So, What have 'you' found while restoring??

[jeep]

Hi , great forum. I found the lower half of a set of false teeth. Gave them back to the old gent I bought my airstream from. Said he had been looking high and low for them.He sure looked better with a complete grill.

[balrgn]

Originally Posted by jeep

Hi , great forum. I found the lower half of a set of false teeth. Gave them back to the old gent I bought my airstream from. Said he had been looking high and low for them.He sure looked better with a complete grill.

Wow, that, I would never expect to find!

[fotochop]

-a funky flip flop (see bottom of photo) hidden behind the panel that hides the hot water heater

[campernut64]

When we brought our '49 Spartan Mansion home we cleaned out the worst of the refuse from it's life as guest house/storage shed/ doll collection site. Cleaned out many carpet samples/scraps, assorted trash, mouse skeletons, etc. Pulled remnants of the tar paper "belly pan" off to assess the frame/etc and found tons of nut shells, mouse droppings and nests and a snake skin. Best find though was under the bed. found the 4 unused original baby moon hubcaps still wrapped up in paper and a NOS Warner electric brake controller still in the box.

[campngirl]

I opened the belly pan to repair a black tank/ dump valve leak. Something big fell on me. Something dried and mummified. A huge jack rabbit.

Karol

[balrgn]

Originally Posted by campngirl

I opened the belly pan to repair a black tank/ dump valve leak. Something big fell on me. Something dried and mummified. A huge jack rabbit.

Karol

I'll bet that got your attention!

[at_wanderer]

Campernut64,

My '49 Mansion had nearly all the same as yours with the exception of a doll collection and the hubcaps. Shoot mine didn't even come with the wheels or hitch. It did have the original furniture including the sofa(I hear it is Ethan Allen) and about twenty pairs of used men's Hanes.
There's no tellin' what I'll find as I get into the renovation.

[Dan Clayton]

Two mice skelatons. The mice got into the inner wall, tried to climb thru one of the wire holes which did not have a wire, and got stuck. Also removed five 35 gallon bags of rat bedding in the belly pan. Busy boys!

[balrgn]

Found a coffee can full of parts! Replacement door latches and window guides were the best find in it!

[Isadora]

A "wand" from a douche bag,wrapped in plastic (went in the trash) a half full windex bottle, a can of spray paint, one very ancient tax stamp, a green rock, could be green turquoise that I will polish and wire wrap as a souvenir, three coat hangers, one wire (which we have already cut up and used) and two plastic. Haven't had time yet to explore every corner thoroughly. Oh yes, and lots of live ladybugs which we are releasing as we find them. And one very rusty cookie sheet in the oven.

[centennialman]

I found original Airstream sales catalogs from 1966 and 1967, spare window parts, and some older coins.

I haven't taken the belly pan off yet....that will be this year. I will post what I find there then.

[yukionna]

Last weekend, we found a dead mouse. Yuck!

[eubank]

Ya know, this thread brings to mind a potential new thread: Not what we found, but what we'll plant in the rig for the next life of the Airstream.

I'm thinking maybe a keychain. Better still, how bout a stack of physical pictures of locations where we've been with the Airstream.


Lynn

[Motoman]

We found a wadded up bundle of paper, some of the original appliance maintenance/repair instructions and the original Airstream Lifetime Warranty, an old fork, a Saint Christopher's medal, antique metal clip type bookmark and a heavy china serving platter all behind and under the refrigerator of our 1959 parts donor. Still more places to explore!

[FordTruck]

While we haven't restored an AS, our previous unit had the kitchen in the back, curb side corner. AS had designed the cabinet with 1/2 lazy suzan style shelves that went all the way back into the corner.

One day, following an impressive emergency stop, we found our dishes and pots and pans had slid off the shelvs back into the hole. I removed the door and shelving unit, found our lost plates etc. and also found a nice stainless steel teapot that matched the AS perfectly. It had apparently been lost by the previous owner and he never bothered to look for it.

His loss is our gain.

[yukionna]

Originally Posted by FordTruck

One day, following an impressive emergency stop, we found our dishes and pots and pans had slid off the shelvs back into the hole. I removed the door and shelving unit, found our lost plates etc. and also found a nice stainless steel teapot that matched the AS perfectly. It had apparently been lost by the previous owner and he never bothered to look for it.
.

We have a couple of, what I call, "black holes" in our trailer. These are simply cabinets that don't have a sealed wall in the back of the cabinet. The only thing I ever found in the "black hole" of our bathroom cabinet was extra rolls of TP!

[TWaugh]

I found a letter written by the wife of the original owners to her family in Italy. It detailed their plans of picking up their new Airstream (69 Tradewind) in Florida and taking the kids out of school for a year to travel the US and Mexico. It must have fallen down between the wall and the end of the goucho and was lost. I still haven't given a serious try at finding the original family. That's another thing on my to do list.

[balrgn]

Wow, if no luck I'd frame it. That is just too cool!

[juel]

Found the original price list for 75 and 76, including options that were available. Found a letter to the new owner suggesting they join WBICC as a cost of $10.00. Found all the installation and operating manuals for all the appliances. Found hand written instructions taped on the inside of a cabinet telling everyone just what they could and couldn't do in the trailer. When installing the satillite hookup we found the missing center arm to the awning under one of the twin beds. Yea for that! Outside storage was just full of spare parts, including light bulbs. Found an entire set of beautiful stainless flatware still in the plastic wrappers in the box.

[63Airstream]

love beads...the little glass seed beads on a piece of worn out elastic (68 Safari) and I swear, a condom wrapper that fairly new. This little gal has seen some good times