1975 Limited..... Rare?

[4RXLA]

Here's my guess. It is an Excella 500 and perhaps the aluminum oxidized and had black spots which required painting sometime in the 80s. The owner may have decided to ditch the blue vinyl stripe and went with the limited wood grained stripe and insignia. The removed awnings have the pacific blue fancy fabric and if the trailer was built as a limited it would have had the brown awnings.

[J. Morgan]

That would explain a lot, and it does explain the differences in exterior trim vs. the Sovereign trim . If this is the case then the next mystery is where did the cast limited placards come from maybe an 80s Limited?

[4RXLA]

I think so. If the paint job was done long enough ago when the limiteds were still in production, the factory or authorized repair facility would have had the limited stripe and badging readily available while the Excella 500 badges were already out of production by 1980. There could also have been damage to an original aluminum panel that required replacement and to make it all match they painted it. It could also be a Sovereign and they just striped it with the limited badging when it was painted.

[J. Morgan]

It could be a Sovereign if the Excella trim was exclusively used in replacement of the Sovereign trim.

I have to say , if it was a Sovereign conversion, it was done well, well enough to look factory.

[J. Morgan]

No doubt the paint could be to hide bodywork, that is the first thing that came to my nmd when I got close enough to see it was painted, and this could be, but if so this was done pretty well also. There isn't a single rivet that has been disappeared under body filler.

[J. Morgan]

I tend to agree that it makes the most sense that the unit is factory rebadged, or at least rebadged by someone that wanted it to look factory.

[BradB]

What does the VIN say? It should help establish what trim level it was when it left the factory.

[J. Morgan]

I still haven't remembered to look at that VIN tag.... ;(

Anyway 4 days into my quick and dirty "reconditioning", my wife and I have the a/c operational, the Norcold refrigerator working on electric, all interior lights working again, mouse droppings out, and most of the new vinyl floor in.

Tomorrow I am going to try and get a good part of the fresh water plumbing PEX'ized.

I still have to evaluate all gas appliances, check out and repair the brakes, and to get the running lights working.

[J. Morgan]

Before

[BradB]

Looks great - you work fast! I never understand why people let things go like that.

[J. Morgan]

On the bright side if they wouldn't have let it go, I would have had to pay more for the trailer....

[SL4BLLT]

Wow, you cleaned that up pretty quick. Looks great. Your BIL is lucky to have you there to help him out. Was meant to be use for a good purpose.

[J. Morgan]

It works out pretty well, he will get a cheap place to live while he pays off his medical bills, and sometime down the road, whenever he might be done with it I get another Airstream to remodel.

The work was a challenge today, I didn't get as far along as I hoped today.

We will see what tomorrow brings, hopefully running, but not leaking water...

[J. Morgan]

New fresh water plumbing is in and working. Waste water systems seem good so far, water heater leaks as I expected, but hoped it wouldn't...

I mostly won on the systems, so I am pretty happy, so far so good.

[J. Morgan]

Fourteen days in, eleven workdays, almost done.

We hope to get it out the door on Monday, and on the way to New Mexico on Tuesday.

I still have to work on getting the antenna off the roof, getting all of the running lights working, and making the final connection on the trailer brakes at the wheels.

This has been a fun and quick half --- refurb. This quick and dirty refurb has been about a fifteen hundred dollar project, not bad when added to what I feel was a fair and reasonable purchase price.





I think this pose looks just about right for a 70s Airstream... . (Sans the iPhone anyway.....

[wahoonc]

Inquiring minds want to know... ever get a gander at the VIN to see what it spec level it calls out?

Looks like a good rehab to me!

Aaron

[J. Morgan]

Ok, the VIN is 131TSJ3025, it is a 75, no other info on the title.

[wahoonc]

Originally Posted by J. Morgan

Ok, the VIN is 131TSJ3025, it is a 75, no other info on the title.

International Trim Level, 31 foot, twin bed, 1975 model year, Jackson Center built... Same as mine. Doesn't answer the limited trim question.

Aaron

[J. Morgan]

Awesome!

Thanks for the decode, you made me smile!

After I have looked at it for a couple of weeks I am sure the paint on the trailer was done after manufacture, but it was done pretty well.

Thinking a couple of years up the road, I am contemplating a half polished, half painted two tone with a third color variation on the trim, of course this assumes that I don't have body filler in the top half of the trailer.