How One Man Invented the Road Trip

Wally Byam was a country boy from Oregon, but by the 1920s, the Stanford graduate was working in the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles. He longed to spend weekends camping in the great outdoors, but his wife, however, did not share his enthusiasm.

In search of a compromise, Byam built an elevated platform on the chassis of a Ford Model T, placed a tent on it, and hooked it to their car. This curious contraption was an arrangement that his wife could accept, and it got Byam thinking about how to make camping even better.

For the next iteration, Byam constructed a trailer out of plywood. Shaped like a teardrop, it was much more comfortable than a tent and even had a cookstove. According to Smithsonian magazine, when they hooked it to their Dodge, the trailer attracted a lot of attention.

Byam didn’t know it then, but he invented the road trip.

By 1931, Byam had founded a company to build his “Airstream” trailers, so named because they rode as smoothly as a stream of air—a marketing tactic capitalizing on America’s burgeoning love for cars.

In 1936, Airstream switched from plywood to aluminum, which is lightweight, resistant to corrosion, and offered a trademark sleek look. Airplanes then represented the cutting edge of technology, and the Airstream was billed as a plane without wings. More features, including working toilets, were added over the years. By the 1950s, Airstream had developed a following of enthusiastic caravaners who shipped their Airstreams across oceans to travel to the Pyramids of Giza and all over Europe.

Along the way, the company also launched some less successful products, such as the Airstream Funeral Coach. The concept was intended to replace the hearse and allow families to ride with the deceased to their final resting place, but it did not catch on. Mourners balked, and the funeral coach went to an early grave.

Despite this setback, Airstream remains one of the most iconic brands. Today, their trailers cost six figures. Airstream RVs are now made in Ohio and are a division of Thor Industries.

Wally Byam’s innovative spirit and desire to blend adventure with comfort gave birth to a new way of traveling. His creation, the Airstream trailer, revolutionized camping and made the road trip an enduring American pastime.