Airstream: The History of the Land Yacht

The company was founded by Wally Byam, who began building Masonite trailers in his backyard in Los Angeles during the late 1920s. Byam, a lawyer by training, published a magazine selling "how-to" kits to customers wishing to build their own trailers. He then acquired the struggling Bowlus Company. In 1936 Byam introduced the "Airstream Clipper", which was essentially a rebadged 1935 Bowlus, with the door relocated. The design cut down on wind resistance and thus improved gas mileage. It was the first of the now familiar sausage-shaped, silver aluminum Airstream trailer. Of more than 400 trailer builders operating in 1936, Airstream was the only one to survive the Depression.

In 1974 Airstream began manufacturing a Class A motorhome, badged "Argosy". These began as painted aluminum 20- and 24-foot models, and were followed in 1979 by the first of their Classic model motorhomes, with an unpainted aluminum body, much like the trailers.