$34,000
1986 AIRSTREAM EXCELLA 32FT (Texas Imported)
Description
Imported from Texas. RIV cleared. Manitoba registered. Plates and go.
$34,000
Full walkthrough video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NucW9rXW2-4 Watch it before you call. Everything below is in it.
You are not buying a project in a US driveway 2,000 miles away. You are buying a trailer that is already here, already legal, and already on a Manitoba registration.
That is the whole point of this listing.
Most people who want a vintage Airstream find one for less money in Texas or Arizona and then stop. They stop because of CARM accounts, customs brokers, CBSA declarations, GST at the border, RIV files, and a week of driving with someone else's forty year old trailer behind them, sight unseen. That process is the reason cheap US Airstreams stay in the US.
All of it is done here. Every document is in hand and VIN matched.
WHAT IT COSTS TO DO THIS YOURSELF
Run the numbers before you decide $34,000 is high.
Line item Real cost
Comparable unrestored 1986 Excella 32ft in the US US$14,000 to $16,500
Converted at current exchange $19,500 to $23,000 CAD
GST at the border $1,000 to $1,150
Fuel, hotels, transit plates, insurance, food, round trip ~$3,000
Broker, CARM setup, RIV file $500 to $1,000
Landed in your yard, zero upgrades $24,000 to $28,000 CAD
That is before a single new part, and it assumes the trailer you flew down to see is as good as the photos. It usually is not.
Then add what is already sitting on this one: full Sunbrella awning set ($4,553 invoiced), new Dometic fridge, four new tires, new mattresses, professionally serviced tank valves, new breakaway switch. Call it $7,000 to $8,000 in parts and labour.
A comparable unit built to this spec lands between $31,000 and $36,000, and costs you a week of your life plus all the risk.
This one is $34,000, sitting in Winnipeg, ready to view today.
WHAT IS DONE AND WORKING
Awnings. Complete Sunbrella set professionally recovered August 2026, patio awning plus all window awnings, Baycrest Pacific blue and white matched to the original factory pattern. A full matching set on a coach this age is genuinely rare, most lost their window awnings decades ago. Fabric is brand new throughout. Hardware is the original Zip Dee, with a new internal spring fitted on the patio side. Invoice on file.
Refrigeration. New Dometic refrigerator installed and running.
Heat, two ways. Furnace runs like new. Roof air has a confirmed heat mode.
Cooking. Propane serviced. All four burners tested and lit clean blue. Stove exhaust fan working.
Rolling gear. Four new tires. New breakaway switch installed and tested, legally required for towing, done and documented.
Tanks. Black and grey valves professionally serviced August 2026. Front valve repaired, corroded rear valve cut out and replaced. Invoice on file.
Interior. New mattresses throughout. Cabinetry, plank flooring, black counters, tile backsplash, double stainless sink, convertible front lounge, dinette. Radio works. Interior lighting updated and working throughout. Original Airstream control and monitor panel intact and functioning, which is increasingly uncommon on these.
Paper. Original VIN matched Airstream owner's binder, Zip Dee awning manual, appliance manuals, full spiral service and parts manual. CUSMA certificate names the producer as Airstream Inc., Jackson Center, Ohio.
History. A lifelong dry climate trailer. Title runs through Texas. No road salt, no rust belt winters. Polished in 2012.
WHAT NEEDS WORK, AND WHAT IT COSTS TO FINISH
Everything dry works. The wet system is the project. That is why it is priced where it is.
I would rather you know the number than guess at it, so here is the bounded cost using my shop's rate of $75/hr:
Item What it is Estimate to finish
Water heater Tank rusted through. Element still works, tank is done. Six gallon replacement or tankless propane upgrade, your call. $1,000 to $1,300
Black tank Needs replacing. Part is readily available. $1,000 to $1,200
Shower subfloor Soft spot at the shower and an opening where the hallway wall meets the shower surround. Classic vintage Airstream issue, almost always a shower pan or drain leak. Photos available and I will walk you through everything I know. $1,200 to $2,000 if it stays local to the shower. More if it runs further. This is the one variable.
Also disclosed, in writing, before you drive out:
Plumbing untested. I have not pressurized or tested any part of the water system and I am not representing any of it as working. Treat the entire wet system as unknown.
Never winterized for a Canadian winter. This trailer lived in the southern US. Winterize it properly before freeze up, same as you would any trailer new to you.
Exterior markers. Centre rear red clearance lights and one rear passenger side marker have been intermittent. 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 board it sits in is otherwise intact and working.
Upholstery is original. Serviceable, shows its age. Everything around it has been brought up.
Speakers removed entirely, mounting holes plugged. Needs grilles, blanking plates, or a new system.
Aluminum condition is age appropriate. Some panel dimpling and oil canning, consistent with a forty year old coach.
Bathroom essentially unused. We camped serviced and used campground facilities. Tanks flushed and dumped thoroughly.
Net of the above, you are into a finished, fully plumbed, imported and registered vintage Excella for roughly $37,000 to $39,000 all in. That is still under what most people spend chasing one across the border.
IF YOU ARE COMPARING THIS TO A NEWER CONVENTIONAL TRAILER
Know what you are actually comparing.
Nearly every other travel trailer on the road is a stud frame wrapped in thin fiberglass bonded to luan and foam. It looks good for about ten years. Then water finds a seam, the skin separates from the substrate, and the wall bubbles. That is not cosmetic, that is the wall coming apart, and it is usually uneconomic to repair. Fifteen year old trailers get written off for exactly this. On top of it, the roof membrane needs resealing every year and replacing every decade, and every seam and screw needs chasing forever.
An Airstream is a riveted semi monocoque aluminum shell built like an aircraft fuselage. The skin is the structure. Nothing to delaminate, no wood in the walls to rot, and aluminum does not absorb water.
They are still built by hand the way they have been since the 1930s. Hundreds of hours of hand labour go into a single shell. That is why forty year old Airstreams still trade for real money and forty year old conventional trailers are scrap.
Airstreams do have a known weak point and it is the subfloor and frame outriggers underneath, not the walls. That is exactly the issue this trailer has and I have detailed it above. The difference is that it is a bounded, well documented, repairable problem with a huge parts and knowledge base behind it. Delamination is not.
SPECIFICATIONS
1986 Airstream Excella, 32ft, twin axle
VIN 1STAEAS22GJ504212
Dry weight approximately 2,921 kg (6,440 lbs) per Airstream import documentation
Registered gross weight 3,674 kg (8,100 lbs)
Payload approximately 750 kg (1,660 lbs)
Tow vehicle: properly rated half ton minimum with weight distribution and sway control. A three quarter ton is where it gets comfortable.
TERMS
$34,000. Priced against the disclosed work, not around it. Full walkthrough video is up at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NucW9rXW2-4, and a full written condition report and photo set are available on request before you make the drive.
Viewings in Winnipeg by appointment. Serious inquiries by phone or text.
I would rather you know everything now than find it in my driveway.
(204) 333-3034
$34,000
Full walkthrough video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NucW9rXW2-4 Watch it before you call. Everything below is in it.
You are not buying a project in a US driveway 2,000 miles away. You are buying a trailer that is already here, already legal, and already on a Manitoba registration.
That is the whole point of this listing.
Most people who want a vintage Airstream find one for less money in Texas or Arizona and then stop. They stop because of CARM accounts, customs brokers, CBSA declarations, GST at the border, RIV files, and a week of driving with someone else's forty year old trailer behind them, sight unseen. That process is the reason cheap US Airstreams stay in the US.
All of it is done here. Every document is in hand and VIN matched.
WHAT IT COSTS TO DO THIS YOURSELF
Run the numbers before you decide $34,000 is high.
Line item Real cost
Comparable unrestored 1986 Excella 32ft in the US US$14,000 to $16,500
Converted at current exchange $19,500 to $23,000 CAD
GST at the border $1,000 to $1,150
Fuel, hotels, transit plates, insurance, food, round trip ~$3,000
Broker, CARM setup, RIV file $500 to $1,000
Landed in your yard, zero upgrades $24,000 to $28,000 CAD
That is before a single new part, and it assumes the trailer you flew down to see is as good as the photos. It usually is not.
Then add what is already sitting on this one: full Sunbrella awning set ($4,553 invoiced), new Dometic fridge, four new tires, new mattresses, professionally serviced tank valves, new breakaway switch. Call it $7,000 to $8,000 in parts and labour.
A comparable unit built to this spec lands between $31,000 and $36,000, and costs you a week of your life plus all the risk.
This one is $34,000, sitting in Winnipeg, ready to view today.
WHAT IS DONE AND WORKING
Awnings. Complete Sunbrella set professionally recovered August 2026, patio awning plus all window awnings, Baycrest Pacific blue and white matched to the original factory pattern. A full matching set on a coach this age is genuinely rare, most lost their window awnings decades ago. Fabric is brand new throughout. Hardware is the original Zip Dee, with a new internal spring fitted on the patio side. Invoice on file.
Refrigeration. New Dometic refrigerator installed and running.
Heat, two ways. Furnace runs like new. Roof air has a confirmed heat mode.
Cooking. Propane serviced. All four burners tested and lit clean blue. Stove exhaust fan working.
Rolling gear. Four new tires. New breakaway switch installed and tested, legally required for towing, done and documented.
Tanks. Black and grey valves professionally serviced August 2026. Front valve repaired, corroded rear valve cut out and replaced. Invoice on file.
Interior. New mattresses throughout. Cabinetry, plank flooring, black counters, tile backsplash, double stainless sink, convertible front lounge, dinette. Radio works. Interior lighting updated and working throughout. Original Airstream control and monitor panel intact and functioning, which is increasingly uncommon on these.
Paper. Original VIN matched Airstream owner's binder, Zip Dee awning manual, appliance manuals, full spiral service and parts manual. CUSMA certificate names the producer as Airstream Inc., Jackson Center, Ohio.
History. A lifelong dry climate trailer. Title runs through Texas. No road salt, no rust belt winters. Polished in 2012.
WHAT NEEDS WORK, AND WHAT IT COSTS TO FINISH
Everything dry works. The wet system is the project. That is why it is priced where it is.
I would rather you know the number than guess at it, so here is the bounded cost using my shop's rate of $75/hr:
Item What it is Estimate to finish
Water heater Tank rusted through. Element still works, tank is done. Six gallon replacement or tankless propane upgrade, your call. $1,000 to $1,300
Black tank Needs replacing. Part is readily available. $1,000 to $1,200
Shower subfloor Soft spot at the shower and an opening where the hallway wall meets the shower surround. Classic vintage Airstream issue, almost always a shower pan or drain leak. Photos available and I will walk you through everything I know. $1,200 to $2,000 if it stays local to the shower. More if it runs further. This is the one variable.
Also disclosed, in writing, before you drive out:
Plumbing untested. I have not pressurized or tested any part of the water system and I am not representing any of it as working. Treat the entire wet system as unknown.
Never winterized for a Canadian winter. This trailer lived in the southern US. Winterize it properly before freeze up, same as you would any trailer new to you.
Exterior markers. Centre rear red clearance lights and one rear passenger side marker have been intermittent. 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 board it sits in is otherwise intact and working.
Upholstery is original. Serviceable, shows its age. Everything around it has been brought up.
Speakers removed entirely, mounting holes plugged. Needs grilles, blanking plates, or a new system.
Aluminum condition is age appropriate. Some panel dimpling and oil canning, consistent with a forty year old coach.
Bathroom essentially unused. We camped serviced and used campground facilities. Tanks flushed and dumped thoroughly.
Net of the above, you are into a finished, fully plumbed, imported and registered vintage Excella for roughly $37,000 to $39,000 all in. That is still under what most people spend chasing one across the border.
IF YOU ARE COMPARING THIS TO A NEWER CONVENTIONAL TRAILER
Know what you are actually comparing.
Nearly every other travel trailer on the road is a stud frame wrapped in thin fiberglass bonded to luan and foam. It looks good for about ten years. Then water finds a seam, the skin separates from the substrate, and the wall bubbles. That is not cosmetic, that is the wall coming apart, and it is usually uneconomic to repair. Fifteen year old trailers get written off for exactly this. On top of it, the roof membrane needs resealing every year and replacing every decade, and every seam and screw needs chasing forever.
An Airstream is a riveted semi monocoque aluminum shell built like an aircraft fuselage. The skin is the structure. Nothing to delaminate, no wood in the walls to rot, and aluminum does not absorb water.
They are still built by hand the way they have been since the 1930s. Hundreds of hours of hand labour go into a single shell. That is why forty year old Airstreams still trade for real money and forty year old conventional trailers are scrap.
Airstreams do have a known weak point and it is the subfloor and frame outriggers underneath, not the walls. That is exactly the issue this trailer has and I have detailed it above. The difference is that it is a bounded, well documented, repairable problem with a huge parts and knowledge base behind it. Delamination is not.
SPECIFICATIONS
1986 Airstream Excella, 32ft, twin axle
VIN 1STAEAS22GJ504212
Dry weight approximately 2,921 kg (6,440 lbs) per Airstream import documentation
Registered gross weight 3,674 kg (8,100 lbs)
Payload approximately 750 kg (1,660 lbs)
Tow vehicle: properly rated half ton minimum with weight distribution and sway control. A three quarter ton is where it gets comfortable.
TERMS
$34,000. Priced against the disclosed work, not around it. Full walkthrough video is up at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NucW9rXW2-4, and a full written condition report and photo set are available on request before you make the drive.
Viewings in Winnipeg by appointment. Serious inquiries by phone or text.
I would rather you know everything now than find it in my driveway.
(204) 333-3034
When you call, please mention you found this ad on OKZ.ca
$34,000
1986 AIRSTREAM EXCELLA 32FT (Texas Imported)
Micheal Smoke
Email Verified
Feb 2018
Member Since
193969
Listings
~2 hrs
Response
Safety Tips
- Meet in a public place
- Never send money in advance
- Inspect item before paying
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