Hi ya'll. I've aquired a bad condition 60 tradewind. outer skin is good with no dents, underbelly is ripped up, rats have been living in it and its been raining in through the skylight. it's been sitting abandoned for 15-20 years in the country side outside of Austin TX, I'm trying to rescue it.
Its a good looking trailer though. Here's a picture
Congratulations on acquiring your Airstream! You have come to the place with the answers.
You have lots of work ahead of you....take your time, be patient, take lots of pictures and ask lots of questions here......This is a very friendly and knowledgeable forum of folks!!
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Steve "Centennial Man"
1966 Airstream Safari - Her name is "Aunt Bee"
WooHoo! Another project...can't wait to follow your progress. It's always fun to see these abandoned basketcases back on the road. It's a great sense of pride when you do ~
Shari
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Vintage Airstream Club - Past President 2007/2008
WBCCI #1824 - DenCO Unit Past President (2005)
AIR #30 - Join Date: 2-25-2002
Hi ya'll. I've aquired a bad condition 60 tradewind. outer skin is good with no dents, underbelly is ripped up, rats have been living in it and its been raining in through the skylight. it's been sitting abandoned for 15-20 years in the country side outside of Austin TX, I'm trying to rescue it.
Its a good looking trailer though. Here's a picture
Hi Peter, congratulations on the new Airstream! I actually called the previous owner on that one as soon as I saw it on Craigslist, but they told me that they already had someone lined up to look at it-- must have been you!
Anyway, good luck on the restoration, those early 60s Overlanders and Tradewinds are my favorites, and the body on that one looks great. Please be sure to post more pictures of the before and after of your project.
Be sure to listen to the VAP--the Vintage Airstream Podcast. It's like Cartalk (ala NPR) for Airstreams. Just Google "vintage airstream podcast" and you can listen online with or without an Ipod.
The two best restoration shops I know of are in Plattsburgh, NY and Orange, CA. Neither is too close to you! Both are worth the drive, if that thing's driveable. I think there's a good one in Denver too . . .
; )
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Jim Breitinger
Phoenix, Arizona
Fulltimer from April 2007 through June 2008. What a great time, I highly recommend it. My dog and I hit 32 states and D.C.
Hubby completely did a frame off of our 1963 Bambi, doing the same now to a 1955 Flying Cloud. The Bambi is done and you may find his thread has some interesting how to do it stuff... the FC is apart.... Good luck. With a lot of elbow grease, $$, and lots of questions answered here on the forums you will have an awesome trailer! Here are links to his threads FYI:
Congratulations and welcome! I only wish I has the time and resources (mostly the resources) to take on a project like this. Good luck with the project and post pictures!
...take your time, be patient, take lots of pictures...
Quote:
Originally Posted by CaddyGrn
When you take things apart, take loads of digital photos as you disassemble... really, really helps when you get to the reassemble stage.
Really. Take more pictures than you think you will ever need...from all angles and directions - every little part. Before you take it apart and at several points during the process. Also, label every item that comes out of the trailer - even if you don't think it's going back in. Pictures & labels - they seem like a waste of time up front...but seriously they aren't! They save loads of time & trial and error (rivet, drill out, re-rivet!) on the back end of the project. Even if you "know you'll remember" where something goes when it's time to put it back together - projects usually take longer than you think they will and you will forget. During a major restoration, you only have one chance to photograph how things "were"...once you take it apart, without good documentation - you're on your own!
I can't tell you how many times (both trailers) we have taken tons of pictures only to discover months later we didn't take "the one shot we needed"...or the part we want to see is just beyond camera frame...aaaaargh!!! It's not insurmountable w/o pics...it just is more difficult and so easy to avoid with pictures & documentation.
We're doing better this second time around...but, still.
Shari
__________________
Vintage Airstream Club - Past President 2007/2008
WBCCI #1824 - DenCO Unit Past President (2005)
AIR #30 - Join Date: 2-25-2002
You could start by listing it here on this forum's classified ads-- it's free and this site gets a huge amount of traffic from people who are specifically intersted in Airstreams. The more pictures of both interior and exterior, and the more detailed your description, the better chance you will have of selling it and getting a good market value.
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