Anyone in DFW, TX that has restored an airstream? Would like a second pr. of eyes.

[Robbo]

Hello,

My wife and I have finalized a move we are going to make at the beginning of August which is rapidly approaching. We are going to move into an airstream (providing I can find one) to live on a piece of land for a year to give us time to decide about our home build.

I've been looking at newer airstreams, but we've talked and both like the idea of a vintage unit. I've started doing some reading about it here on the forums, however, our timeframe is short and getting shorter haha.

Because of that I thought I would check to see if there is anyone in the DFW area that has some experience buying/restoring vintage trailers who might be agreeable to help us newbies check one out if I find something available, point us in the right direction if they know of one, or help in evaluating locally advertised options.

Ideally we'd like to find something that is currently liveable, but it doesn't necessarily have to be completely restored to perfection. I should note here that we will be "cheating" a bit, because though we will be "living" in the airstream, there will be a shop on the land we are moving to with a bathroom and kitchenette so the AS could/will likely function more like a "bedroom/living room" most of the time.

At any rate, if there is anyone in DFW who wouldn't mind a newbie bouncing questions off of them, my wife and I would really appreciate it!

Thanks,
Rob

[soldiermedic]

Several people in DFW area who have.

Most notable in my mind is Melody Ranch who is north of DFW.

Welcome to the AIRforums.

Steve

[DKB_SATX]

I think the standard question at this point is "Do you plan to travel with this trailer after the permanent house is built on the property, or sell it/trade it/ignore it?"

If you don't really plan to travel much and you're just looking at the trailer as a temporary cottage you may get a lot more space and amenities for your dollar with a lightly-used square trailer than an Airstream, or even a "park model" that's not intended to be moved around frequently. Airstreams aren't the best-insulated, and summer around here be tough if you don't have good shade where you're planning to park on your new property.

If you're just looking at the new-house project as an excuse to get an Airstream to travel in once the house is done, more power to you!

[mopariac]

Hey Rob,
My wife and I have been fulltiming since November and are currently in Weatherford, just West of DFW. I would be glad to help any way I can. Let me know what I can do to help.

Tharon and Connie

[Gringo]

Fizeyew...I'd stop by and talk to these guys about your thoughts and see what they might could suggest:

North Dallas RV

[utee94]

Originally Posted by DKB_SATX

I think the standard question at this point is "Do you plan to travel with this trailer after the permanent house is built on the property, or sell it/trade it/ignore it?"

If you don't really plan to travel much and you're just looking at the trailer as a temporary cottage you may get a lot more space and amenities for your dollar with a lightly-used square trailer than an Airstream, or even a "park model" that's not intended to be moved around frequently. Airstreams aren't the best-insulated, and summer around here be tough if you don't have good shade where you're planning to park on your new property.

If you're just looking at the new-house project as an excuse to get an Airstream to travel in once the house is done, more power to you!

Sage advice, I second this.

[ZoominC6]

Being from Texas I can assure you the heat in August will make you wish you had some shaded cover overhead! Not only for the heat but for the spring storms that bring LARGE hail. We always stored our trailer under cover when living in The Great State of Texas! Good luck.

[Robbo]

Thanks for the helpful info so far.

soldiermedic: Thanks for the tip. Will search for Melody Ranch's posts and learn

mopariac: Thanks for the offer! When we move, it will be to Abilene so we'll be passing back and forth through Weatherford a bunch haha. If I see anything around here, I may shoot you a PM.

Gringo: Thanks for the link! I've been searching for airstreams (including googling "Airstream & Dallas, TX" amongst many other iterations of said search), and have never come across those guys. I will give them a call.

Originally Posted by ZoominC6

Being from Texas I can assure you the heat in August will make you wish you had some shaded cover overhead! Not only for the heat but for the spring storms that bring LARGE hail. We always stored our trailer under cover when living in The Great State of Texas! Good luck.

Originally Posted by DKB_SATX

I think the standard question at this point is "Do you plan to travel with this trailer after the permanent house is built on the property, or sell it/trade it/ignore it?"

If you don't really plan to travel much and you're just looking at the trailer as a temporary cottage you may get a lot more space and amenities for your dollar with a lightly-used square trailer than an Airstream, or even a "park model" that's not intended to be moved around frequently. Airstreams aren't the best-insulated, and summer around here be tough if you don't have good shade where you're planning to park on your new property.

If you're just looking at the new-house project as an excuse to get an Airstream to travel in once the house is done, more power to you!

These are great points. For a little better explination: There is already a 40 x 40 metal shop on the land. I am planning to have a slab poured next to the building and a metal roof put over the slab. This is where we will park the airstream, giving us cover from the sun, rain/hail, and allowing us to use the rest of the covered area as a "patio" and give us covered access to the rest of the rooms (bathroom, storage, kitchenette).

As far as travel, we are undecided on that aspect. Neither of our vehicles are capable of towing very much so that would necessitate a change for one of us in that regard. I have family that we could borrow a suitable vehicle from for getting it to the land.

I guess I'll lay the whole enchilada out. The "to build later" line is just something we use with friends and family because they already think we're crazy for deciding to do what we want to do haha (one of those "city couple abandoning said life for acreage and a hobby farm" things). So that's what I wrote just because I'm used to using it when I talk to people to save the explaining that follows haha. I've actually had to acquiesce a few times with people who just wouldn't accept that we were planning to live full time... as soon as I said "well, that way we don't have to hurry with our build"... bam... their brain could accept it and they went from "But what are you going to do after?" to "Oh, that's great!"... because we were "doing what everyone does" gonna build... hahaha...

Maybe some here will likely be less apt to look at us like we are from Mars when given the real scoop....

Our plan is to stay in the airstream indefinitely, and in actuality we may likely buy another smaller one down the line to set up as a "guest house".

So if we decide we want to travel in an airstream, the most likely scenario I see happening is (only two of us and no pets), we would have the 16ft "guest house" one that we would travel in and so the ones we're looking at now (Twenty something ft.) would likely sit, hooked to elec/water, mostly or always, vs traveling.

I do realize we would get more bang for the buck out of a white box... but we hate those haha. My wife termed the phrase "BoreVee" for them as we passed dealership after dealership around here full of them. She wants an airstream.

Hope that all made sense.

Thanks again,
Rob

[DKB_SATX]

Rob:

That both makes sense and gives us more to work with. Since you've settled on Airstream and "living in" is likely much more important to you than "traveling in" for this first one, if you look to the used market you should start with the biggest trailers. On the used market, bigger Airstreams tend to command a smaller fraction of their original price than little ones, and to my knowledge Airstream hasn't made one big enough to have "too much space" for living in.

The Classics and Excellas have wall coverings that seem to help with insulating the interior from outside conditions, and since your building is 40x40, covered pad running the length of one side of the existing building would accomodate the biggest 34-footers with a little room left over. (If you have south or west exposure on part of it you might want to screen that side with an awning, louvers, fast-growing trees, etc.)

Keep in mind that bigger trailers sell slower, so the advantage you have in buying one becomes a relative disadvantage if you change your mind and want to sell it off. TANSTAAFL.

There are trade-offs to living in a trailer designed more for travel than for everyday living. If you are using the plumbing systems at all you have to take into account the different goals for which they're designed, it's not a "flush and forget it" system like a permanent house. I guess if you're never going to introduce solids into the black system you could just let it drain continuously, but if you do then you'd need to let it fill some and liquefy everything and dump periodically.

For your purposes you might be able to find a trailer that's somewhat lacking for travel use at a great price and make it "just right" for you. You needn't be too concerned about axles, working 2-way refrigerators, perhaps not even good HVAC systems, because you could go for cheaper options that would work fine for a stationary trailer like all-electric refrigerators and an external "package unit" HVAC system that's ducted into the trailer (this would have to be done carefully to keep it from looking too Beverly Hillbillies.)

So, there's a lot of rambling thought given your stated goals.

[Robbo]

Thanks for the good info. That kind of echos what I was thinking. The only change is I think we are going to look for a mid 26ish foot max because are going to set up part of the 40ft. slab. as a screened in porch (mosquitos are killer out there).

I guess I need to just do some more reading/searching to get a good price point reference for what we're looking at. I'm just feeling the crunch, realizing it's not too long at all until the first week of August haha.

I was looking at this one, though the patch of the "tear" at the back did catch my eye...

I should note we're not looking for anything that is super original or perfect as my wife will want to customize/paint things I'm sure. Kind of like looking for a numbers matching muscle car to pull out the engine and make it a hot rod.... so the wood peeling everywhere in in the inside on this first one is fine with me.

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Classic 1963 Overlander 26' rare door in door. Body in good condition for age. Brand new tires, brakes work good, pulls great, air ice COLD. Windows all original and open close with no issues. Inside is clean and ready to camp. Hot water heater is newer as is toilet. Twin beds are newer. Original lights all work. All original interior. Cabinet veneer is peeling in places mainly on doors. Brand new refrigerator. Electrical upgraded plugs w/ground. Floor is solid with no rot. Absolutely no leaks, no rust, solid frame. A&E awning repaired and working nice. Awesome vintage Airstream! $7500

airstream pictures by Robb-O - Photobucket
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Now, just to throw a different wrench into this mess I have going on... I think we have a house that may be available to rent for 3-4 months if we can't find an airstream, thus giving me more time to search/outfit something for living in. (I'm still feeling the crunch as I stated above, because I'm not not counting on the house until it's a for sure thing... kind of a not counting your eggs before they hatch kind of thing haha)

However, this did get me to thinking, with more time I could try to find one that is stripped of everything inside. (seen a couple of "restorations" that were abandoned online) as since it would be stationary and electric only, I could put whatever I wanted in there (while trying to not make any changes that couldn't be reverted somewhere down the line should we sell it or decide ourselves to restore it.)

I've noticed that "restorations" take months (and sometimes years), but we wouldn't be having to try and fit/attach everything the same for as one that would be used to travel, and if we go all 120, and I'm not messing with plumbing/gas systems that would reduce the amount of time it would take me to get it liveable.

One of my wife's "dream cars" has been a 48-53 Chevy truck. We are looking at a 1951 Chevy Truck this weekend for her to drive... it would be kind of neat in my mind to get a similar year airstream.... Here are a couple I just happened to stumble upon... though not in the DFW area:

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This is a very Rare 1957 Airstream Overlander 26ft trailer.. The body of this trailer is almost perfect.....NO hail damage ..No creases ...No dents ...awesome ...the inside is pretty complete but cabinets need resurfacing ..still has original stove and sinks.. Missing refrigerator and front couch ..Floor is still very solid .. awesome all around 50's trailer..hard to find 7 panel front.. $3995

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c128/Robb-O/1957.png

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Rare1953 Airstream 21ft - $4995

Flying Cloud...13panel endcaps, door in door, Very good body and interior...new heavy duty frame...will polish to a mirror finish (inside and outside)...needs to be finished...have most of the original parts...even tv antenna.

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...Picture9-1.png

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Haven't heard back from the last two so don't have any detailed pictures.

Sorry if it seems rambling... I'm really just thinking outloud so to speak so I'm expressing both sides that my brain is arguing. Both the feeling of being rushed, and the hope that we'll have time to search a little more and find an older unit and perhaps fix it up.

We know we want an airstream... we're not sure if we want to commit to limiting our choices it to the very earliest years... I figure if we're going to do THAT we need to commit fully to it as it will likely mean increased cost and perhaps more repairs as the trailers might be another 15 or so years older than an already old 68 model....

In my mind, it WOULD be really neat to have something close to the old truck my wife wants though... so I'm leaning that way...

At any rate, thanks for the advice given so far. I appreciate it a lot. Will also be contacting N. Dallas RV to see if they have any leads.

Cheers,
Rob

[DKB_SATX]

Here is an interesting trailer that would make a great basis for a stationary application, and it's fairly big. It's not close, but people have gone farther for less-nice trailers!

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f349...ml#post1008628

[Robbo]

Originally Posted by DKB_SATX

Here is an interesting trailer that would make a great basis for a stationary application, and it's fairly big. It's not close, but people have gone farther for less-nice trailers!

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f349...ml#post1008628

Yep! Showed that one to my wife earlier... and am now eagerly awaiting the responses it receives as to prospective price...

I wonder what it weighs in at stripped as it is...

Rob