What did I just buy?

[silver.villa]

She’s beautiful!

[wizardglass]

If your really looking to "tour the U.S.":
You may consider selling it as is if it looks like too much of a project (framework would be my biggest concern). Mid to late 80's trailers are great bang for the buck, often made quite nice with cosmetic interior changes (like ugly carpet and wall paper) for the simpler do-it-yourselfer. Brakes, wheel bearings, and tires should be there focus first and foremost on ANY used trailer.
We parked ours when first purchased (1970 Trade Winds) at our place in northern Michigan and used it as a cabin, fixing things on the weekends as needed and time permitted, and still being able to make a few short camping trips. Finally after 5 years I started the whole polishing thing. It's an ongoing project, but we've enjoyed using it from day one.

[AlbertF]

Originally Posted by tttaross

I've marveled at Airstream for over 10 years... Now we finally bought an old one in terrible shape with dreams of restoring to travel the US with our kiddos but before we can get started we need help figuring out what exactly we have! Any help would be appreciated!

Are there dents in the front end cap? Otherwise, the skin looks really good - a real plus. Also, the axles may still be fine, as the trailer is still sitting at a normal height.

Centre bath 31’, mid-‘70s.

Having renovated a flooded house, you are probably uniquely qualified to take this project on! I wish you great success and lasting satisfaction.

[captainkirk]

I wrote out a whole "advise on what your in for post" then deleted it and will just say........

If your not an expert when you buy and old Airstream...you will be when you sell it.

Good luck on your adventure and hope to see you on the road one day and hear all the great big stories your going to have to tell.

(we are in the Silver 1976 Argosy 28)

Kirk and Mary Ann

[63air]

Old trailers , cars, boats, planes , people restore them for the joy of doing it . It gives you a chance to learn new skills ,meet lots of great people along the way ,plus have something to enjoy and be proud of when you are done. Most don't do it to save or make money ,that usually does not work out. If you can put a hurricane ravaged house back together you can handle just about anything . Good luck have fun.

[barryz]

I did the same thing about 5 years ago and bought 27' '74 Overlander off craigslist sight unseen for around $8k and had never even touched an airstream before. Needless to say it wound up needing EVERYTHING, plumbing, rotten floor repairs, roof vents, water heater, furnace, flooring, upholstery, tires, curtains, refer, a few hundred rivets and a mile or 2 of vulkem.... my first mistake was assuming that I needed an airstream dealer to do the work that i wasn't comfortable tackling like the rotten floor repair, plumbing, 2 window replacements, and diagnosing some leaks and that wound up being $17k....(total hose job!) Most RV shops can do work on airstreams. From there i took on everything else myself as i consider myself a pretty handy person that's done a lot of house remodeling and you realize pretty quickly there's not much to these, but they're a ton of work and as rewarding as it does feel to bring one back from the dead, you'll wind up spending more time working on it than camping with the kids. Right now i'm probably into it for $35k and by looking at the pics of yours, I was way ahead of where you'll be starting. And depending on how much pain and suffering you go through on the renovation, you may not even enjoy camping in it as much since you'll be so hyper-focused on everything that it still needs or what it cost to get there, at least that's the case for me! So now that i know what it ends up costing, i decided i'm going to cut my losses and sell my '74 since i went ahead and spent $30k '06 Safari that needs minimal work and i can camp tomorrow! I don't want to discourage you, and maybe you're all over doing this remodel, but i wish I'd have known that i'd have been into this one for the same cost as a newer one that allowed me to camp more than repair more! good luck however you go, and if you're like me you'll probably go for it anyway, so if you do there's a lot of good advice on this forum and don't do like i did and use a cheapo rivet gun for the first few years, get a good one now!!

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by barryz

. . .
. . . Right now i'm probably into it for $35k . . .
. . .
. . . i decided i'm going to cut my losses and sell my '74 since i went ahead and spent $30k '06 Safari that needs minimal work and i can camp tomorrow!
. . .

Welcome to the forum, and thanks for the reality check!

Happy trails,

Peter

[travelfables]

I would say that I don't have more than 3 grand in my restoration of my 64 Safari. I did reuse the fridge, the fresh water tank, the furnace, the sink, the water heater, the AC, the converter and the weight distribution system, from an old de-laminating SOB that I had. Even if I added all those things to an Amazon cart brand new, and put a new axel on it (mine still had some life in it), I'd still not be anywhere near the huge sums people are reporting here. It did take me over two years to get it done, and I'm often upgrading something when I'm in camping-down-time at my North Georgia shack. I guess people have very different approaches to renovations. My goal was for a functional camper for full-timing. I didn't have to have the fanciest stuff.

[nickclifford]

Originally Posted by barryz

I did the same thing about 5 years ago and bought 27' '74 Overlander off craigslist sight unseen for around $8k and had never even touched an airstream before. Needless to say it wound up needing EVERYTHING, plumbing, rotten floor repairs, roof vents, water heater, furnace, flooring, upholstery, tires, curtains, refer, a few hundred rivets and a mile or 2 of vulkem.... my first mistake was assuming that I needed an airstream dealer to do the work that i wasn't comfortable tackling like the rotten floor repair, plumbing, 2 window replacements, and diagnosing some leaks and that wound up being $17k....(total hose job!) Most RV shops can do work on airstreams. From there i took on everything else myself as i consider myself a pretty handy person that's done a lot of house remodeling and you realize pretty quickly there's not much to these, but they're a ton of work and as rewarding as it does feel to bring one back from the dead, you'll wind up spending more time working on it than camping with the kids. Right now i'm probably into it for $35k and by looking at the pics of yours, I was way ahead of where you'll be starting. And depending on how much pain and suffering you go through on the renovation, you may not even enjoy camping in it as much since you'll be so hyper-focused on everything that it still needs or what it cost to get there, at least that's the case for me! So now that i know what it ends up costing, i decided i'm going to cut my losses and sell my '74 since i went ahead and spent $30k '06 Safari that needs minimal work and i can camp tomorrow! I don't want to discourage you, and maybe you're all over doing this remodel, but i wish I'd have known that i'd have been into this one for the same cost as a newer one that allowed me to camp more than repair more! good luck however you go, and if you're like me you'll probably go for it anyway, so if you do there's a lot of good advice on this forum and don't do like i did and use a cheapo rivet gun for the first few years, get a good one now!!

I can see how easily that happens myself, got into my '72 as a newbie, hadn't even found Airforums and wasted money with a local RV repair shop, bloody heck, they are expensive ... so much info is available for free here & on youtube ... ! but either way, if you want a comfortable "2nd home" , nothing is cheap ... new couch / beds / water heater / probably fridge / axles / flooring / furnace heater maybe? .... mine cost $6k , i must be a least 22K into it by now ... but it's so BEAUTIFUL & very retro 70's which some love ...