Hello from the coast of NC. I would like to start out with a HUGE
THANK YOU!
to all of you on this forum. I grew up camping in a 23 ft. Nomad with my family. Now I have a family of my own and a HUGE project on my hands.
I tend to ramble so I'll try to cut to the chase. My father is a regular at a campground with some permanent sites. One of those sites turned over and the guy who bought it got this 1969 25' tradewind along with it. Its a real fixer upper and he didn't want it, so Dad gets it from him for $300.00. Dad calls me up and says "Hey you still looking for a trailer to haul your tools in?" I say "yep" and he says I need you to drive up here and get it by Saturday,( this is tuesday) I say ok and go after it that weekend.
As soon as I saw it I knew I was going to have to keep looking for a tool trailer. (I'll post pix as soon as I figure it out.)I used to think Airstreamers were kooky and now I know why. I love this thing. Call me a Kook!
Here is the skinny on the Tradewind; at some point in the past 10 years it was gutted in order to do some floor repair. The floor was painted and I think that is it. It then became a storage shed for several years.
What I got is an empty shell, with air conditioning, the street side overhead cabinets and the wardrobe were still in place and that is it. Awning hardware is good, awning will have to be replaced soon.
All weather stripping is gone on all hatches, door and most windows and this has caused some obvious water damage to the floor.
I have a very wide range of mechanical experience and have built houses and movie/theatrical sets, so I am salivating over this like a JO-JO the idoit circus boy with a shiny new toy!
I have learned alot from reading your forum over the past week. Since I now have a shiny new piece of yard art (and a major trip planned at the end of june) I will be reading more and asking alot of guestions to be sure.
Thanks again, and if you are on the Outer Banks Of NC look me up.
Welcome to the forums and congrats on your find. I'd be hard pressed to pass up a $300 Airstream, regardless of the condition. Sounds like you've got a blank slate as far as your interior goes - good luck with your restoration!
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Mel
1960 Caravel "Boris"
1967 Safari "Sparky" My Photos
Congrats and welcome. I don't think I have seen another 69 tradewind on here, please post pictures! Let us know if we can help! Ours was mostly gutted as well, just the bathroom and a few pieces of the kitchen cabinet remained.
It towed great. It'll need new rubber on the wheels before I tow it again.I found a sizeable chunk missing out of one of the almost dryrotted tires. I drove the 120 miles home at about 40 miles an hour (yawn). I've taken a lot of before pix., and video, I just need to find the !@#$%^&* cable for my camera so I can upload them!
I found the cable and will be uploading some pix after I get the kiddo's off to bed tonite. I have a question. What does the Hull # on each Airstream represent? Mine is 17751. Is it a trackable #? the reason I ask is my best friend is a big trekkie and said it would be so much cooler if my hull was #1701 (as in NCC1701 [The Starship Enterprise]).
Ours still has mostly original interior--we ripped out some shag carpet from past owners and installed laminate flooring, plus had to replace the two front side windows when they shattered.
As you start to research you will learn that the 69's are a unique year for airstreams--they had one design for the 60's, changed in 69, then changed again in 1970.
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