Wife and I are toying with the notion of buying a vintage 1975 Airstream Safari in original condition. Has new tires, but pretty much everything else is as original and in pretty good condition...from what I can tell. No water damage aside from one little spot under a window. I'm reasonably handy and built out a Mercedes Sprinter Van as a camper van pretty much on my own, but there's a level of complexity here that might be beyond me.

Is this a money pit/forever project...or can it be brought up to speed for $10-$15k.

Thoughts and advice appreciated.

A friend of mine restores them and updates them.  He can easily make yours into a $90000+ trailer that ends up polished like a mirror, with AC and modern things.  

He has some high roller clients, so you can bet he isn't cheap.  He does meticulous work, a true craftsman. The polish job used to cost $2000 and he flies a guy in to do it.

Hippies and tree huggers have driven the prices of Airstreams to insane levels. I see that yours has an AC unit, but at that age, I would bet it needs some work.

This was a cloudy day.  

Some of them have the AC unit hidden.  

All RVs are money pits.  I would pick something much newer, if you are a first timer.  I always suggest renting a trailer or motorhome a few times to see if it is really something you like doing.  I used to have a custom built toy hauler, because there were no hotel options where we went riding.  Outside of that, I prefer a hotel.