew horizontally across the road and suddenly there it was, a funnel to the west. My grip tightened on the steering wheel and I resisted the urge to go faster. The storm was moving east. We were headed north. If I could just keep us on the road the tornado would pass behind us. I wondered about the few cars and trucks heading the opposite direction.

“You know when you asked me about the swaying?” I finally replied. “I think we dodged a tornado.” Seriously, how could I abandon our rig, then walk, pull, or even drag Patrice into a roadside ditch to take cover? Yet, that exact thought went through my mind. Pucker factor, nine. Relief, priceless.

I am saddened by the news of the passing of “Bud” Cooper, the founder of the Vintage Airstream Club, and its first president. The following is his obituary information:

“Bud” Cooper

Rutherford Cooper “Bud”
COOPER - Rutherford “Bud” Cooper, age 84, of Grand Rapids, passed away Wednesday, June 17, 2009. Surviving are his beloved wife of 64 years, Bettye; daughter, D’Anne Smith and son, Richard Cooper. He will be greatly missed by his grandchildren, David Smith, Jeannine Kieleszewski, Michelle Krypel, Emily Cooper and Hannah Cooper. Bud was a mechanical engineer, world traveler, archeologist, photographer, musician, founder of the International Vintage Airstream Club, author, and lecturer. There will be a memorial service at Genesis United Methodist Church, 1601 Galbraith St., Cascade Twp. at 10 a.m. on Saturday, June 20th. Memorial contributions may be made to the church.

Published in Grand Rapids Press on 6/19/2009