If you’ve been following the Vintage Camper Trailers magazine for a while, you may recognize the name Steve Morris. Steve’s craftsmanship has graced our pages more than once—first with his beautifully restored 1959 Shasta and later with his 1965 Streamline Duke, both fine examples of vintage trailer restoration done right. But Steve’s passion for classic design didn’t stop with trailers. In true VCT spirit, he took that same appreciation for midcentury style, quality engineering, and hands-on craftsmanship and channeled it into a new creative venture: Streamline HiFi.
What started in a workshop in Truckee, California, has grown into a brand that’s caught the attention of serious audiophiles—and even music legends like ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons. Steve now builds custom stereo consoles that merge retro style with cutting-edge sound, and his dedication to detail is as present in these builds as it was in his trailer restorations.
This article tells the story of the Streamline Duke and how it became the namesake and inspiration behind Streamline HiFi. It’s a tale of redwood roots, roadside rescues, and a love for the craftsmanship of eras past. For those of us who live and breathe vintage trailers, Steve’s story is another reminder that our passion often leads to places—and people—we never expected. And in this case, maybe even to a backstage pass.
Streamline HiFi Engineers Beautiful Sound
It’s Palm Springs Modernism Week, and Steve Morris is presenting to the world of midcentury modern art lovers for the very first time his impeccable collection of bespoke record consoles, designed and built by him out of a workshop in Truckee, California, and catering to the most discerning audiophiles.
A gentleman stops into the booth and notices Steve’s ZZ Top’s Eliminator album cover sitting just above the turntable of a large custom console. He introduces himself as a publicist, asks for a picture with the album, and promises to return to have another look. On the third day of the show, the publicist returns with a phone call for Steve. On the line is Billy Gibbons, the lead guitarist and founder of ZZ Top.
Steve is dumbfounded. Billy tells him he would love a console, hearing from his publicist about the impressive sound quality and stylings. Steve, of course, says ‘absolutely’. He gets to work on two units for Billy, with plans to have them ready the next time Billy is in town. After a show in Reno, Billy tells Steve he can swing by to view the finished product in Steve’s shop. What Steve doesn’t realize is that Billy will be coming with his whole crew, in a tour bus, and parking in Steve’s front yard!
Billy’s first words upon stepping into Steve’s workshop to pick up his unit were “Damn, listen to the detail on that.” They ended up chatting rock and roll history at Steve’s place for hours.
Since first selling Billy Gibbons a Streamline HiFi, Steve has had the chance to share stories with the ZZ Top legend several times. In fact, their shared love of music history led Steve to gift Billy with a rare Lap steel amp that caught Billy’s eye when he was once at Steve’s house.
There’s something in Steve’s blood that yearns for preserving great engineering, great style from another era. Before Steve was designing and building custom audio equipment, he was restoring other vintage things. Years ago, he came across an old camper and fell in love with its design. It was a 1965 Streamline Duke trailer, and the company ceased to exist in the 1970’s. Steve completely restored it, and the experience inspired the naming of his company as Streamline HiFi, after the chrome cabin on wheels.
Steve’s dad perhaps started things in motion years ago, when he gained notoriety for importing Japanese stereo equipment while overseas with the military. During the Vietnam era, many young men came back from war to spend their hard-earned salaries on a down payment for a house or a car; not Steve’s dad. As Steve tells it, his dad spent every last dime on audio equipment not yet available in the US. Neighbors would come to his house just to listen to the new technology and sound. Clearly music is in the Morris genetics.
Steve first started restoring vintage record consoles before he decided to make his mark designing them on his own. The issue that led him to custom new builds was the stereo technology itself. He describes that transition of vacuum tubes to solid state across all industries except for audio recording. He recalls the evolution of audio, migrating from sound reproduction to music storage in the way of first compact disc players, then MP3 and now streaming. A fact most but the true audiophiles would be unaware of is that the migration from vinyl records to streaming has resulted in a loss of sound quality, in the name of data storage conservation. Vinyl records play exactly what is transposed; the entire range of audio sound from 0 HZ to 100,000 HZ. Streaming, CDs, MP3s work with a compressed sound, allowing the human ear to only hear the spectrum between 20,000 HZ and 50,000 HZ. It’s supposedly what the human ear recognizes anyway, but it’s missing something. The upper and lower registers of sound make up the je ne sais quoi of an audio playback, something one can recognize is missing, only when they hear it completely.
It is for that reason that vinyl never fully went obsolete in the face of new technology, and why audiophiles and serious music listeners swear by their turntables.
Is Streamline HiFi visionary? Steve would say no, but the reality is he is a man with a profound passion for what he does, and what he does is quite unique. Having honed his craft rebuilding vintage stereos and record players, he is able to build all the equipment and cabinetry for his consoles from scratch. He sources the wood from local lumber mills, and once the console is complete, he tunes the stereo equipment in his home, making detailed adjustments to ensure the sound quality is perfect. One of the signature details of his consoles is the accessories panels, with whiskey and record storage, and serving space.
Steve sees Streamline HiFi owners getting together to share their love of music over one of his beautiful consoles with a nice whiskey or two, and has created a group called Wax and Whiskey for this very purpose. He thinks about the emotions we attach to the songs we love, and the opportunities to share those experiences over music. Steve’s even started providing record carrying bags with his equipment, to encourage owners to share their passion.
Steve loves just about every type of music, but blues has a special place in his heart. In college, he was an accidental DJ for a blues show, and it changed his life. In fact, the three models of console he currently builds are called the Mojo, the Rambler and the Crossroads – all named from blues terminology. On his turntable now could be anything from Junior Kimbrough, to a bit of ska from the early 2000’s.
He is starting to dabble in enhanced customization, looking at how to more fully integrate with interior designer and architect’s plans. The ratios and dimensions of the stereo equipment play a major role in determining how components can be placed into millwork to ensure the sound quality Steve is known for. But with so much demand for his work, from both audiophiles and design-oriented patrons, he is pacing himself to ensure he always enjoys what he does and always builds something Billy Gibbons would be proud of.
