hi all sorry to say but i only paid $450.00 for my 1966 overlader that i bought in jan. of this year. there is not much wrong with it.
as far as cost of putting things into it i have only put $100.00 and about 8 hrs of labor.
my next step is to put a new furnice and air conditioner into it and clean up the outside skin . take a look on the members photo page if you whant to see my a/s
I will need to replace the water tank if I can't weld it up, and the awning needs reseaming. I also had to update the propane tanks.
I have a replacement water tank, $112, which I bought at the same time.
Trailer came with new batteries, converter/charger and Reese cam lock hitch. The upholstry is pristine and original airstream as I belive is the carpet. I suspect the drapes are also original but they show some spots and wear. Outside is very straight and pretty clean.
Boy does this thing have a LOT of green in it. It also has the yellow (oh well ) formica in the galley.
I clicked the poll at 10,000 - 15,000, but the purchase price was $3,500. After a complete interior "refreshing" - floors, appliances, upholstery, shades, curtains, countertops - plus some miscellaneous repairs we had added about 9,000 more. Then dishes, linens, supplies, toys, etc. and we are pushing 14,000.
No do-it-yourself here. It's a lot of money for a 28 year old Airstream, but it's good as new and exactly what we want!
__________________
Phil in Bellflower
WBCCI # 9238
Bought our 25 footer back in 1993 from a friend. Took two years and $4500 to get him to part with it. We are still friends!
So far have only had to replace univolt, freshwaters tank, brakes, curtains, LP switch over valve, and carpet. All work spread out over the years and done by myself. Not bad for ten years. Oh yes it does need tires. ( any suggestions)
A friend of mine bought the '73 Sovereign below for $1. He has affectionately named it "Buck". We used it for the "hospitality suite" at the RMC VAC Rally last summer...it's in great shape and came with the ZipDee awning!
From what I understand, he had his eye on it in a abandoned lot for a couple of years and kept asking the owner about buying it.
The "seller" finally realized he was never going "get around to cleaning it up & using it" so...he finally said he would sell it for $500. When he went to pick it up, the seller told him to just take it, because he obviously wanted it bad! So as a matter of principle (and I think for tax purposes) he paid one dollar and towed it off!
Choose an old adage:
1. The squeaky wheel gets the grease or
2. Being in the right place at the right time
I paid $3000.00 for Argosy Minute and I will probably put at least another 2 grand it to it I need a new awning and give it a new paint job this spring or summer.
Chris
I'm completely modernizing the interior. It didn't really need it, but I plan to attemp some full timing in a few years, and wanted to do it the way I want. No rush. I'll be replacing Univolt, Hot water heater, eventually the furnace (in Florida for now). I guesstimate I will have about $5-6,000 in to it all totalled when I am done. That sure beats $50 grand for a brand new one!
So for those that spent less than $5k, you did save a bundle compared to new, but how much money did you spent getting the way you wanted it? You should also put an hourly rate on time and factor that in as well.
I think this way is a great way to go, don't get me wrong, it's just that I have seen so many older units out there from the 60's and 70's that needed so much work, buy the time I got everying done that I wanted, I calculated I'd have spent about $10k to $15k(not including my labor) on top of the $5k cost of the older unit. That put the total cost near $20k-$25k factoring a dollar value for labor. That would mean to me that I could have bought a brand new International for another $5k or less depending on how good my negotiating skills were. I had a sales guy down to about $30,500 for a new International at a show.
I think there is something to the older units, but honestly, outside of loving a particular model, is it really that less expensive in the long run?
But now that I read it, you can see my point. Even if you cut in half your labor you are still into a fair chunk of change for a renovation.
The flip side is that if it's a hobby, there is no price tag you can place on a hobby if you can afford it. But even as sucked into a hobby as I get sometimes, reality still sinks in.
There are exceptions galore, so please don't think my thinking is "cookie cutter." I am sure there are many, many places this makes sense. But I think the love sometimes may cloud the better judgement on when to pass. Been guilty of that myself.
I understand your point about the cost of labor, but my time working on the Airstream is "a labor of love." As Mastercard would say, "Priceless!"
Still, for less than $6000, I am going to have an almost brand new, customized trailer done just the way I want it. Not from the factory with finishes and fabrics I really don't care for. No offense to anyone that has a new A/S. It's just not me, which is why I am going this route... aside from not having that kind of money.
My wife inherited our 59. It's in reasonable shape. I do have a floor repair to do and I fully expect to put at least $1200 in it in the next 60 day's. That will get it in travel shape, get the floor repaired and new tires, wheels and hopefully get the electrical right (just scored a 1000watt inverter for $100 ). Unfortunatly most of the LP gear is missing except the princess stove and the heater. Heater has a blower motor problem but I should be able to fix that relativly cheap.
That will get me campground ready but I know some of the camping we plan to do will be Boondocking so I have to get the rest of the LP stuff found. Smiley has a 2 way fridge I'm interested in but I don't have the time to go get it or a vehicle to drive out there that it would fit in right now so I have not made a comitment to buy with him.
We are still deciding what to do with the inside. Most of the original cabinets are there and other then some bumps and bangs not bad shape. They are servicable. We are missing enough parts or they are beat up enough that it would be very difficult to do a proper restore as I had first hoped. Stupid stuff like the walls painted with interrior house paint and smudges here and there on the trim from not taping them off and it's baby blue. Looks horrid. So I'm going to proably have to strip out the cabinets and then strip the walls back down to the metal to make it right. My overheads at the gally are aluminum housing and I have seriously thought about polishing it. I think polishing the whole interior would be too much but just those cabinets would be a neat contrast to the wood sliding doors in them. The vent for the Lp fridge is beat up as well and I have a race shop that I know the folks at that could easily make one out of aluminum. Then a nice formica on the counters with the aluminum banding would still look right with the old Princess stove. I have to redo the dinette as well.
There is one item in the whole camper that keeps stoping me from just pulling everthing out and tracing patterns and redoing it in a pickled oak is the life time warranty sticker on the inside of the wardrobe. It's still in near perfect shape and I hate to loose it.
I'm also missing the windows on either end. The front has a ugly window A/C hanging through it and the rear has a peice of lexan. I think I'll need the whole assemblies including the frame that is attached to the body. THose are going to be hard finds and proably cost me a good amount. The A/C stays till I can afford to put a roof unit on it. Those will proably be next years main projects. I understand I'm going to have to reinforce the roof to handle the weight of the A/C as well.
I'm still in the process of shoping and buying a proper tow rig also LOL.
__________________
1959 22' Caravanner
1988 R20 454 Suburban.
Atlanta, GA
Quick Links
Quick claim?
Linear Mode
