1986 AIRSTREAM EXCELLA 32FT · ALREADY IMPORTED, RIV CLEARED, MANITOBA REGISTERED · $39,900

The hard part is already done. This Excella has been imported from the US, cleared through RIV, and registered in Manitoba. No border runs, no broker, no waiting months. Plates and drive it.
Here is the honest shape of this trailer up front:

EVERYTHING DRY WORKS. THE WET SYSTEM IS THE PROJECT. You can sleep in it, cook in it and heat it this season. The plumbing is what needs going through. It is priced that way and every issue is listed below.
WHY AN AIRSTREAM AND NOT A CONVENTIONAL TRAILER
If you are comparing this to a newer conventional trailer at a similar price, understand what you are actually comparing.
Almost every other travel trailer on the road is built the same way: a wood or aluminum stud frame, stapled together, wrapped in a laminated sandwich of thin fiberglass bonded to luan plywood and foam. It looks good for about ten years. Then water finds a seam.
When it does, you get delamination. The fiberglass skin separates from the substrate underneath and the wall bubbles and waves. It is not cosmetic, it is the wall coming apart, and it is frequently uneconomic to repair. Plenty of fifteen year old trailers get written off for exactly this. On top of that, a conventional trailer needs its roof membrane resealed every year and replaced every decade or so, and every seam, screw and window needs chasing with sealant forever. Miss a season and the wood frame behind it starts to rot.
An Airstream is not built that way. It is a riveted semi-monocoque aluminum shell, built like an aircraft fuselage, where the skin itself is the structure. There is no laminate, so there is nothing to delaminate. There is no wood frame in the walls to rot. Aluminum does not absorb water and does not blister.
And they are still built by hand, the old way, the way they have been since the company started in the 1930s. Every panel is formed and fitted and every rivet is driven by a person. Hundreds of hours of hand labour go into a single shell. Conventional trailers are stapled together on a line in a fraction of the time, which is exactly why they cost less and last a fraction as long. The CUSMA certificate of origin that came with this trailer names the producer as Airstream Inc., Jackson Center, Ohio, the same plant they have hand built in for over seventy years. This one was made by people, not stamped out.
That is why Airstream has long claimed that a majority of every Airstream ever built is still on the road, and why forty year old units like this one still trade for real money while a forty year old conventional trailer is scrap. The shell outlives everything bolted to it.
To be straight with you, Airstreams do have a known weak point, and it is the subfloor and the frame outriggers underneath, not the walls. That is exactly the issue this trailer has and I have detailed it below. The difference is that it is a known, bounded, repairable problem with a well documented fix and a huge parts and knowledge base behind it. Delamination on a laminated trailer usually is not.
You also get the things that come with the badge: better aerodynamics and tow efficiency than a brick-shaped box, an owner community and rally scene that has run for decades, strong parts availability including vintage support, and a trailer that holds attention wherever you park it.


DONE AND WORKING TODAY
- All new Sunbrella awnings, professionally recovered in 2026. Full set, main patio awning plus the window awnings, in Baycrest Pacific blue and white. A complete matching set on a trailer this age is rare, most lost their window awnings decades ago. Invoice on file.
- New tires, full set of four, and new mattresses throughout.
- Propane serviced and operational. All four burners tested and lit with clean blue flame. Stove exhaust fan working.
- Furnace runs like new, and the Roof air conditioning has a confirmed heat mode. Two independent heat sources.
- NEW Dometic refrigerator installed and operating.
- Black and grey tank valves professionally serviced August 2026. Front valve repaired, corroded rear valve cut out and replaced with a new valve fitted to the original setup. Invoice on file.
- New breakaway switch installed and tested. Legally required for towing, done and documented.
- Original Airstream control and monitor panel intact and functioning. Increasingly uncommon on these.
- Interior updated(early 2000s): white cabinetry, plank flooring, black counters, tile backsplash, double stainless sink, front lounge that converts, dinette. Radio works.
- Complete VIN-matched documentation: original Airstream owner's binder, Zip Dee awning manual, appliance manuals. CUSMA certificate names the producer as Airstream Inc., Jackson Center, Ohio.
- A lifelong dry-climate trailer. Title history runs through Texas, so no road salt and no rust-belt winters.
-Polished in 2012


SPECIFICATIONS
- 1986 Airstream Excella, 32ft, twin axle
- VIN 1STAEAS22GJ504212
- Dry weight approximately 2,921 kg (6,440 lbs), per Airstream specifications on the import documentation
- Registered gross weight 3,674 kg (8,100 lbs)
- Payload capacity roughly 750 kg (1,660 lbs)
- Tow vehicle: a properly rated half ton at minimum with weight distribution and sway control. A three quarter ton is where it gets comfortable.
KNOWN ISSUES, NAMED UP FRONT
This is a forty year old trailer and it is not perfect. Anyone telling you a 1986 coach is perfect is selling you something. Here is everything I know, in writing, before you drive out to see it.
- Soft floor at the shower. There is a soft spot in the bathroom floor at the shower and an opening where the hallway wall meets the shower surround where the subfloor has deteriorated. This is the classic vintage Airstream issue, typically from a shower pan or drain leak. Photos available and I will walk you through exactly what I know.
- Water heater. The tank is rusted through and needs replacing. The electric element still works, but the tank is done. Conventional six gallon replacement or a propane tankless upgrade, buyer's choice.
- Water system untested. I have not checked, pressurized or tested any part of the plumbing. I am not representing any of it as working. Treat the whole wet system as unknown.
- Needs a new Black Tank $700 Amazon
- Never winterized for a Canadian winter. This trailer lived in the southern US. Treat it as you would any trailer new to you and winterize it properly before freeze-up.
- Exterior markers. Interior lighting is updated and works throughout. Some exterior markers have been intermittent, the centre rear red clearance lights and one rear passenger side marker. An RV shop inspected the running lights in August and found them operating, but intermittent faults do not always show on a static check, so I am naming it anyway.
- Vintage LP gauge needs rewiring. The control board it sits in is otherwise intact and working.
- Upholstery is original, not redone. Serviceable and shows its age. Everything around it has been brought up.
- Speakers have been removed from the trailer entirely. The mounting holes are currently plugged. They need grilles, blanking plates, or a new system fitted.
- Aluminum condition. Age-appropriate character including some panel dimpling and oil canning, consistent with a forty year old coach.
- Bathroom use. We camped in serviced campgrounds and used their facilities, so the toilet went essentially unused. Tanks flushed and dumped thoroughly.


THE HONEST SUMMARY
Everything dry works: it sleeps, cooks on all four burners, heats two ways, cools, lights, tows legally, and it is imported, RIV cleared and Manitoba registered with every piece of paper in hand. The project is the shower subfloor, black tank, the water heater, a plumbing system that has never been tested.
It is a great long term project that you can sleep in and use right now, on a shell that will outlast anything laminated. Aside from what is listed above it is a great trailer, and it is priced accordingly.
A full written condition report is available on request. Serious inquiries by phone or text, viewings in Winnipeg by appointment. I would rather you know everything before you drive out than find it in my driveway.
$39,900
Contact: (204) 333-3034