'67 Tradewind-New to me -New to AS

[SilverTravelers]

Having been a guest to the forum over the past several months, my wife and I decided to take the plunge into the Airstream world, vintage at that. We recently purchased a '67 Tradewind International sure to contain many of the challenges addressed in previous forum threads. I'm eager to get started and will be looking to many of you for advise, support, and commiseration while adding my own twists. We look to use our Tradewind for the occasional guest quarters and camping outings of two or three times per year.
The exterior is in relatively good shape for the age. It has new brakes, shocks, tires, and awning. The interior, on the other hand, is probably a complete redo starting with the rear bath. Soft flooring and showing its age; many of you already know the drill.
We live in Austin, TX where the weather cooperates for the better part of the year; a must as I'll be working on the AS all outside. Aside from the weather, we love Austin, the music, traveling, socializing and things vintage.
I look forward to getting to know many of you and sharing our Airstream experiences.
Keep it out of the ditches.
Gene

[2333]

Welcome Gene.

Got any good pics of your interior to compare with us other tradewind owners?

[soldiermedic]

Welcome to the forums.

This makes quite a few 67 trailers lately. Curved glass Nice.

Where's BigEd52 to chime in on this!

Steve

[BIGED52]

I'm just a slow reader but let me add my welcome to another '67 owner too! You have to like the fact that the three years for curved glass windows makes them unique! The more the merrier as my mom always said! Gene you will need to post pictures as soon as you can. Keep us up to date on your progress. Happy Trails, Ed

[soldiermedic]

Shazam....that just happened!


Steve

[BIGED52]

Clock watcher!!!!!

[Stella]

1967 trailers rule!
I really wish I had gotten my act together to hold a 40th birthday party for Stella this past summer. Maybe this summer I'll hold a "over the hump" party for her. Good luck on your restoration, sounds like you're diving right in. Maybe you can even find some period-era ball fringe like I rock on the curtains. Or not. :-p

[SilverTravelers]

Thanks for the warm welcomes. I've posted some pictures, such as they are, in my photo gallery. As we were looking for a trailer, we realized a lot can be hidden in pictures. After looking at my pictures, I must have been either heavily medicated or giddy the day we bought ours, I can't remember which.
Gene

[BIGED52]

Gene, It looks like a diamond in the rough. I have been working on mine since I bought it in July of '04. It has yet to be on the road. Still I like to have it here in the driveway to look at and dream in. I am taking my time on the restore but the first thing you will want to do is remove all that Asbestos/Vinyl tile. The catches for your cabinet and closet doors can be purchased from InlandRV. Replacement window glass can be from InlandRV.com or VintageTrailerSupply.com. They are both great sources for vintage replacement parts. Then you can remove the homemade and modified latches from the exterior of your cabinets. Countertops are a matter of personal preference when it comes to color/style. As long as most all of your systems items work and the floors are made solid (rot repair), then you can get to camping sooner and work on it as time/money allow. Happy Trails, Ed

[soldiermedic]

Originally Posted by Stella

1967 trailers rule!
I really wish I had gotten my act together to hold a 40th birthday party for Stella this past summer. Maybe this summer I'll hold a "over the hump" party for her. Good luck on your restoration, sounds like you're diving right in. Maybe you can even find some period-era ball fringe like I rock on the curtains. Or not. :-p

Jo my goodness....hope you and everyone else inyour area is getting around with all the SNOW.

Nice pic.

Steve

[SilverTravelers]

BigEd52-thanks for the insights and vendor hits. Right now I'm in the market for some (8) of those Phillips Industires draw latches for the windows. I can't imagine what happened to the missing ones on this trailer. Maybe a PO needed some quick $$ cause I'm told they're no longer available. Spoke w/ InlandRV and Vintage Trailer Supply--no luck. They said try the salvage route although, VTS said later this year they might purchase the die machine to manufacture the draw latches. Don't know but I would think there is a demand?
Stella - lived in WYO (Laramie-county 5) 10 years myself. Kind of a love/hate thing. Miss it? yea-not-yea. Another subject for anothertime, maybe after the spring/summer thaw, but can certainly appreciate the snow picture.

Gene

[BIGED52]

Gene, Those window latches are very hard to come by. The clips that fit on the bottom of the glass can be purchased from VTS. Andy R. from InlandRV has some but they only really work if your glass has the metal trim mouldings that were more common on the '68 trailers. I bought a few from Andy before they became available from VTS and was not happy with the fit. Even after squeezing them together to get them to fit the glass tighter. The ones that currently are sold by VTS fit the glass I bought from them great. They also have them in a size that fits the old Corning glass. Have you tried to call any trailer salvage places for the latches? Cherokee in Colorado or Colaws in Missouri have lots of vintage parts and may be able to help you out. I found some on Ebay and won the auction only to get less than advertised quality, Rusted beyond hope, for $50.00 plus shipping for two of them. Lucky for me the old ones from my trailer had good parts that I was able to swap for the rusty/rotted parts from the Ebay experience. So I was able to restore two from four wrecks. If you do happen to get any be sure to let us all know where you found 'em as someone else may be in need or want a few for back-up parts. Hope this ramble helps. Happy Trails, Ed

[centennialman]

Hi Folks.........
I also purchased some of the window clips from Andy (Inland). What I did to make them fit was cut small pieces of rubber (from a pond liner) and glue them to the inside of the clips. I then squeezed the clips to close them a bit and slid them onto the windows. They have stayed just fine for a long time now.

Also, if you can find the window mechanisms, you can "rob" from the other windows and put one or two per each window until you can find more. At least you will be able to close the windows. I was lucky enough to find the missing ones in a small box under the gaucho. A PO had enough sense to save them.

For the existing mechanisms, blow them out with an air tool to get all the dirt out and then oil them well. You may need to take them off of the trailer to really clean and oil them well....but it's worth it.

Good luck!!! Oh yes.....and if you find more of them, let us all know. The mechanisms are very hard to come by.