Your opinion of painting '76 Argos. white

[goldenlily]

I am thinking of getting a prof paint/body job on my '76 20 ft. Argosy. Not because it badly needs one, just because I want it to (more likely) be admitted to rv parks that have that "10 yrs or newer" rule for their prospective guests rvs.(I've noticed some bend the rules for "vintage".) I would pull it with my white Toyota truck and I thought it would be nice if trailer matched the truck. The exterior/interior are original except for the carpeting. Would painting it white rather than the orig. cream be a mistake, decrease the value or make it less collectible???

[Alwhisman]

Naturally I like the matching scheme....

Al

[wkerfoot]

Originally Posted by goldenlily

I am thinking of getting a prof paint/body job on my '76 20 ft. Argosy. Not because it badly needs one, just because I want it to more likely to be admitted to rv parks that have that "10 yrs or newer" rule for their prospective guests.(I've noticed some bend the rules for "vintage". I would pull it my Toyota white truck and I thought it would be nice if trailer matched the truck. The exterior/interior are original except for the carpeting. Would painting it white rather than the orig. cream be a mistake, esthetically and from a collector's viewpoint???

Its your trailer, paint it any color you like. Matching the tow vehicle is very common in painted RVs. It is an Argosy, any future owner can repaint it to their desire.

Bill

[SmokelessJoe]

Goldenlily


It will look way cool.

Here’s my ’76, professionally painted to match my Pepper White and Black MINI Cooper and my all-black Mercedes SPRINTER.








Go for it. It’ll look really nice.


Sergei

[Apache_Camp]

Smokeless Joe; Your Argosy looks AWSOME!

By the way, our City (and I) use MAACO they have done excelent work for me. They just painted my Buick Roadmaster for $273.00 tax and all. (The special they are running this summer) Pictures are posted on my link.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, this is one of my favorites. Picture taken at Casini Ranch rally 2007.

Note: this is not my trailer, but I really like it.

[StingrayL82]

And besides, you don't own your Argosy because it's a "collectible"...you own it because you like it. I don't know of many people who collect travel trailers, with the exception of a few odd ducks on this forum (you know who you are!). A lot of people think that just because the trailer is vintage, that makes it a collectible item. It's not a classic car, it's a thing that people live in.

Paint it whatever color you want and enjoy it for years to come.

Neon green and purple would be cool, like the Gravedigger monster truck!

[mutcth]

Originally Posted by goldenlily

I am thinking of getting a prof paint/body job on my '76 20 ft. Argosy. Not because it badly needs one, just because I want it to (more likely) be admitted to rv parks that have that "10 yrs or newer" rule for their prospective guests rvs.(I've noticed some bend the rules for "vintage".)

I'm curious as to how much of a problem this is, assuming your Argosy is otherwise in decent shape. No one can really guess the age of our Minuet, which is on its second paint job (which is a good 10-footer). They're usually stunned when we say 1977 - hopefully they don't think it's older....

Tom

[nynick52]

See my recent posting. I have my 73 mostly stripped of paint and am starting the buffing process.

Your trailer should look the way that makes you happy!

Nick

[Isadora]

I say paint that baby any color you want! After all, it IS just paint, it can come off or be painted over! And it is your trailer, please yourself with the color! I still have not given up on the idea of painting a mural all over ours.

[Kevin245]

IMHO...The exterior is paint is just icing for the cake. Make it whatever color you desire. It can always be changed later.

Consider making a statement with your color selection and scheme.

Alwhisman's "MIB" rig and SmoklessJoe's WOB (white over black) schemes sure do look good.

And then there's airfoil's camo scheme...Anyone remember this? Not sure I would go this far...But to each his own.

BTW...airfoil was at the Fall Vintage Rally this past weekend and the camo is gone. They put a lot of effort into the Argy and the new paint looks very nice.

[slowmover]

White is the color of every SOB was my first thought. However, to match to the TV makes good sense. I'd go with the exact same paint as the TV in that case.

[CanoeStream]

Originally Posted by Kevin245

And then there's airfoil's camo scheme...Anyone remember this? Not sure I would go this far...But to each his own.

Yes, I remember that. Good thing these babies respond to serious restoration.

Light colored paint will be cooler than bare aluminum. I've heard that the Vintage Thunder Argosy is fairly hot inside. Airstreams have had white roofs for... what? 20 years? Sergei's project always has been awesome! boatdoc also wrote up a more affordable alternative to automotive spray jobs. See -

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f474...ble-36224.html
http://www.airforums.com/forums/f474...two-36284.html
http://www.airforums.com/forums/f474...ler-36209.html
http://www.airforums.com/forums/f474...ler-38135.html

There are many actual Airstreams spray painted an aluminum color. I've seen BigAl's which had a Jackson Center paint job. Even knowing the history, from more than 10' away you can't begin to see that it's painted. And you never have to polish or worry about clearcoat.

My '74 Argosy ended up never being anything but a hanger queen. I always looked longingly at the pearl color GM (Buick?) has used. Keep yer eyes roamin'.

[bhayden]

Mine came painted silver. I really like it and it usually draws compliments. White is a great color for reflecting heat as others have mentioned. It also has great visibility. Most important it matches your truck

Seriously though, white will go with anything so if you get a different tow vehicle or sell the trailer it won't look funny.

[Happycampers]

I did ours myself, I used DuPont Imron Wimbledon White. That was the original color but it is not a bright white it is like a cream white. Wimbledon white was Ford color used a lot in the 60s and now coming back is a lot of car company's including Ford.
I would paint my truck the same color if I wasn't so tired of doing this work after 34 years.

Marvin

[Apache_Camp]

Where can I find more pictures of "Vintage Thunder" and other painted Argosy's?

[CanoeStream]

Another discussion - http://www.airforums.com/forums/f349...ers-40135.html

Aluminum colored Argosy (posted by wheel interested) - http://www.airforums.com/forums/atta...8&d=1200816751

Vintage Thunder - Airstream Life's Photo Galleries at pbase.com

Argosy trailers had a variety of paint patterns. Know I've seen the lower half painted robins egg blue. And a variety of wide stripes - some seen in sales literature in Kevin Allen's gallery - http://www.airforums.com/photos/brow...c=3178&userid=

More dark colored cars and trucks are shipped to dealers in northern states. When I bought my '06 GMC Sierra the dealer had to do some work finding a lighter colored truck for me. I knew I'd want the comfort when traveling in southern states.

[CanoeStream]

Vintage Thunder was only one of several restorations seen at AIR that removed the rear plastic light bar on the trailer & replaced it with individual light units. My Argosy had backup lights but you wouldn't have to duplicate that. RV manufacturers haven't been putting backup lights on trailers for a long time now.

[Happycampers]

Here are some pics of our 1975 Argosy 26' I took the bar off the back and replaced the lights with ones out of a 77 Airstream. You can also look at Costalotta Start to Finish on the forum here that is the restoration of the 1979 Argosy 30ft. we have now.

[Apache_Camp]

Happycampers;
I like the look of the rear taillights....where can I find a set like that? Were they a direct bolt in? What color code did you use to pain the trailer?