Made it home last night with my new addition - a
1961 Tradewind International. It had been sitting on a farm in Iowa for some 15 years. Shell is near perfect. Missing the front window frame (any ideas???), two pieces of glass and two roof vents. Vents were covered by plywood weighted down by rocks and a car battery. Arrived to the farm for pick up with all "necessary" tools for pick up. Had two new wheels and GYM tires. Pulled the brand new floor jack out of the box and guess what - it did not work. Ran into town to get a new one. Got back and could not get enough clearance to safely jack up one side. Finally inflated one of the very, very rough tires and it held enough to raise the trailer. Tire change one complete. Second side went much smoother. Now about two hours into it. Moved to the front. PO had attached the front end of a small tractor to the hitch assembly so they could roll it around the farm. Very ingenious, but meant that it could not be hitched. I thought a couple of bolts and we would be good. Nope. Luckily, a gentleman came by who was working to clean up the farm who had a cutting torch. He offer to cut it off. Oops, he was out of gas for his torch. Had to run back to his farm for more. Three hours into the pick up. He came back, fifteen minutes later and front assembly fell to the ground. $30 and a handshake made my day! Pulled the trailer off the farm for the first time in two decades. Was going to have the bearings packed. Called the local place and they told me they could no longer get to it, but maybe tomorrow. I hauled it there so we could just look to see how bad they were. Opened the dust covers and (knock me over with a feather here) they had just been repacked - fresh lithium grease, no dirt, nothing. Ready to roll. Set off on my 400 mile trip back to Indiana. Rolled slowly at first and rechecked the bearing covers for heat - a little at first, then after 30-40 miles cool as a cucumber. Trailer hauled like a dream. Made it home without incident - except for one REALLY big rain storm, which is nice when you are missing a window and roof vents. But the interior needs, um, work and section of the floor needs replacing, but more on that later. Will be evaluating more later this week. Just really excited for this one. Such a classic with beautiful lines. Looking forward to getting it back to use.