Hi y'all from Lower Alabama! Or, as we call it around here, "L.A."
I'm new here, and the wife will likely be along shortly. We're new Airstream owners, living in Deep South Alabama, near the Florida border.
We've lusted after Airstreams for ages and have recently acquired one of our own. We camped in a Jayco 10B popup prior to this, and really wanted something that was more than a tent on wheels, had brakes, enough room to move around without turning a seat into a bed or a table just to have coffee, and enough storage that we didn't have to load everything we take into the tow vehicle. It still had to be a bumper pull, and even better if it was below 8,000 lbs and had some character.
An Airstream fit those and then some, but we assumed an Airstream was financially out of our reach. We started looking at older Airstreams and quickly found that they were either $40,000+ and restored or they were a disaster that would cost that much to bring them back to life. Some we thought about buying just for the scrap value of Aluminum... few were in between.
However, my wife is relentless and found a
1963 Ambassador for an excellent price and in pretty good shape. The outside has one small dent in the top, but otherwise in great shape. The previous owner had just recently repacked the bearings and put new tires on it, but couldn't guarantee any condition on the brakes or lights, as someone had cut the 7-pin connector off some time back. The interior wasn't in terrible shape, but it could use a bit of TLC.
The only problem- it was in Omaha Nebraska and we're a little more than 1,100 miles away.
The good news is that I'm crazy. I also travel a lot for work and kind of like seeing new states, plus I don't mind windshield time as much as a lot of people. So I loaded up my truck with tools and headed out Friday morning at 2:00 AM, driving straight to Nebraska.
I met the owner Saturday morning, gave it a quick once-over to make sure it stood a good chance of making the 1,100+ mile trip back to Alabama without a disaster, and exchanged a wad of cash for a title and a tin can. I wired up a new 7-pin, replaced some light bulbs, checked bearings and brakes, then brought her home to the excited wife.
I put in ~2,250 miles in just over 48 hours, burned A LOT of fuel, consumed a lot of caffeine, and made a solo trip deep into the Midwest to bring home a rolling tuna can. I'm a bit tired and sore today, but the smile on the wife's face when I pulled into the yard was worth it.
She pulled beautifully, although I did lose one window on the interstate somewhere in Illinois. It was a plexiglass replacement that didn't really fit too well. Despite my best efforts and taping it into the frame, I looked in my mirror in time to see it flap about twice and then fly off- thankfully it made it to the median and didn't hit any vehicles behind me.
Anyhow- we're planning to gut the interior, replace sub floor, repair and replace electrical/plumbing/gas lines as necessary, and shine her up like a Christmas ornament. I have an A&P license and previously worked restoration for a museum of aviation, so a travel trailer built like an airplane seems like a logical project to take on. I'm also experienced in electrical and plumbing work, as well as rebuilding trailers (I built a good car hauler out of an abandoned utility trailer a few years ago). I also build wood furniture as a hobby, so the interior should be a fun place to create.
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