I thought I would start this thread to document my restoration of a 58 26 foot Overlander. I'm doing this for two reasons - one is figured those of you with old trailers might enjoy this, and two to help keep my motivation.
First are pictures of what I'm starting with. Note the beautiful pink interior
As you can the PO put the plumbing through the frame - why didn't I ever think of that - makes life soooo much easier, you don't have to mess with putting drainlines topside through cabinets.
Thanks for documenting your restoration. It looks like a complete overhaul!
I'm also documenting my restoration on our 11/60 Overlander, however my restoration is not to the extent your is. I look forward to the process and your progression.
Are you replacing all the cabinets with new cabinets and hardware? Or just setting them aside to get to the floor? The reason I ask is that I have the same interior (Pink and all) and I'm looking for 2 of the cabinet latches. Let me know.
Steve
P.S. You may have motivated me to post my progress. What a great way to learn and share! Keep it up.
As of today, I brought the trailer to the welder. They are going to fix the frame from the cut job the previous owner did with the plumbing. They are also going to measure for new axles and springs. When those come in I'll take the trailer back and I'll have them install the axles, springs, new brakes, wheels and yes baby moons and trim rings I'm also going to have them put a new coupler on for me.
Between now and then, I will replace the floor, and continue to build cabinets.
So there you have it - where I am at this point - I will plan to use this thread from time to time to update the progress. At this point I hope to be able to use the trailer sometime in 2005. Meanwhile we have our 75 that is really nice - in fact I had them side by side this morning - man what a difference........
I don't think we will be camping in this for awhile - we will bring the 75 with us.
Steve
Thanks - yes I'm replacing most of the cabinet hardware - what are you looking for, if its those twisty white knobs, I'm planning to use/keep those.
Yeah - get your trailer on a thread - would really like to see your progress. One of the reasons I'm doing this is this is my 4th Airstream - first three have been in really great conditions - is one its the same year as my wifes birth, and two because I really wanted to tear into one of these. I could get by without a floor replacement, but I figure what the heck, I've got everything out of it, need to replace front because of some rot and rear because of some frame seperation - figure might as well do the whole thing.
Just thought I would add a couple of pics of the 75 - could not do a restoration if I didn't have something to go camping in. The 75 doesn't have the coolness factor that the 50's trailers do
Thanks Ken I will continue the search for the "white twistys".
This is our first trailer/Airstream period. We have two small children and thought we would be like the "Bradys" and start some family camping. My wife and I have always liked Airstreams. When I was looking for a camper she told me "I'm not going to have an UGLY trailer sitting in our yard!! Unless it is an Airstream. Yeah!! So we entered the wonderful world of Airstream trailers. We had no idea we were joining a cult! Its Great! We bought ours from the original owner in Palm Springs, CA. Its in original condition and I think fairly good shape. I have some very nice documentation and photo's of the previous owners in Europe with the trailer. They even had a newspaper article written about them and pictures of the trailer in the paper. Its kind of cool and makes us appreciate it much more and knowing that we are continuing its journey for the next 45 or so years.
As you know we are tackling the Axles/Brakes at the moment, and I jumped ahead of myself and put in a wood floor and reupholstered the front couch (wife's request/job).
Wow you lucky guy - sounds like a GREAT trailer - several years ago I had a chance to buy a 57 Carivanner from the original owners - same deal lots of pictures and great memories - I passed it up because it was more work than I wanted to take on. As it turns out, it would have been a lot less work than this one. Oh well, live and learn.
I am absolutely convinced that trailer camping is the best thing for small kids - in 1988 we bought our first pop up and have been camping with our two boys since then - I think going somewhere and being stuck all together in a small box really brings the ol family together. My oldest is now 18 and doesn't have much of an interest in camping with us, but the memories we have are unbelievable - another little tip, we keep a log of all our trailer trips so every once in a while we can go back and re-live those trips - best thing I ever did - kids and I will look back and read what we did and all the great memories come back.
Ken,
this will be fun to watch. I'm doing a similar job on my 63.
I will also post some progress reports, time permitting. I got the shell loose this afternoon after work. It's hanging 3in above the frame now, from the ceiling beams.
No trailer work tomorrow, but I will get some more wor done over the weekend.
Long live old Overlanders!
Thanks - I've been watching your 63 project with great interest. Appears to be several of us doing the same crazy thing. Hopefully this weekend I'll be tearing into the floor - ohhh boy! I'm not doing a frame off because the frame is in good shape - just surface rust.
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