I did it - sent him an email - we'll see if they
respond.
--- Toby Folwick <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Well said -
>
> watch out though - it's hard to hide from glamour.
> maybe that's why some of us are installing solar
> panels?
>
> Should we forward our responses to the author?
>
> Toby 2029
>
> --- Bill Scott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > This article by Philip Nobel, is one of the most
> > factually incorrect and
> > misleading statements I have seen in modern
> > newsprint. What he says
> > makes very little sense, and it seems as if he is
> > writing for the
> > artistic and design community, and just interested
> > in spouting a bunch
> > of words. This is the most misleading article
> > about Airstreams I have
> > ever read.
> >
> > Bill Scott
> > 61 Bambi, VAC & WBCCI #3221
> > 1VP & Membership Chairman , WDCU
> > http://www.servintfree.net/wbcci-dc/
> >
> >
>
> > ATTACHMENT part 2 message/rfc822
> > Date: Wed, 2 Aug 2000 09:36:08 -0700 (PDT)
> > From: Toby Folwick <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > Subject: Re: [VAC] NYTimes coverage (full article)
> > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > Reply-to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >
> > An Accidental Icon of American Pop
> > By PHILIP NOBEL
> >
> >
> > The Airstream has moved from the popular and
> > functional family tool advertised in a 1964
> > brochure,
> > to a nostalgic Pop accessory.
> >
>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >
> > Of all the things that roll down American
> highways,
> > few are as strange and perfect as the Airstream,
> the
> > R.V. for the Atomic Age. Produced since 1952 at a
> > factory in Jackson Center, Ohio, the cylindrical,
> > self-contained Airstream "land yacht" has become a
> > middle-American answer to luxury on the high seas.
> > By
> > the 1960's, the distinctive trailers were
> available
> > in
> > a range of models, from the little bubble of the
> > 18-foot Bambi to the 30-foot Sovereign Double, an
> > airship for the road. At one time or another,
> every
> > corner of the country, much of the world, and
> > countless envious gawkers have been reflected in
> the
> > Airstream's shining aluminum skin.
> >
> > The popular interest in Airstreams is such that
> > Airstreamers, as the owners call themselves, have
> > cooked up a term -- "trailer tappers" -- to
> describe
> > those who buttonhole them on their travels. But
> what
> > do the curious ask when they knock on the door?
> Does
> > it get hot in there? What happens when it hails?
> > Maybe
> > they want to poke around inside to see the
> nautical
> > details, the berths, the ship's galley, the marine
> > toilet, the portholes. Do they ask who designed
> it?
> > Probably not; that would be like asking who
> designed
> > the Interstate.
> >
> > Until recently, the Airstream has led a quiet
> life,
> > loved by the cult of its owners who gather by the
> > thousands to park in radiating "wagon wheels" at
> > annual rallies or who caravan in comfort to
> > hardscrabble destinations. The caravan tradition
> > began
> > with the the father of the Airstream and the
> > company's
> > founder, Wally Byam, who led Airstreams on dozens
> of
> > goodwill missions overseas, including a
> 34,000-mile
> > trip through Asia and Europe in 1964. Following
> > Byam's
> > lead, Airstream owners -- weekenders, retirees and
> a
> > core of "full-timers" -- have continued this
> quirky
> > community, carrying on as a kind of folk tradition
> > well outside the public gaze.
> >
> > At the most recent rally, near Bismarck, N.D.,
> this
> > month, 2,000 Airstreams gathered under the
> auspices
> > of
> > the Wally Byam Caravan Club International. Since
> the
> > 1980's, Airstream has only produced what purists
> > call
> > "squarestreams," blunt but still shiny
> > approximations
> > of the old models. At the Bismarck rally, most of
> > the
> > trailers were these clunkier, post-streamlined
> > designs, but the presence of a devoted minority of
> > classic Airstream enthusiasts, members of the
> rival
> > Vintage Airstream Club, attests to the growing
> > popularity of the older models.
> >
> > The splinter club formed in 1994, around the time
> > that
> > designers and consumers began to rush in numbers
> to
> > all things mid-century. As curiosity became a
> > full-blown design revival, Airstream's happy
> > obscurity
> > eroded. The revival announced itself, as so many
> do,
> > in an embrace by Hollywood. On the screen, Tim
> > Burton
> > (owner of three vintage trailers) pitted alien
> > flying
> > saucers against earthling Airstreams in his 1996
> > comedy "Mars Attacks!" And on the ground, just as
> > free-form modern homes by John Lautner are being
> > snapped up by young stars, an Airstream in the
> > driveway has become another kitschy status symbol:
> a
> > few Eames chairs scattered around, some period
> > Formica, a 1963 Airstream Bambi parked out back
> for
> > the guests.
> >
> > The shelter and lifestyle magazines picked up on
> the
> > trend, paving the way for Airstream chic. An issue
> > of
> > Flaunt included a pop-up Airstream, presumably as
> a
> > kind of tiki for the road-deprived urbanite. Even
> > Manhattan has its token Airstream, a vintage
> > 20-footer
> > used as a projection booth for summer movies in
> > Bryant
> > Park. In May, Wilsonart, the laminate company,
> > parked
> > a trailer at the Javits Center to show off an
> > updated
> > interior concept they hope to sell to Airstream
> Inc.
> >
> >
> > Now, at last, there is a book for the armchair
> > Airstreamer, "Airstream: The History of the Land
> > Yacht" ($19.95), written by Bryan Burkhart, a
> > graphic
> > designer and owner of a vintage Airstream, and
> David
> > Hunt, a New York-based art critic. It was
> published
> > this year by Chronicle Books of San Francisco, a
> > house
> > known as a leader in repackaging retro styles for
> > contemporary consumption; the book takes its place
> > on
> > the backlist not far from "Patio Daddy-O: 50's
> > Recipes
> > With a 90's twist."
> >
> > What happens to a design when it goes from popular
> > to
> > Pop? The Airstream can survive a gloss of
> nostalgia,
> > but it may not fare so well with that late, late
> > 90's
> > twist: seeing it as a fashion statement, an
> > accessory,
> > not a tool. There is something unfortunate about
> > glamorizing this thing, which was meant to be
> used,
>
=== message truncated ===
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