Over the years, Wally’s idealistic vision of the Airstream
as a traveling home has been buried under the negative views portrayed by
popular culture. Today, the term ‘trailer’ conjures up a variety of images,
none of which are – unfortunately – related to the iconic Clipper or any of
Wally Byam’s Airstream legacies. All of these connotations were initiated by
the idea of transforming one’s mobile home into a primary home – in other
words, a permanent address. As the movement continued to grow, the picture of
freedom and mobility that once surrounded the Airstream was steadily replaced
by a string of stereotypes that branded trailer-dwellers as ‘rootless hobos’
and ‘homeless gypsies’.
“Small men, most of them, mousetrap makers startled by the
customers banging at their doors, they have no exalted ideas about converting
homeowners to nomadism…They want the trailer to be a vehicle, not a permanent
address”
-
Fortune Magazine [about Wally Byam]
Wally had never intended for his trailers to become
permanent addresses. In fact, despite the potential he saw for sales amongst
people like cotton pickers, wheat harvesters, mechanics and factory workers who
migrated from job to job, he highly discouraged the notion of ‘living’ in a
trailer. Nevertheless, many war-time couples who wed during the war turned to
Airstream Clippers for temporary housing. Moreover, a surplus of university
students was housed in the Clippers when no other residences could be found to
accommodate them. It seemed that Wally’s voice in the issue was quickly
overcome by the demand for affordable and mobile housing.
Most trailers in the 1930s provided all that was necessary
in a home – a small toilet, a kitchen, a bed, etc. However, people still needed
a place to stop and rest at the end of the day. Consequently, gas station
owners would wait for tired trailer owners and charge them 25 cents a day to
plug into their electricity and have access to tap water. In this way, the
first informal trailer parks were born. Some people simply never got back on
the road. For others, not having a permanent address was a clever way of
evading tax collectors and landlords. Most impressively, living in a trailer
cost only $65 a month. Public opinion quickly turned against these trailer
parks; many people were distrustful of them and believed that they would cause
a great menace within the justice system with all the new laws that would have
to be created for their regulation.
Wally Byam was aware of the buzz that surrounded his beloved
creation. He once said, “We are determined to improve our public image, as the
boys on Madison Avenue say, so that people change their absurd notion that we
are homeless gypsies.” Unfortunately, the negative associations with trailers
have only worsened since his death. Wally’s picture-perfect vision of a traveling
home never returned to the popularity it experienced when the Clipper was first
introduced.
Sources:
Easterling, Keller. Organization Space: Landscapes, Highways, and Houses in America. Cambridge, MA:MIT, 1999.
Print.
