On the Road - Airstream Bambi Travel Trailer

New York, March 8, 2007—The Museum of Modern Art presents On the Road: Airstream Bambi Travel Trailer, an installation of a newly acquired Airstream Bambi Travel Trailer (1960) and a selection of travel and automobile posters from the collection in the Museum’s main lobby. The Bambi’s design and engineering has made it an iconic and enduring travel trailer. It is the seventh automotive design to enter the collection, joining a Cisitalia “202” GT (1946); a Willys-Overland Jeep (1953); a Volkswagen Sedan, popularly known as the “Beetle” (1959); a Jaguar E-Type Roadster (1963); a Ferrari Formula 1 Racing Car 641/2 (1990); and a Smart Car (2002). The Bambi trailer is a gift to the Museum from Thor Industries, Inc. The installation, on view through November 12, 2007, is organized by Christian Larsen, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Architecture and Design, The Museum of Modern Art.

“The Bambi is a machine for living and traveling, the sort of industrialized, rationalized vessel that had long been the dream object of modernist architects, from Le Corbusier and Buckminster Fuller to the modernist interest in Existenz Minimum. The Bambi joins this rich history represented in MoMA’s collection and anchors it to our interest in industrialized, prefabricated design,” states Mr. Larsen.

Airstream introduced the Bambi, its most compact and affordable model, in response to post–World War II America’s growing demand for travel and vacation leisure. Borrowed from methods pioneered in the aircraft industry, the distinctive riveted aluminum contours form a durable lightweight skin, which provides structure and confers strength while lessening wind resistance. The trailer’s chassis, made of perforated steel beams, lightens the tow and lowers the center of gravity for stability. The cabin packs maximal function into its minimal space—kitchen, bath, bed, and storage are combined to satisfy all the needs associated with a traditional home.

Airstream’s inventor and company founder, Wally Byam (1896–1962), was central to the trailer’s success as the most popular model made by the company. In the late 1920s he designed his first travel trailer: a crude, boxlike plywood structure mounted atop a Ford Model A chassis. It created so much curiosity and excitement that orders poured in. In 1936, he introduced the aluminum-clad Clipper, the forefather of the Bambi.

On the Road
Airstream Bambi Travel Trailer
Kurator: Christian Larsen