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Old 09-13-2013, 07:27 AM   #1
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What would you pay for this? 1960 Tradewind

We went and looked at a 1960 Tradewind last night with the hopes that we'd be buying our first Airstream... Well, we got there and the guy was super nice and all, but the AS was not.

We knew the interior was gutted, with the innards being tossed in a pile on the inside. We were advised that the cabinets could be used as templates to make new ones, but the major appliances are in there, except for the water heater. The tub, toilet, black tank, fresh water tank, and some screens to the windows are in there as well. What is missing completely are cushions, interior plumbing and interior wiring. There are sever small dents in the shell, and the skylight is no longer see through at all. The step is rusted fully and would need to be replaced.

He said he went through and reinforced the frame with C channels or something. It has leaf springs, which look solid at least. The tires are cracked on the sidewall, he says he has new wheels and will be putting electric brakes on it soon.

Per the add, the frame was fixed, a large panel was replaced on the back, the subfloor was replaced with the shell off, the glass was replaced, the skin was removed and replaced and painted with zolotone paint. Upon inspection, parts of the interior skin buckles at seems, the floor has a floating floor over it and the plywood underneath is wet. The frame is all rusted, and looks hacked near the bathroom (bumper area) and when you step on the bumper, the body is slower to go down than the bumper. The belly pan and banana wrap is missing, but he's supplying the rolls of aluminum to complete it.


Sooo.. with that said, how much is it worth? I've looked at the article on another thread, and feel dumb just looking at it, and would rather hear what you guys would pay for it, instead..

Thanks for your help!

Lesleyness
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Old 09-13-2013, 08:02 AM   #2
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Photos are essential if you want informed responses.

From what you wrote, and IF YOU HAVE THE SKILLS AND TOOLS to replace the floor and frame, it might be worth $800. And that's only because a 60s Tradewind is a desirable model.

I was also very tempted to say what wkerfoot says below.

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Old 09-13-2013, 08:03 AM   #3
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The price should be "I will tow it away for free".

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Quote:
Originally Posted by lesleyness View Post
We went and looked at a 1960 Tradewind last night with the hopes that we'd be buying our first Airstream... Well, we got there and the guy was super nice and all, but the AS was not.

We knew the interior was gutted, with the innards being tossed in a pile on the inside. We were advised that the cabinets could be used as templates to make new ones, but the major appliances are in there, except for the water heater. The tub, toilet, black tank, fresh water tank, and some screens to the windows are in there as well. What is missing completely are cushions, interior plumbing and interior wiring. There are sever small dents in the shell, and the skylight is no longer see through at all. The step is rusted fully and would need to be replaced.

He said he went through and reinforced the frame with C channels or something. It has leaf springs, which look solid at least. The tires are cracked on the sidewall, he says he has new wheels and will be putting electric brakes on it soon.

Per the add, the frame was fixed, a large panel was replaced on the back, the subfloor was replaced with the shell off, the glass was replaced, the skin was removed and replaced and painted with zolotone paint. Upon inspection, parts of the interior skin buckles at seems, the floor has a floating floor over it and the plywood underneath is wet. The frame is all rusted, and looks hacked near the bathroom (bumper area) and when you step on the bumper, the body is slower to go down than the bumper. The belly pan and banana wrap is missing, but he's supplying the rolls of aluminum to complete it.


Sooo.. with that said, how much is it worth? I've looked at the article on another thread, and feel dumb just looking at it, and would rather hear what you guys would pay for it, instead..

Thanks for your help!

Lesleyness
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Old 09-13-2013, 08:05 AM   #4
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He should pay you $500 to haul it away. Unfortunately, when someone covers up problems (like putting a floor on top of another floor) you have to remove their "repair" before you can actually get to the part you need to fix. Belly pan and banana wrap can be a pain to do if you've never done it before. Sounds like classic rear end separation at the bumper, so you'll have to do a frame off probably to repair that piece of it. The interior buckling sounds really bad. It was possibly a situation where he was standing inside while doing the inside skin and when he took the weight off, the floor lifted back up, causing the buckling.
He's done some damage that may result in your re-doing his work, and possibly more since there are now extra holes for the rivets.

You could pay $500 and not do too bad, but not much more than that based on what you're saying. Pulling the cabinets out of the inside did not do you a favor, nor ripping out the plumbing. Unless you have detailed pics, it's going to be hard to firgure out how to re-route. You're looking at putting in another $10,000 maybe to get it as a good trailer - if you make the cabinets yourself.

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Old 09-13-2013, 08:13 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by robwok View Post
He should pay you $500 to haul it away. Unfortunately, when someone covers up problems (like putting a floor on top of another floor) you have to remove their "repair" before you can actually get to the part you need to fix. Belly pan and banana wrap can be a pain to do if you've never done it before. Sounds like classic rear end separation at the bumper, so you'll have to do a frame off probably to repair that piece of it. The interior buckling sounds really bad. It was possibly a situation where he was standing inside while doing the inside skin and when he took the weight off, the floor lifted back up, causing the buckling.
He's done some damage that may result in your re-doing his work, and possibly more since there are now extra holes for the rivets.

You could pay $500 and not do too bad, but not much more than that based on what you're saying. Pulling the cabinets out of the inside did not do you a favor, nor ripping out the plumbing. Unless you have detailed pics, it's going to be hard to firgure out how to re-route. You're looking at putting in another $10,000 maybe to get it as a good trailer - if you make the cabinets yourself.

Rob.
He was asking $4500.... Ugh...


Lesley
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Old 09-13-2013, 08:44 AM   #6
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Wow. It doesn't really look too bad from the pics, but that additional information is what did it. You're much better off to find a trailer that has problems, but hasn't been touched.

Even though I've redone most of my trailer, it was so much easier to see how everything had been done before. I could take off one piece, rebuild it, then put it back in and as a result, I was never completely overwhelmed. However, this is a mess. You'd have to remove all that stuff inside before you could haul it, otherwise those pieces, and the skin inside would get beat up. I say skip it unless you have the experience to ignore the original setup and create your own layout - but you'll have to create your own plumbing and learn a lot from scratch. I'm extremely handy (making my own black and gray custom tanks now), and have done one trailer already, have all the tools and a cabinet shop, and I wouldn't touch this one.

Rob.
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Old 09-13-2013, 09:14 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lesleyness View Post
He was asking $4500....
He was dreaming...

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Old 09-13-2013, 11:10 AM   #8
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Run away faster. $500 max.
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Old 09-13-2013, 11:23 AM   #9
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Quote:
the plywood underneath is wet. The frame is all rusted, and looks hacked near the bathroom (bumper area) and when you step on the bumper, the body is slower to go down than the bumper.
this is the nail in the coffin. this is bad. bad!
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Old 09-13-2013, 01:03 PM   #10
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wow, it has the very cool bunk bed windows. This shell would be nifty to have, but that's about all of value.
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Old 09-14-2013, 06:19 PM   #11
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If you were planning on doing a complete rebuild/redesign.
AND
You really wanted/needed a vintage, relatively light weight Trailer
AND
You really wanted/loved Tradewinds
THEN
Maybe you could go higher on the price, justified by the fact that you're going to end up spending $20k +/- on it, where the original purchase price becomes less and less important (ask me how I came to this conclusion).
BUT
$4,500 is out of line - IMO
Good Luck,
MarkR
(I love '60 Tradewinds, and this one looks interesting)
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Old 09-14-2013, 07:16 PM   #12
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I paid $2600 for mine. Just check out the pics. It looks good right? Looks can full you. If you go through all the pages you will see the amount of work that you will put into it plus money. I am still working on mine. I think $4500 is way to much for me, but might not be for somebody else. It looks like a lot of work. I did not gut mine. I just refinished everything in it.

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Old 09-14-2013, 07:56 PM   #13
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Okay, this is the northeast (assuming the trailer is near you in NY) and Airstreams are certainly rarer here. That being said $1000 would be my top price for this trailer with the understanding that it will be a shell off restoration. Exterior actually looks decent.
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Old 09-15-2013, 05:01 AM   #14
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In the markets, I observe everyday, $4500 is a very common asking price for a shell. I wish I had the time to go out and find those, "oh, how about $500? It has been sitting here in this old pole barn since 1954 when we bought it new..." But in reality very few of of those deals are out there. Price vs Condition on Airforums is somewhat out of date I might add also. I paid $4000 for my trailer in 2007. For all purposes it was a shell even though it had everything in it.
Asking $4500... will actually take?
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Old 09-15-2013, 06:35 AM   #15
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Agree with Frank!

This is the same trailer as to when I picked it up and towed it to where it is now... it needed a panel replaced as it had panel damage from a blow out - and if anyone knows about panel repairs, they are costly if done right... he's actually saved all the original interior for patterns which saves a ton of work or labor if trying to put it back to original condition. It has a great looking new Zolatone (expensive paint and it's the real Zolatone as it is the same as our trailer). Having one gutted also saves alot of time.. and leak. I paid $2500 for our 58 Sovereign of the Road and it took alot of work to get it gutted so we could get to the rear end where there was no floor

Sweet Sovereign of the Road: Back home in central NY

It's the price it is and his ad states "Airstream people" to look at it because people who've done this restoration work know what they are getting into and know what's been done is costly. And with the show "Picker's" - the prices sure have gone up.
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Old 09-16-2013, 04:14 AM   #16
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This is the same trailer as to when I picked it up and towed it to where it is now... it needed a panel replaced as it had panel damage from a blow out - and if anyone knows about panel repairs, they are costly if done right... he's actually saved all the original interior for patterns which saves a ton of work or labor if trying to put it back to original condition. It has a great looking new Zolatone (expensive paint and it's the real Zolatone as it is the same as our trailer). Having one gutted also saves alot of time.. and leak. I paid $2500 for our 58 Sovereign of the Road and it took alot of work to get it gutted so we could get to the rear end where there was no floor

Sweet Sovereign of the Road: Back home in central NY

It's the price it is and his ad states "Airstream people" to look at it because people who've done this restoration work know what they are getting into and know what's been done is costly. And with the show "Picker's" - the prices sure have gone up.


We may not currently be airstream people, but we sure wanted to be. Before we had gone to look at it, we had several charts with an airstream restoration guy. We knew what to look for, knew what it would cost to repair, if certain things were done right. Upon inspection, the floor was soaking wet, so it definitely was leaking, and for quite some time, the frame was reinforced, but with steel that wasn't near original.. plus, with no idea if the appliances work, the sagging rear frame. We would have to take the shell off to go back to seal the rusting frame and to install the belly pan.

We have seen other complete airstreams on the market that may have needed frame or floor work, but they were for $1000 - $1600.. I guess from my research I cannot be classified as an Airstream person, but felt I was educated to know what was fairly priced.

We almost went and bought an ambassador that was beautiful, over this past weekend. New upholstery, all appliances work, newer ties, axles with time left etc.. their asking price $5900... alas, if only our jeep could tow it.. no hard feelings Robandzoe, but your uncle missed a few steps.


Also, in my research we saw that this trade wind had been on the market for a while. There were several similar questions posted on the firm from some other potential buyers. They were advised against it then as well.

we'll keep looking for one that makes us grin ear to ear, and leave the $4500 shell to the "airstream people", I guess...
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Old 09-16-2013, 08:59 AM   #17
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I love Rob and Zoe, even not having met them, but I spent a lot of time listening to Rob and visiting his website.

NY may be a tough place to get a trailer, but for the cost, it seems you could have a much cheaper Southern trailer shipped up North. It is absolutely true that a good Zolatone job is very expensive, and the inside of that trailer looks great. Keeping the templates was a critical step. The wet plywood may be indicative of having leaky seams which aren't that impossible to seal up from the outside. Also, a damaged panel is very expensive to replace.

However... if you have 2 trailers that are the same, and someone spent 2 weeks replacing a panel on one, and the other has the original undamaged panels, they are worth the same. Just because a repair on a panel was done due to damage, it does not improve the value of the trailer (unless it was something like replacing factory defects that are inherent with particular years.

In the end, the PO may have spent a ton of money on period accurate aluminum, but that doesn't really increase the value, it maintains it next to a similar undamaged trailer.

As to the zolatone, if there was an improperly replaced internal sheet due to uneven stresses from an unsupported frame, that Zolatone job will have to be redone after the inside skin is repaired. So again, the high dollar value is only there if there is no rework needed.

These are important things to consider when restoring a trailer. Though there are some that will pay anything, especially to get a certain trailer, if you are not that specific, this doesn't sound like the trailer for you. It may be the right trailer for someone else.

Some of us lucked out. I got a steal on mine, and it was completely unmolested. Everything included down to a porchlight and every piece of the working TV antenna. However, I still have put a ton of money into it, carefully keeping the original layout. I'm agonizing over trying to get the most capacity out of my custom black tanks while adapting a new gray water system and still keeping all the original layout for everything and not removing any of my rear bath. I've had to make some agonizing concessions in some areas. However, deals are still to be had. Did anyone catch that $500 Boles Aero this month?

I still see a bunch of great trailers. I'm sorry for this PO if he truly put a ton of effort into his trailer, and then has to sell it. It happens in all businesses where someone puts a lot of effort and has to take a loss because it's not finished. Let that be a warning. I have thought about giving up on my trailer a few times, but knowing that if I finish it, I'd be able to get twice as much value as it is now, with no black tank and the belly hanging down. I have $200 worth of ABS in my garage right now. If I sold my trailer now with no black tank and the belly pan hanging down, vs. selling it with 2 gray tanks and a black tank and new valterra valves all ready to go, the value would be drastically different.
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