West Seattle Crime Watch: Classic Airstream trailer stolen

| Crime | Seaview | West Seattle news

Just out of the WSB inbox from Ryan in Seaview, with the photo above:

Unfortunately I’ve got bad news to share. Sometime between 3 am (I was up feeding our youngest son) and 10:30 am, our beautiful 1959 Airstream trailer was stolen off its parking pad. It was double locked and in full view in the alley. We live on 45th Ave SW between Juneau and Findlay. We’d really appreciate it if you could post a photo or two on the blog asking for your readers to keep an eye out for it.

Since Ryan sent several photos, we’ve posted two more angles (one showing the back of the trailer, one showing the front) after the jump:

JT December 7, 2008 (12:41 pm)

I’m bummed for you. I love these and this one is particularly gorgeous. Don’t know how anyone can expect to keep it hidden. Hope because of the uniqueness, it is found quickly. And what the eff is wrong with people anyway.

onceachef December 7, 2008 (12:50 pm)

Very sad…it’s a beautiful trailer…like JT said it should be easy (easier) to spot than a regular car, but it sounds almost as if it’s a professional job? Someone knew what they were doing…you might want to check the docks (or the police might that is)…when I bought my car the car finance guy told us a story about cars being stolen, brought to the dock here in Seattle(by a certain “mafia” type group) and put on a ship in a very short time. Good luck.

Koni December 7, 2008 (12:50 pm)

I just drove by an airstream trailer that looked a lot like that! It was on 36th ave sw between barton and trenton (I think…right around there). I commented on it to my boyfriend. Might be yours???

lg December 7, 2008 (1:13 pm)

I’m so sorry to read about this. I hope this beautiful trailer is found soon–what a tragedy. I’ll keep an eye out on ebay too (it’s a bambi, right?) I see them a lot on there (we were actually thinking about a vintage airstream ourselves before we decided on a 70s VW westfalia.

Bob Loblaw December 7, 2008 (1:19 pm)

might go a long way toward false alarms if the license number or some other obvious mark could find its way into the post.

cruiser December 7, 2008 (2:15 pm)

Ryan,

keep an eye on craigslist

WSB December 7, 2008 (2:48 pm)

There’s a license plate on one of the photos after the jump. I don’t have any info on whether that’s the current plate but will send a note back to the owner.

TDe December 7, 2008 (2:53 pm)

Good Grief.. that’s just rotten. We seem to be getting into an “anything that’s not nailed down” is vulnerable season. We’ll watch for it in our travels and I’ll alert our neighbors as well.

Ryan December 7, 2008 (3:12 pm)

Thanks for the interest and I hope it’s found soon. SPD has taken info but really needs someone to call it in to be of any real help. Thanks for asking for the plate number, that never occurred to me to post. It is a WA plate, 9730SY. Hope it helps!

TRICK December 7, 2008 (3:54 pm)

Definitely tragic!
I’ll keep my eyes open too.

Jim December 7, 2008 (4:08 pm)

I wonder if there is any connection to the incident a couple months ago where someone stole the wheels off of my Honda Fit. I live on 45th only a couple blocks from there, and the crime took place in the alley on a weekend night, just like this case.

People in Seaview – be on alert for any suspicious traffic in your alley.

John P Sargeatn December 7, 2008 (5:38 pm)

If you send me a picture or two of the trailer, I will see it gets posted on the picture section of Hunter’s Airstream Discussion group on Yahoo. There are a lot of Airstreamers that check in there everyday.
Sarg
PS I hope you get it back.

Kravitz December 7, 2008 (6:00 pm)

Interesting…my husband and I noticed that a vehicle had been broken into on the same street sometime last night as well (only not the alley). We thought this was a neighborly and safe ‘hood. It’s a shame that people no longer work for the things they want and rather take what they think they’re owed.

Homedk December 7, 2008 (6:02 pm)

Sorry to hear about this, Ryan.

Sarg, depending on which email program you are using, you should be able to nab the photos posted here on WSB. Try to right-click on a photo; that should bring up menu commands that will allow you to either save the photo to your hard drive or to email it somewhere.

Bob Loblaw December 7, 2008 (7:00 pm)

Any follow-up on Koni’s post? Ryan posted a plate number if anybody drives by that spot Koni mentioned. I’m working or I would.
.
We gotta get this thing back where it belongs!

natinstl December 7, 2008 (7:17 pm)

I’m sorry to hear about your Airstream. My husband and I live down the street from you on Juneau and we always admire it. We’ve been on the look out for a 60’s Bambi for ourselves. I hope it gets back to you. It’s pretty brazen.

Katie December 7, 2008 (7:21 pm)

About Koni’s post: as soon as we read this Ryan hopped in the car to look. He did not find any Airstream trailers in the area (He drove several blocks right around where Koni thought she saw it.) but all he found was a “canned ham” trailer parked on 34th.

Thanks again for all of the support!

WSB December 7, 2008 (7:29 pm)

I looked too when heading out to Arbor Heights shortly after putting up the original post, since that stretch of road is between WSB HQ and AH. Didn’t see anything on 36th but didn’t want to say that here lest I wasn’t looking in the right place and therefore discouraging others to BOL – TR

toddo December 7, 2008 (8:44 pm)

I hope they catch whoever did this and you press charges to the nines. There sure are some bold and hateful thieves in W.S. lately, they all need to be locked up for many years.

Ken December 8, 2008 (5:18 am)

There was a small airstream parked on the 5900 block of 32nd over the weekend. I noticed it but did not see this thread or look closely at it.

Chuck & Sally's Van Man December 8, 2008 (8:49 am)

This makes me sick. You’d have to think the thieves would try and move it away from W. Seattle immediately as it is so recognizable, unless they plan to cut it up for scrap metal??? What’s aluminum selling for these days?

As the owner of a cab-over camper, I know how attached you can become to your “second home” and I really feel for the owners. I hope you find it soon, in the meticulous shape it was in.

Chuck

alex hughes December 8, 2008 (9:05 am)

I forwarded this to my cousins in the Great Northwest. Good luck reuniting with your treasure! I’m heartbroken for you.
1961 Avion T-21 owner

Lisa C. December 8, 2008 (9:29 am)

Keeping an eye out in the O.C. Shouldn’t be hard to spot that ORANGE awning…!

mellaw6565 December 8, 2008 (10:55 am)

How do you steal an airstream? Just hook it up and pull away? Seems a pretty obvious thing to do – and an even weirder site driving around in the middle of the night with it. You think someone would have seen something?

Do they have VIN numbers and registered? If so, wouldn’t someone have to have a valid registration and/or license plate on it to drive it around?

mellaw6565 December 8, 2008 (10:56 am)

I don’t mean drive – I mean pulling it

Tom December 8, 2008 (11:00 am)

I feel for you, I had a 16′ Koffler Drift Boat and trailer stolen from my yard and have been on the lookout for it ever since. I’ve heard that a lot of stuff winds up in Oregon due to the lax trailer licensing laws down there. If I find the scumbag ripoff that took my boat before the cops do I’m afraid someone going to be ventilated. if you know what I mean. And as far as racial profiling, I don’t care what color the perp is, if I see someone that I don’t recongnize in my ‘hood I’m calling the cops.

Ryan December 8, 2008 (8:16 pm)

Be sure to watch King 5 news tonight. Katie contacted the station today and they sent out a crew this evening to talk to us and get the word out. Fingers crossed!!