(Ken sleeps cross-wise on the floor and Petey sleeps on the bed). The tidy proportions make sleeping a bit of a challenge for the 6-foot, 3-inch Faber and his wife, Petey. The actual box of the trailer is 6 feet by 10 feet with a 6-foot, 3-inch ceiling. ![]() The nameplate is particularly noteworthy because at the time of its manufacture in 1958, Airstream did not routinely put nameplates on its custom trailers, more evidence that it was probably Byam who commissioned the trailer. Unique features of the trailer are the Lilliputian bathroom with shower that Airstream managed to wedge into the left rear corner, a three-burner stove, refrigerator, propane-fired heater and perhaps the most unique of all, a Der Kleine Prinz nameplate. ![]() Acting on a tip from a friend, Ken Faber first saw the trailer in 1992, but it took 12 years of persistence before he finally convinced Rick Berning, the company’s owner, to sell it to him. Thereafter, Der Kleine Prinz sat in the Berning’s Trailer Sales showroom in Fort Wayne, Indiana, as an attention-getting conversation piece. A few years later the couple got $1,500 in trade-in value for the Prinz toward another Airstream product, an Argosy Minuet. It’s unclear what happened to the tiny trailer in the 1960s, but in the 1970s it was discovered on a used car lot and purchased for $800 by a couple from Muncie, Indiana. The European connection may explain the trailer’s German name Der Kleine Prinz (the little prince). Bob Ambrose, a retired Airstream employee, thinks the trailer was built at the request of Airstream founder Wally Byam after Byam returned from an Airstream caravan in Europe. When Ken finally parked and got out of his car, he told the audience the tale of Der Kleine Prinz, which at 13 feet is the smallest Airstream ever made.įaber said that although the provenance of the trailer can’t be absolutely verified (there are no pictures of its manufacture or an original bill-of-sale), it is clear that Airstream built the trailer in 1958 at its Jackson Center, Ohio, facility. As Ken made his way to the registration area, the campground looked like a scene from the Pied Piper as dozens of rally attendees walked behind the trailer trying to get a better look. The Cruisette owned the crown as the tidiest Airstream until September 2004, when Airstream collector Ken Faber of Wyoming, Michigan, rolled up to the Tin Can Tourists rally in Camp Dearborn, Michigan, with a tiny silver trailer in tow. ![]() Nowadays, because of its rarity, it commands a hefty price. The no-frills package may have contributed to its less than stellar sales (estimates are that less than 1,000 were made). Since it had little insulation and no refrigerator or bathroom, it was little more than an aluminum tent on wheels. The Cruisette was manufactured in 19 in Airstream’s California facility and was marketed as a weekend getaway trailer. Most vintage Airstream aficionados have long believed that the smallest Airstream ever made was the Cruisette, which measured just under 15 feet.
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