Hello to all Airstreamers! I am a new Airstream owner, however the
Airstream I bought is a basket case and with any luck my family and I will
take our maiden voyage to Yellowstone National Park next year. My
Airstream is an unbadged
1961 22' Spaceliner. Originally purchased in
Oklahoma City and some time in its lifetime it found it's way to Benld
Illinois. I believe the last time the trailer was on the road was 1987.
When we went to look at it, it was in pretty bad shape. The only thing
original on the interior was the complete kitchen and the toilet with waste
tank. The Trailer had been remodeled 3 times.
The First remodel consisted of painting the interior yellow. The second circa
1969 was red velvet wall paper and the final remodel was white paneling
that someone used an airstapler to affix the paneling. The front gaucho was
gone replaced with an ugly loveseat. The L shaped divan and table were
replaced by an equally ugly upholstered rocking chair. The bathroom sink
was gone and someone tried to install a metal shower and never finished
the job. All of the trailer lights were missing or broken. The hitch lock was broken and rusted solid and the chains were too short. Getting it home (107 miles) was scary. I told my wife if it falls off we were going to keep going, luckily the weight of the trailer kept it on the hitch.
Once home I emptied out the trailer that night of all the stuff that wasn't
bolted down. The next day I removed everything else. On the third day a
friend came over and we removed the paneling, wallpaper and finally the
inner skin, wiring and insulation. The following week I removed the lower
outer skin and windows and my wife and I lifted the body off the frame. I
suspended the body in my garage and stripped the heavily corroded under
belly, rotten plywood and anything else left on the frame. I took the frame
to a welder who is going the replace all but the two main C channels. The
outriggers and cross braces are rusted clear through. In fact 2 cross braces
and the rear angle iron fell off on the road.
Each bump seemed to jar off another piece of the frame. If I can find some
windows I will proceed with the renovation. it seems as the windows broke
the PO(s) took the windows out and screwed Plexiglas or galvanized steel
to cover the openings. I think if I proceed with the renovations I will replace
about 90% of the outer body panels due to creases, scuffs or deep
scratches.
The last owned let a tree grow up over the trailer and when the wind blew
it did a number on the skin. Other window options at this point are to
replace all of the windows with modern Hehr windows, but I think it will
ruin the look of the trailer. Hopefully the moderators will change the drop
down trailer selector to add in my trailer. For any one interested here is a
magazine article about the trailer when it was new:
http://service.airstream.com/files/l...f92879193e.pdf
Pictures to follow.
Doug and Gina