1973 Sovereign

[jameswoodall]

We have aquired my wifes airstream that she and her grandparent used back in the 80's. They were memebers of WBCCI... she has many great memories in this old camper.... When her grandfather was killed by a DUI driver back in 1990, the camper was parked and pretty much neglected. Now we have it, and get to move it to the house and get started restoring it FRIDAY! So here is my question... where do I start first? The inside is in "ok" shape, not pristine... not the worst. The outside is the worst part of it... Axle is bent, some damage on the outside from tires blowing when someone took it out about 10 years ago, all the piping has to be redone. What have I gotten myself into?

[Alumaholic]

First of all the axles are supposed to be bent.
Plan on replacing them anyway, because they don't last 37 years.
Start by restoring watertight integrity of the skin and windows.
Assess how much water damage you have to the floor to determine if you must do a shell-off restoration.
We keep the water out first.
Then we fix the frame and flooring.
Then we fix the running gear.
Then and only then we do the interior.

[jameswoodall]

Originally Posted by Alumaholic

First of all the axles are supposed to be bent.
Plan on replacing them anyway, because they don't last 37 years.
Start by restoring watertight integrity of the skin and windows.
Assess how much water damage you have to the floor to determine if you must do a shell-off restoration.
We keep the water out first.
Then we fix the frame and flooring.
Then we fix the running gear.
Then and only then we do the interior.

Thanks! The axle isn't "curved" or anything, it's BENT (really bad). On the passenger side (curbside), it's touching the flooring. It looks like someone maybe hit something or ran over something they shouldn't have, we have a good idea that's why the tires kept blowing every 500 miles or so on it's last outing. We think the person that took it out last didn't really care about it and hit something. We also think they didn't drain all the water out of the pipes and winterize it properly, and thats why we have pipe issues. This is going to be a big headache, but well worth it in the end. We still have the old Jay-co pop up that I went camping in when I was a kid, now I just hope I can get this restored so we can bring back memories for my wife! (As long as it doesn't bankrupt us trying to do it) Thanks for the info! Will post pictures this weekend of the "before"