Shop Talk: GT Services Restores Vintage Airstreams

In a metal-sided shop surrounded by alfalfa fields outside of Townsend, Montana, a handful of professional “Trailer Whisperers” restore damaged and well-loved campers—mostly Airstreams—to their glory days. GT Services, owned by Glenn and Terri Specking, attracts trailer owners from throughout the United States and Canada, promising quality work at a fraction of the cost of their larger competitors.

The Speckings weren’t into the travel trailer resurrection business when they lived in Alaska, where Glenn was the chief engineer for the high-rise, 600-room Hotel Captain Cook in Anchorage. But in 2014, they decided to get into the food truck business using an Airstream, and in 2015 they brought their half-renovated trailer to Townsend, Terri’s hometown.

“People liked the updated food truck,” Glenn recalls, “and started asking for help with their trailers, particularly Airstreams.”

A decade later, they’re Montana’s largest Airstream collision repair and service center, aided in part by their proprietary and closely guarded methods to estimate repairs using original Airstream parts as often as possible. The Speckings’ team focuses on repairing and reconditioning that archival gear, with Airstream able to supply equipment dating back to the 1970s.

To hear more about the operation and get a window into what goes into the GT Services process, we visited with Glenn and his team at the shop in Townsend.

Q: Why did you decide to focus on Airstreams?

Glenn: My parents had one when I was young, and I got to know a lot about them when I helped work on it. We don’t just work on Airstreams, though. We focus on aluminum trailer restoration, including Silver Streaks and Avions. My team is about precision, whether it’s providing an accurate renovation estimate or having cabinetmaker Allen Lavender fit the custom-made cabinetry into the trailer curves so tightly you can’t slip a sheet of paper between the wall and the cabinet. My wife, Terri, is a master seamstress who tailor-makes every cushion, and my foreman, Aaron Banks, is a former Air Force military aviation mechanic who knows how to cut and form the aluminum into the precise shape needed, among other skills. Airstreams are a lot like airplanes, with their center aisles, rivets, sealants and sheet metal. Our work is nothing less than perfect, especially working on a travel trailer that retails for about $150,000.

Q: What’s the most important skill to repair Airstreams?

Glenn: You need to think before you act and have patience. Every time you touch an Airstream, you risk damaging it if you’re not properly trained. We get a lot of trailers that come in from people who tried to fix them.

Q: What’s your favorite renovation?

Glenn: It’s like asking, who’s your favorite child? We do a lot of heirloom trailers for people who are emotionally attached to the trailers but they’re in terrible condition. Sometimes we end up rebuilding the entire trailer. One of Aaron’s favorites is the rare 1957 Bubble, whose owner wanted to pair it with his 1957 Caballero station wagon at shows. The GT crew completely dismantled the Bubble, then rebuilt it from the frame up. (“We were still polishing it when the owner arrived to take it to a show, where he placed in the top 10,” Aaron adds).

We also enjoyed renovating the 1948 Tourette teardrop trailer known as Hildegard for her North Carolina family, who owned her since the 1960s. We not only rebuilt Hildegard from the bottom up but also widened her axle and added fenders to expand the interior space. Terri created custom-made bedding, we installed handcrafted birch paneling, LED lights and era-appropriate Marmoleum flooring,  plus reworked the entire electrical system. In the iconic teardrop exterior rear kitchen, we installed a sink with running water, a minifridge and a microwave. Today, they call Hildegard a “Tearstream”—not just because the teardrop trailer reflects the aesthetics of an Airstream, but also for the tears of joy from the owner upon seeing her rebirth.

Q: What innovations are you seeing in the world of travel trailers?

Glenn: People are wanting Airstreams with solar power, so they can have their luxuries but be off the power grid. For that you need huge batteries for storage; we’re stashing the lithium batteries under the bed so they can use their air conditioning and microwave ovens. We’ve been doing this for years, and now the factories are copying us and coming out with solar power on the new travel trailers. We’re also still focusing on our roots, doing customized Airstream food trailers. We have one outside The Lark Hotel in downtown Bozeman, and another at The Sparrow Hotel in Boise.

Q: What’s your latest travel trailer dream renovation?

Glenn: I’m looking for an owner-investor for a rare Model 20 Holiday House trailer I recently acquired. Only 200 were manufactured between 1960-61 by the company founded by David Holmes, and the number that survived is limited. These are known for their jet-age styling with wraparound plexiglass windows and sleek lines. It’s not in good shape right now. It was full of garbage when I got it, but we will disassemble this and will restore the frame, build new walls and a new roof while using every possible part that we can off it. We’ll keep it as original as possible and it will look like a million bucks when we finish, with walnut or cherry finishes, hidden air conditioning and a new aluminum skin.

Shop: GT Services

Location: Townsend, Montana

Founded: 2015

Specialty: Airstreams

Worth the Wait

Total restoration, which involves taking a travel trailer down to its bare bones, can take up to a year.

Making the Trip

For out-of-state trailers that can’t be transported by the owner, GT Services offers a concierge service to transport rigs to the shop in Montana.

Quality Assured

For smaller repairs, the GT team typically finishes the work between a week and a few months, depending on the extent of the damage. All work is guaranteed by GT for 10 years.

This article originally appeared in Wildsam magazine. For more Wildsam content, sign up for our newsletter.