It started with a grandmother’s thoughtful offer.

The Fabers — Ken, his wife, Pieternella (whom everyone calls Petey), and their 6-month-old daughter, Melania — had traveled from Michigan to Montana in the early 1960s to visit Petey Faber’s mother. Eager to spend time with her grandchild, the mother suggested to her daughter and son-in-law that they treat themselves to some time alone. Why don’t they take the grandparents’ Jeep and camping trailer up to Glacier National Park for a few days, she suggested.

The young couple did just that. They camped on the shore of Bowman Lake. They hiked in the mountains. They went trout fishing.

Soon they were converts. “We have to have a trailer,” Ken Faber told his wife.

After returning to their home in Wyoming, Mich., a suburb of Grand Rapids, the Fabers went to a recreational vehicle show to research available models, finally deciding that what they wanted was an Airstream, a trailer easily recognized by its shiny aluminum skin. They could not afford a new one, but before long they found a 5-year-old 22-footer that they hitched to the back of their 1963 Chevrolet Impala.

As the family grew, so did its Airstreams; the Fabers bought a Chevrolet Suburban to tow the increasingly longer trailers. Each year, they camped at Hunting Island State Park on the South Carolina coast. Eventually, they put 210,000 miles on the Suburban.

In many respects, the Fabers are typical RV owners. But not entirely typical: Ken Faber, 74, is not only an enthusiastic owner and RV camper, he collects and restores vintage models. His collection, one of the largest in the United States, is especially in demand for shows and tours this year, as the RV industry celebrates its centennial.

“Camping has been around for centuries, but 1910 is when the first auto-related camping vehicles were built for commercial sale,” said Al Hesselbart, historian for the Recreation Vehicle/Motor Home Hall of Fame museum and library in Elkhart, Ind.

Those early RVs included the Touring Landau, a chauffeur-driven house car from the prestigious American automaker Pierce-Arrow. Travel trailers were produced in California by Los Angeles Trailer Works and in Michigan by Auto-Kamp Trailers of Saginaw.

Ken Faber’s oldest RVs are a Covered Wagon from the early 1930s and a 1937 Hayes Motor Home trailer.

Covered Wagon Co. was founded by Arthur Sherman, head of a Detroit pharmaceutical company, who was said to have been inspired by a family camping trip to northern Michigan. Arriving at the campsite after dark on a rainy night, Sherman was drenched by the time he set up the tent trailer he had bought for the trip.

When the trip was over, he set out to build a pull-along shelter that was easier to set up. His first model looked like a smaller version of a pioneer’s Conestoga wagon; the design was later modified with canvas stretched over plywood. Ken Faber said that in the 1930s Covered Wagon was building more than 1,000 trailers a month. Among those entering the RV business was Hayes Body Co. of Grand Rapids, Mich. Hayes was a major supplier of steel body panels for Detroit’s automakers.

Ken Faber, who was an insurance agent for 50 years, found his Hayes in Bakersfield, Calif. He did not want to pay the asking price of $3,500, but the sellers would come down by only $200; he did, however, persuade them to tow the trailer as far east as Wichita, Kan. Ken Faber met the Hayes there and brought it to Michigan, where it was restored to the specifications of the original plans.

To pull the Hayes on tours for vintage RVs, Ken Faber bought a 1937 Buick Series 40 Special. He and Petey Faber also use the 1963 Chevrolet Impala — they still own their first tow car — or their customized 1955 GMC pickup.

Ken Faber’s most prized vintage RV — and the holy grail for the Airstream faithful — is Der Kleine Prinz, or Little Prince, the smallest Airstream ever built.

The Little Prince is only 13 feet long. It was built by Airstream’s founder, Wally Byam, in 1958 after a trip to Europe with his wife. On their return, he decided to build a small, European-style caravan as a prototype for possible export. Despite its size — it is only 72 inches wide — the trailer had a bathroom with a shower, a three-burner stove, a refrigerator, a propane heater and a couch that opened into a double bed.

Ken Faber heard about the one-of-a-kind Airstream in the early 1990s, though it took him 12 years to persuade the owner to sell it. After it was restored, Ken Faber and his wife took the Little Prince on an overnight trip. It turned out to be Petey Faber’s only time in this particular Airstream. The reason: Ken Faber is more than 6 feet tall, so when he stretched out across the bed, there was little room left for Petey Faber.

Ken Faber traveled solo on his next trip with the Little Prince, but he missed his wife, so the most cherished of Airstreams was donated to the RV museum in Elkhart.

Now, he and Petey Faber prefer to travel in one of their Airstream Bambis, a 16-foot unit prized by Airstream collectors because only about 500 were built in 1961-63. Though small, the Bambi is nonetheless roomy enough for two.