Crashed on a wall !!!!!!

[brunoffrance]

Hi there;

I was very happy today to fetch my old silver bullet, to prepar it for the season. it was stored in a boat house, with others "classic" caravans and some boats. No problem exept when I have decided to fix again my license plate... the rear left side was deformed , the bumper and the aluminium shape was inside the curbe !!!!!

The A/S has been certainly moved by the farmer, owner of this boat house, and, with his tractor, he has certainly moved it and made a rotation and the A/S has crashed in a wall...

What a deception, I've chosen this house for the security and now, I'm the owner of an crashed Airstream.

For the moment, no possibility to take pictures, my daughter has taken my camera for a week trip in New-york. I'll take them in this post asap.

So I have to made a declaration for the insurrances . It 'll be the first time they see an A/S so i have to tell them if it is repairable or not... A coachbuilder or a bodyworker can repair that or I have to change the embossed aluminium parts with another new ones ???? What way to give to the experts ???

Can you advice me ... but remember this Airstream is in FRANCE...

may be adresses where the work can be done...


Thank you .


Bruno.

[Rog0525]

One of the worst nightmares for an Airstream owner.
Sorry to hear of your misfortune, Bruno.
Perhaps if you take a number of photos and describe the damage as best you can, a reputable service center such as Inland RV could work with you on getting an estimate on the cost of repair.
You might then be able to negotiate with your insurance company and a local coachbuilder to get it fixed.
Best of luck to you.

[remcolent]

bruno
I think that the guy in germany from campingoldtimer.de has parted out a A/S
as he had some parts on ebay some time ago
maby worth a try
did you crash the head of the farmer in the same wall as he crashed your A/S in

Remco

[brunoffrance]

Hi remco;
No crash the head of the farmer... he was not there; Only his wife; Very courageous , this guy , I've phoned to tell him that I''ll take the A/S this afternoon and curiously , he was far ... I think this crash is not from these days, the caravan was stored there during last december;
The worst is I've told him , in person, that , if it was necessarry, I'll move the A/S in his park; I did'nt want he do it with his tractor; Just a phone call and i was there...
And today, here is the result. stupid guy !!!
Hello the problems to repair that.... GRRRRRRR

Bruno.

[Rog0525]

I know of a gentleman in France who buys Airstreams in the USA and has them shipped there for refurbishment and resale. He might be able to help in the assessment of the damage and location of a qualified repair facility.
Perhaps you know of him. His website is http://www.airstream-collector.com/.
I can PM you his name and email address if you want.

[brunoffrance]

hi Rog;
Thank you for adress in FRANCE, and I know a guy there ; If his name is M....r (german name), this is'nt a gentleman; This last one tried to sale me an Airstream and when i was OK, he increased very high, the price and it was not honest from him. It's by this way that I decided to buy my A/S directly in USA , go there and export it to FRANCE...
If your correspondant is'nt M....r, send me an pm to contact it.

Thank you , one more time and best regards from FRANCE.

Bruno;

[Rog0525]

Same guy, Bruno. I had correspondence with him last year when I had an AS for sale.
What I meant in my earlier post when I suggested getting an estimate from a USA facility that works with Airstreams on a regular basis is that estimate might be useful in determining what parts and how much labor will be needed, so you would have a better idea of what to tell your insurance company.

[tin can luv]

Bruno, I just wanted to send my support. I hope you are able to get this worked out. What a terrible thing to happen...

Best of luck

Ron

[brunoffrance]

Hi Ron & Tony;
Thank you for your support;
Sure , it's not a great day but I'll find a solution; i prefer this situation instead of the situation of an Airstream stolen, as we have red in another recent post.
So i'm very angry too to take care so much for this jewel and there is a stupid person that break your dream; May be an another part of the airstream experience ?

Bruno.

[brunoffrance]

Hi there;
No time to waste if I want to go on holidays with my Airstream, in a good look;
Is someone know , in EUROPE, a bodyworker able to repair the damages on the rear right end curve ?.
I think it's necessarry to move out the embossed panels and put new ones.
Only two panels to change, the segment 2 and 5...
In this way, I'll polish , in the same time the A/S.

Thank you

Bruno.

[Stefrobrts]

Hi, Bruno - sorry to hear of your troubles! My A/S has been through the same thing, it was backed into a parked truck. The previous owner did the repair, good as new, all by himself, but he is skilled at these things. He used new aluminum, olympic rivets, and lots of sealer and you can't even tell which panel got replaced. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know it's possible to get it back to as good as new. I hope you can find some help over there to get it fixed before your holidays!

[brunoffrance]

Hi Stephanie, thank you for your support too.
I 've contacted 2 Airstream body worker in Netherland and Germany and i'm waiting their price , for the insurrance, and to do the work. May be polishing in the same time....
So , always waiting my camara from New-york, I've , modestly, composed, on a old picture, the area where the body is crashed; No damage apparently, inside , in the cabinet.
Here is the picture:

Bruno.

[brunoffrance]

hi there, Here are finally the pictures of my poor silver bullet.
If you have advices, adresses in Europe to repair that or what you want to tell me to reassure me .

Thank you;

Best regares from FRANCE.

Bruno.

[BobbyW]

Bruno;

You are missing one more dent...the one were Bruno bashes the mans head into the side of his Airstream.

"Don't....bang....use a tractor....bang....to move my Airstream....BANG.BANG.....ever again....BANG.BANG.BANG.BANG!!!

[dmac]

If you cannot find an Airstream repair facility you might check at a nearby small aircraft airport. A sheetmetal aircraft mechanic will be very familiar with drilling out the rivits, replacing the skins, and installing new rivits. Ask at flying clubs, individual airplane owners, etc... you should be able to find a respected mechanic with sheetmetal skills and tools.

Good luck!

[brunoffrance]

Hi dmac;
Very good idea, I'haven't thought about that !!!

thank you for the advice.

Bruno;

[millionairstream]

And I'll supply you with a man I know who was just awarded e5000 for a dent in the same place that was half that size in Deutschland.

He said they first offered him e700 and he wrote his own estimate and they settled at e5000. I was impressed.

Best regards, Cliff.

[jaco]

Adding my condolences Bruno.

Looks like the tail light housing was nicked but is still usable.
The extruded beltline mouldings may be a tough find. Be sure the mechanic reserves those until a replacement is secured. Even though bent have him not just cut or remove them in a way to harm whats left of them.

On a bright side I think you should have free storage from the farmer for lifetime now.

jaco

[brunoffrance]

Hi there;

Thank you one more time for all advices you gave me; Not easy really to repair this old silver bullet... and not cheap !
Finally, I've decided to bring and repair it in Germany, at " Airstream.de" or Classic caravans at Duisburg. the advantage is he has worked on Airstreams ( 5 was on the site and a suberb MH )
I did'nt want to wait the expert verdict , not gotten at this day, and all I knew, it was that the caravan has to be repaired for the season. So The german guy told me he could do it quickly, so now , the Airstream is there and is waiting parts from Airstream USA. The last news are there are some problems in delivery parts because there was a fire in the factory...
I've decided too, to polish it to not see the difference with the old and new panels. He can do that , waiting parts from Airstream factory.
At this date, the clear coat is out and the polishing is made on one side.

Here are the news.

bruno.

[qqq]

Hi Bruno!

Did you get an estimate (devis) for the polishing ?
I'd like to get mine polished as nobody seems to want to buy it as is....

Ron