I’ll admit, I do LOVE Airstreams. I love ’em new, love ’em old and definitely love ’em shiny! I can’t say that I’ve always had a love for Airstreams. This love only started a few years ago. In fact, before living in Austin, I can’t recall seeing an Airstream, though I knew what they were the first time I saw one. Perhaps I had repressed memories of the RV and Boat Show my parents would take us too. We went to many and WE NEVER EVEN OWNED A RV OR BOAT. Hell, I had never even been inside a trailer or on a boat outside of the shows until I was a grown up! What’s up with that?! Ah well, fantasies, I suppose.
Now, back to me. Back before we were married, my wife and I had this BRILLIANT idea to get one of those shiny trailers and make it a photobooth. We were already filming weddings as videographers and everyone seemed to have a photobooth. Add that with the fact that this is Austin, and you can find tacos, nachos, pizza, hamburgers, haircuts, hell, maybe even a dentist, operating out of an Airstream, and we thought, GOLD! In fact, you’ll find Airstreams in food parks, food courts, farmers’ markets, flea markets; you name it, if it’s an outside event, there’ll be an Airstream or two. So, why not make one a photobooth and rent it out for weddings! We thought we were geniuses! It took quite a while to find THE ONE, but when we did, we found she was not shiny, she was not pretty, and suddenly this did not feel like such a brilliant idea. She was a 1963 Bambi. Only the most coveted Airstream of all time.
The 1963 Airstream Bambi
Now, if you know ANYTHING about Airstreams, you know the Bambi is what you could call a white buffalo. She’s rare, she’s beautiful and if you find her, you better keep her happy, and protected. (Wait, I’m not sure a white buffalo is even a real thing, I’ll have to look that up.) Regardless, I restored her and turned her into a photobooth. Once I started booking weddings, we were contacted to do a story about the Bambi Booth as we called her, and that is when we recognized there were not one, not two, but THREE freaking Airstream photobooths operating in Austin. I kept up the business for a while then finally let her go. She is still out there, under a different name, and has had some modifications that make me very sad, but she’s being put to good use so I guess that’s a plus. Here’s the last photo I took of her.
The Bambi Booth (I miss you girl!)
I let this Bambi go, but you bet your big fat freakin’ left toe if I find another, I will snatch her up and never let her go! I will admit, I searched for another Airstream for a few years before I found my next one. Read my next post to find out about The 1966 Airstream Globetrotter.
