2008 Airstream Bambi- Wrecked

[mgm]

I'm new to the club. I'm 24 and a medic in the army and spent a few years in Iraq. I'm home now and this was the last thing on my wish list.

I live in Ohio and i found this on craigslist in Montana, in Februray. The army kept me busy all summer, so i couldnt make the drive out to Montana to pull her home and just broke down and had it put on a flatbed and brought out to me in ohio...

She needs some work, but i think in the long run i will still be on the low end, especially since its a 2008.

She rolled on the passenger side during her delivery to the dealership. So i'm the first owner and the interior is all intact. All she needs is new skin, so i took it back to the factory, took the tour and the guys there are working me up a quote....i m still waiting. SO i hope its under $12k and in the mean time, i'm planning some trips and soaking up all the airstream stuff

[Stefrobrts]

Welcome to the forums, and thank you for your service to the country. If anyone deserves to be out travelling in their Bambi, it's you!

Do you have any pictures to share? I wonder how they managed to roll it over?

[lacosta31]

Hi - Welcome home. My family and I will add our thanks for your service. We repaired our Bambi when we got it also. I did my homework and was satisfied that it was only some lower panel skin damage and that nothing structural was in play. The repairs on ours were very reasonable (done by a well respected dealer here in the area) and we are in our AS for a very reasonable price. All the other systems were perfect. You can't do better than the factory....hope they give you the Vets. discount.

[wagnerda]

Hi there,

First off welcome back from the "sandbox"...

You will love your Bambi and I also agree you couldn't do better than the shop back at Jackson Center. Great quality and decent price. They have replaced a total of three panels on my '06 Bambi due to a tree coming down and the work there is top notch and I can't tell which ones they replaced...

While there you might also ask them about the "full awning package" which adds about a 4 foot awning across the back over the window and about an 8 foot wide, and narrow (only extends about 2 1/2 feet) one on the roadside. That has turned out to be one of the best things we added to our Bambi.

Best of luck to you,

regards Dave

[3streams]

Originally Posted by mgm

I'm new to the club. I'm 24 and a medic in the army and spent a few years in Iraq. I'm home now and this was the last thing on my wish list.

I live in Ohio and i found this on craigslist in Montana, in Februray. The army kept me busy all summer, so i couldnt make the drive out to Montana to pull her home and just broke down and had it put on a flatbed and brought out to me in ohio...

She needs some work, but i think in the long run i will still be on the low end, especially since its a 2008.

She rolled on the passenger side during her delivery to the dealership. So i'm the first owner and the interior is all intact. All she needs is new skin, so i took it back to the factory, took the tour and the guys there are working me up a quote....i m still waiting. SO i hope its under $12k and in the mean time, i'm planning some trips and soaking up all the airstream stuff

If the damage is truly only skin deep it sounds like an option- but be cautioned, I have never known an Airstream to "roll over" and not have some sort of structural damage and therefore you would be getting a "can of worms" so to speak instead of your dream trailer.

[Mikethefixit]

First Welcome Fellow Ohioan
Welcome to Airforums.
Thank you for your service. We are pleased that you are home safe. Believe me the wife and I know how it is,we had a son-in-law and daughter in the army.
Im sure the guys up there at JC with do ya a good job of fixin her up. Hope to see you at one of our OHIO Streamer Rallys next yr.
Good Luck

[mwells4654]

Welcome Home - From A Fellow Vet - I hope everything works out for the best. You never know - especially with a rollover.

[Minnie's Mate]

Welcome home and, again, thank you for your service to our country. There are too many out there that don't acknowledge the sacrifice you have made and your willingness to sacrifice all.

It would be great if you could post before and after shots when the work is done. I had my 30' Safari repaired at the factory (had two accidents within two weeks of pickup and had two panels replaced. They are good, but you do pay for the quality work you get there.

Hope all turns out as well as mine did.

Good luck and thanks again.

[mgm]

I know its rough, but i could have never afforded a 2008 and this one was never owned, so i'm taking a chance and hoping i have no regrets....so far so good.

The Interior is all in tact and the oven, frig, and shower still have all the original tags and stickers on them from the factory. I paid $5k for it and am waiting ever patiently for my quote from the factory. They said they had seen worse and that they would do everything they could to cut the repair costs and work with me, so i'm like a little kid waiting to hear back from them

My Colorado, pulled her just fine. I added some helper springs and the 5cylinder ran pretty great. I have some boats, but the trailer tips the scale as my heaviest toy. But i think they will make a good pair.

[Rog0525]

Did you get a clean title? If you have anything other than a clean title (such as Salvage), you will be looking at more expense to have the title upgraded to Rebuilt. If you haven’t already done so, you should check with the Ohio DMV to see if there are any title issues on your VIN number.

[Mike Leary]

I'd leave it the way it is; think of all the tall tales you could invent while sitting around the campfires.

[mgm]

The title will be a salvaged title, the inspection and rebuilt title will run me about $100, so i'm not concerned about that too much. I don't care about resale value, i m planning on owning her for a while.

I considered leaving it as is, and pending my quote, i may leave her with some dents and just fix the nessecities. I'm just gonna play it be ear for now. I have been into old boats for a while- Lone Stars to be exact and i really enjoy that online club, so i'm excited to have another place to pass some hours online from time to time

[Rog0525]

Originally Posted by mgm

The title will be a salvaged title, the inspection and rebuilt title will run me about $100, so i'm not concerned about that too much. I don't care about resale value, i m planning on owning her for a while.

I mentioned this because I wouldn’t want you to have to fight another battle, this one with the DMV. The repairs on the trailer will have to be sufficient enough to pass the DMV inspection and those inspectors can be pretty demanding.
I hope it all goes well for you.

[Mike Leary]

You'd hope if the work was done at JC, DMV would say, "happy trails".

[2airishuman]

hi mgm and welcome to the the world of 'streaming...

i see >10k $$ in skin work IF no hidden structural issues are found AND olympic rivets are used for the facelift...

still 5k is a good purchase price, maybe and a small ticket price to TRY streaming.

reads like you are realistic about your expectations and flexible to ways of using this baby...

good attitude !
________

i was hoping you'd post pics, we LOVE seeing things brokked, then fixed.

it's not obvious IF there is w/d AND sway control in your rigging, both are a good idea...

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f464...rol-17986.html

the above thread is ANOTHER brand new unit busted up on the first trip and REPAIRED at the mothership, then resold.

best of luck and welcome home!

cheers
2air'

another thought...

j/c does DISCOUNTS for parts AND service during the winter months (staring mid? december)

i think this is ~20% OFF.

hopefully the service folks shared this tidbit with YOU...

[Foiled Again]

Hi, I was born in Ravenna, left before YOU were born. Too darned cold in winter!

Trust the folks at the factory and if you have the time, hang out while they are doing the repairs. You can learn a lot about maintaining your systems by watching and asking a very few questions, and they're pretty good about letting you hang out in the back (doesn't hurt to bring lunch for the crew fixing your unit!)

I propose that you name your unit "Bam-Bam" - not referencing the Flintstones, but what happened to it on delivery.

F. A.

[3Ms75Argosy]

I say just fix the curbside... I kinda like the rought and ready look of the streetside.. you won't have to worry about when you put your first scratch in it...
Camp and enjoy!
Welcome to the forums... and thanks for your service!
Marc

[Stefrobrts]

You can't hardly beat the starting price! I think I would have grabbed it and gone camping That would make for some great stories, but we might also hear some stories about you getting turned away from campgrounds in that condition I'm curious to hear what the Mothership tells you.

[airbassador]

That may be a project you have to do yourself to stay under budget. From the pics, it looks like a couple of the interior ribs might have been flattened.

Your choice is to just put a new skin over it to get rid of the scrapes and dents, and have the flat area, or pull the skin off, pull the interior stuff away from that section, then cut out and rivet/weld in some ribs before putting the new skin on.

At worst, you've easily got $5000 worth of parts you can sell if you want to bail out now.

[mgm]

I wont abandon ship lol. She is mine, and i will bare with the expense of the repairs. I figured the factory was my best bet, so i will see what they work up for me. Its there currently. I have some leave and would love to go down and watch or help, if they will let me....

ps. I already asked. lol

So i'm waiting on my quote. At first glance they said they could salvage at least 3 or 4 panels and the rest they would just put on new. The Ribs are damaged towards the front. I already removed the interior roof panel b4 i delivered it, so i could assess the damage.

Its not too bad, and in the newer models the ribs go together in sections.

I would like to fix it all the way to new, but we'll see what the quote comes in at. I m on a Bachelors budget and have been lucky to save some money during my time away, so i can feed some cash into her. In the end, i guess i would like to spend under $13000 in repairs, as that puts me at $18 and still well under what people are trying to sell 2008s for....less then half. Being that this one is an SE.

So cross your fingers, the winter discount started in Nov, so that should help as well. I have teased the guys at the factory that i will just start sending my pay checks to them. So thats my plan

I'm just pumped to get it on the road, this is my last toy. I have an 1976 Stingray and a 1969 Camaro and a handful of 1960's boats, so the trailer makes me feel complete.

No lady friends in my life and there wasnt much to spend money on during my 28 months in Iraq, so now its my turn to enjoy life....Money well spent lol

My dad likes to call it a tuna can currently, but i have told him that he better start being nice to Bambi...but i kind of like the ring of Bam Bam haha

Thanks for all the kind words guys. Any tips on what i should do if my quote is super high. Any other reputable commercial repair guys out ther?