This is an Airstream 310 Motorhome from 1982, it came out of an era when the legendary aluminum travel trailer company was experimenting with building full-sized RVs, with the polished exteriors they had long been famous for.
The interior fitout of the 310 was industry leading when it was released, inside you’d find a kitchenette with a fridge/freezer, gas cooktop and oven, along with plenty of built-in storage. It also has twin beds, a bathroom with a toilet and washbasin, a separate shower room, and up front it has dual rotating captain’s chairs.
Fast Facts: The Airstream 310 Motorhome
- The Airstream 310 was a 31-foot Class A motorhome built for the 1982 to 1984 model years. It combined Airstream’s polished riveted-aluminum bodywork with a Chevrolet P-series motorhome chassis, rear-wheel drive, independent front suspension, four-wheel disc brakes, and Airstream’s own rear air-suspension system.
- Power came from either Chevrolet’s 454 cubic inch 7.4-liter big-block V8 or an Isuzu 6BD1 5.8-liter inline-six diesel, with turbocharging available on the larger 310. Most gasoline models used a GM 3-speed automatic, while the diesel was known more for durability and economy than outright performance.
- Inside, the 310 used a split bathroom layout, with the toilet and washbasin on one side of the hallway and a separate shower opposite. The rear bedroom could have twin beds or a double, while the front living area included swiveling captain’s chairs, seating, a dinette, kitchen, refrigerator, and generator.
- The 1982 example shown here was imported from the United States and is now UK registered. It has the 7.4-liter V8, a five-speed automatic, and later Sniper electronic fuel injection. A £28,000 mechanical refurbishment was completed in 2022, and the sale includes the associated invoice.
History Speedrun: The Airstream 280/310 Motorhome
The Airstream 310 was an elegant 31 foot Class A motorhome built for the 1982, 1983, and 1984 model years – it had a riveted aluminum body on a Chevrolet P-series motorhome chassis and a choice of Chevrolet big block V8 or Isuzu diesel power. Airstream itself doesn’t exactly know how many were made, the records were lost long ago, but surviving examples are now much sought after.
This is an Airstream 310 Motorhome from 1982, it came out of an era when the legendary aluminum travel trailer company was experimenting with building full-sized RVs, with the polished exteriors they had long been famous for.
The Argosy Origins
Airstream’s first motorhome was the Argosy, introduced in 1974 on a Chevrolet chassis with a painted aluminum body. Argosy was a sub-brand of Airstream, for slightly lower-cost models. It used a one-piece steel segment at the upper rear, where Airstream-badged motorhomes used five aluminum segments.
In 1979 Airstream replaced the Argosy with the first motorhome in its main product line, sold in 24 and 28 foot lengths as the Excella or International. This time the aluminum was polished in true Airstream style – they’re now best-known as the Airstream Classic Motorhome.
Airstream lost $12 million in fiscal 1979 under the ownership of Beatrice Foods, which had owned it since 1967. On August 29, 1980, investors Wade Thompson and Peter Orthwein bought the company and formed Thor Industries. Airstream later said it returned to profitability almost immediately under Thor’s ownership.
The 310 Motorhome arrived not long after the acquisition, in 1982, it was sold beside the 28 foot 280 Motorhome – as you may have guessed, its model number was for its 31 foot length. The same year brought the wood-grain detail stripe along each side. It stayed until a silver, gray and burgundy scheme replaced it in 1989.
The Airstream 310 Motorhome: Specifications
The Airstream motorhomes shared much of the body construction of Airstream’s travel trailers, but they were built to sit on a truck chassis.
The interior fitout of the 310 was industry leading when it was released, inside you’d find a kitchenette with a fridge/freezer, gas cooktop and oven, along with plenty of built-in storage. It also has twin beds, a bathroom with a toilet and washbasin, a separate shower room, and up front it has dual rotating captain’s chairs.
The chassis used was the motorhome version of Chevrolet’s P-series forward-control platform. GM’s model numbers for that version ended in 32, and it’s often called the P-32 as a result – the more common P30 name also covered GM’s commercial forward-control trucks. The P-series chassis underpinned many Class A motorhomes and typically used rear-wheel drive layouts and independent front suspension.
Airstream fitted its own air suspension at the rear, air springs fed by an onboard compressor through a leveling valve, and the system was marketed as the “Airstream Factory Air Ride.” Four-wheel disc brakes were also fitted, likely a necessity given the weight.
The gasoline engine that was offered was Chevrolet’s 454 cubic inch (7.4 liter) big block V8. Most Airstream Motorhomes paired it with a GM Turbo Hydra-Matic 475 3-speed automatic driving the rear axle.
The alternative was Isuzu’s 6BD1, a 353 cubic inch (5.8 liter) inline six-cylinder diesel with a 102 mm bore and 118 mm stroke. It came in both naturally-aspirated form, and with the larger 310 model it was offered with turbocharging for a little extra oomph.
Official fuel economy ratings are absent from any of the period brochures we could find, likely as many were still cognizant of the 1973 and 1979 Oil Crises that had caused skyrocketing fuel prices across the country (and around the world).
Airstream’s service manual for the 1979 to 1981 coaches gives the Isuzu’s rating as 130 bhp at 3,200 rpm and 253 lb ft of torque at 1,900 rpm, with no turbocharger. The owner of a 1984 diesel 310 wrote in a 2012 story that he had “a tough time passing farm machinery.” By then his coach had covered 227,000 miles and was returning about 15 mpg – he reported replacing nearly everything at least once, except the Isuzu’s bottom end.
The 280 was offered with a rear bathroom, with twin beds ahead of it. Up front, a pair of swiveling captain’s chairs faced a living area fitted with two jackknife sofas that folded out into beds, and a dinette. The galley had double sinks and a gas stove with an oven, and some coaches had a NuTone blender built into the kitchen counter.
This 1982 Airstream 310 Motorhome was imported from the United States and is now registered in the UK. It’s powered by the 7.4 liter V8 driving the rear wheels through a 5-speed automatic transmission.
The 310 used a different layout – its bathroom was split across the hallway, with the toilet and washbasin on one side and a separate shower opposite, and the hallway led to a rear bedroom with twin beds or a double. For 1984 Airstream offered three versions of the bedroom – a walk-around double bed, twin beds, or twins that converted into a large seating area.
Up front, a sofa that folded out into a bed sat alongside either a two-seat dinette or two chairs and a table. Both models had a gas stove with an oven, a refrigerator that ran on propane or mains electricity, two roof-mounted air conditioners, and an Onan generator for use away from campground hookups.
In the same time-period Airstream’s Commercial Department delivered three modified 1983 Excella Motorhomes to NASA. One of them carried Space Shuttle crews to the launch pad from STS-9 in 1983 until the program ended in 2011 – they were seen by millions of people across the country and internationally too.
The Airstream 310 Motorhome Shown Here
This 1982 Airstream 310 Motorhome was imported from the United States and is now registered in the UK. It’s powered by the 7.4 liter V8 driving the rear wheels through a 5-speed automatic transmission, while a later Sniper electronic fuel-injection system has been fitted in place of the original carburetor, offering improved starting and probably slightly better fuel economy too.
The Airstream 310 used a different layout to the 280 – its bathroom was split across the hallway, with the toilet and washbasin on one side and a separate shower opposite, and the hallway led to a rear bedroom with twin beds or a double.
It’s finished in Airstream’s classic polished aluminum, it has a brown and cream interior arranged for extended touring. Equipment includes twin beds, a sofa and easy chairs, a fridge/freezer, gas cooker and oven, toilet, wash basin, a separate shower, and ample built-in storage.
A major mechanical refurb was completed in 2022 at a reported cost of £28,000, with the invoice included in the sale. The seller also notes a minor repair to the front nearside body panel. It’s now being offered for sale out of the United Kingdom here on Collecting Cars.
Images provided by Collecting Cars
Articles that Ben Branch has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
