The were cool-they seemed very well built, but were very small. (Riversides may be fine, but I wasn't feeling it). With many brands you just can feel the bad or questionable quality when you step inside. I loved the look of the Riverside Retro series-though I wasn't sure about the quality of the Riverside products. But they had other brands that caught my eye. It was (Tab) trailers that drew me to that particular dealer-plus it was close to my house. I browsed the lot at Parris RV and found myself liking much of what I saw. Now part of me probably knew that, but until very recently I wouldn't consider another brand unless it was some cool other vintage trailer.Ī Like Airstreams (and me), made in Ohio! For the amount of money I had in my vintage Airstream, which I LOVED, I could have had a brand new RV. After selling my latest Airstream I ventured down to Parris RV, an SOB dealer (some other brand is what we Airstreamers call all other RVs) in Salt Lake. I was not only infatuated with Airstreams, I was both an Airstream enthusiast and a snob. The number two company is called Forest River, they have 34% market share as of 2017.
Today Thor dominates the RV market with 48% market share when all of its brands are added up. Thor took over that number one spot in the early 2000s after many acquisitions and savvy management of its growing list of subsidiaries. Under Thor, in the early 1980s, Airstream quickly returned to profitability.Īnd Thor itself began its rise to becoming the world's largest manufacturer of recreational vehicles. It's the only surviving brand of hundreds of travel trailer companies that existed before World War II. Airstream has its roots in the 1920s but officially opened in 1931. Thor is a company that was created in 1980 when Wade Thompson and Peter Orthwein purchased what at the time was an ailing Airstream from Beatrice Foods (which was a big conglomerate in the 1960s and 1970s). When I decided to sell my latest Airstream I wasn't planning to get another RV, but over the last two weeks I fell down the slippery slope.īefore talking about my new trailer (yep, I bought a new one-and I mean brand new), I want to discuss Thor Industries. The vintage crowd especially were a cool group, but I also became friends with owners of newer Airstreams. But living in mine ten years ago also introduced me to a community of people who I fell in love with.
The aesthetic of an Airstream with its airplane-like aluminum body is the main appeal. It's an amazing trailer and it has a new owner who will continue with improvements and ensure it has additional life. I sold it because I'd maxed out what I could put into it and it still needed more work. Since then I've owned three vintage Airstreams including the 1962 Airstream Safari I bought last year and just sold. I've been a little obsessed with Airstreams since at least 2007 when I bought the 1973 Airstream that I full-timed in for 2.5 years.
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