Cruise into – the Land Yachts
The Wally Byam Caravan Club annual International Rally was held in Bemidji, Minnesota in 1963.
Tags: Throwback Thursday
Wally Byam wanted Airstream owners to enjoy the world. He wanted them to experience a sense of adventure, freedom, and excitement throughout their lives.
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Wally Byam stood by his Airstream. If you had an automobile that could make it over any road condition, then you could take your Airstream with you. Of course, this was the early days - before four wheel drive and heavy duty utility vehicles.
In planning the first Airstream Caravan in 1951, which traveled through Mexico and Central America, Wally knew the roads were going to be rough but passable. He knew that the Pan American Highway had not been completed and in Southern Mexico, the Caravan had to travel by rail on flat cars to the Guatemalan border. Wally also knew that Managua, Nicaragua was the trail's end. The Pan American Highway is non-existent into Panama.
When least expected, the Caravan crossed primitive and localized bridges where villagers built bridges using practical applied engineering. The above picture shows a plank bridge in Mexico.
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The Airstream caravan is about adventure. It's about experiencing life to its fullest. And it's about family.
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The stars twinkled in the evening sky as a young Wally Byam rolled out his sleeping gear for the night. It had been a warm day, the sheep had settled in and he was satisfied that as adolescent, this met the expectations that his grandfather James Biswell had entrusted to him.
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Sometimes the art of business is difficult to explain. Why did Wally Byam design and work for Curtis Wright at the end of WWII? Why didn’t he start up Airstream? Why did Wally ever go back into manufacturing trailers?
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Wally Byam traveled with two wheels. His Solex bike, with a small motor on the front wheel, carried him on the 1956 European Caravan. You might see him on a Caravan with a collapsible bicycle or a two wheeled miniature motorized scooter. On the African Caravan, he mounted a Vespa motor scooter above the front bumper.
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A Merry Christmas, Season's Greetings, and a Happy and Prosperous New Year.
What is Caravan America?
When Wally Byam became ill, his wife Stella Byam and the Airstream Executives discussed how to honor Wally after his passing.
They came up with the Wally Byam Foundation (1961–1977).
"PURPOSES…to help achieve a greater knowledge of the daily life and cultures and of the history and aspirations of peoples in our own county in all the Americas, and around the world - and thus to enhance international understanding and goodwill…
to further the concept of travel by trailer as a unique and an increasingly rewarding medium for the advancement of such education and communication on a people-to-people, person-to-person basis; and to that end, to encourage improvement in the environment in which such travel takes place, both at home and abroad…"
For fifteen years various programs were carried out by the Foundation. Airstream, General Motors, the Wally Byam Foundation and National Geographic provided for Caravans, and individual tours across the United States.
American diplomats were given the opportunity to familiarize themselves and their families to the greatness of the United States. Larger groups came from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan and the United Nations diplomats.
The question might be, as usually asked, what might Wally think? His pride in the Foundation’s accomplishments might give the sparkle in his eyes that was so familiar to those who knew him.
During this Holiday Season, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
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