Airstreams and 1960s Corvettes

[Ray Eklund]

I am a Newbie Airstream trailer owner, so I do not have decades of maintenance experience to help other Newbies' like myself on repairs. But, after two years and 20,000 miles in our 2006 Airstream, there is so much the 1960's Corvettes and Airstreams have in common.

When you leave town, bring a tool box.

The Corvette is one solid fiber glass body and the Airstream is one solid aluminum riveted body.

Two passengers and the Corvette is over weight. Two passengers and the Marathon tires are over weight limits when you want warranty replacement.

The Corvette and Airstream are both classic American icons.

You will quickly need to know how to repair both shortly after ownership.

You need a carrying bag for repair manuals for both.

One can be fuel injected. The other has a tow vehicle that had better be...

You will know both: inside, outside, on top and underneath like the back of your hand and wrench sizes by memory.

The 1960's Corvette you restore when you have time. The Airstream you restore as you travel and OJT.

I love them both. I could not afford to keep the Corvettes and I am getting to that point with my Airstream. Maybe I need to buy a new boat to work on in the future. My wife's father says boats are also something else I can throw money into... I was thinking he meant as an investment, but I am not sure about that now. He did sell his boat.

The intent is to humor those who actually work on these moving mechanical investments. I feel that if Toyota trucks were built like travel trailers, the death toll on the roads would be outrageous and something would be done to fix the manufacturing process of trailers. I look to the day where I can pull over to a camp site and not have to fix something, no matter how small or large the project. The constant need for repair work on my new trailer surprised me. The added accessories all worked fine from day one. It is the portion of the work done by Airstream that needs the constant attention, repair or replacement. I have my hopes that Airstream will improve their quality control. At the Denver RV Show we looked over all of the travel trailers for quality and workmanship. Airstream was by far the BEST. That is what scares me...

[Goin camping]

You have me laughing my rump off.

[Road Ruler]

LOL, just wait til your bullet becomes 35 years old then you will know what the term...." now I gotta fix the - - again!" really means.

PS..... My 1969 427 Corvette Coupe is long gone too but the Airstream will be here to stay for quite some time.

[overlander63]

Ray, be glad the Airstream is not manufactured in a British Leyland factory.
Englishmen drink because they own British auto-imobiles.
The Airstream, like the 'vette, are portable holes in your driveway that you pour money into.

[FreshAir]

Originally Posted by Goin camping

You have me laughing my rump off.

Huh? What part of your AS is that. Please tell me so I can fix mine even if it isn't broke..........oh, I better check. Maybe it is.

[safari57]

The nice thing about having an Airstream is that if it breaks while you are on the road you can live it in while you fix it. That's tougher to do in the Corvette although there was a time or two where after a long and tiring drive to get somewhere we pulled into rest stops for a snooze. I can't remember ever having to fix my Corvettes on the highway - of course I've always had AAA and they got it to the next garage.

What I've enjoyed about my Flying Cloud is that, after the initial restoration, I have not had to do anything at all on it on our trips. Nada. What I thoroughly enjoy about my Flying Cloud, though, is the fact that our friends with their SOB's have for the most part had to do repairs of some sort to theirs in the campgrounds and I've taken pictures to remind them.

As for the reliability of the sixties Corvettes - don't say anything around my wife about that - she's forgotten (I hope) that part of the equation as I am in the very early stages of the hunt for another. Of COURSE it's for HER . We are at the "oh look, isn't that a nice one" stage right now and will move into the "it would be fun to get another one" stage in the coming weeks, then onto the "do you prefer the '63 in red or the '67 in black" stage and finally into the "honey, look what popped up in the shop today while you were out" stage . The duration of the stages all of course depends on her remembering only the good stuff about the prior ones as well as my ability to deflect any negativity when it comes up. That may be a problem .
Barry

[FreshAir]

Originally Posted by safari57

The nice thing about having an Airstream is that if it breaks while you are on the road you can live it in while you fix it. That's tougher to do in the Corvette although there was a time or two where after a long and tiring drive to get somewhere we pulled into rest stops for a snooze. I can't remember ever having to fix my Corvettes on the highway - of course I've always had AAA and they got it to the next garage.

What I've enjoyed about my Flying Cloud is that, after the initial restoration, I have not had to do anything at all on it on our trips. Nada. What I thoroughly enjoy about my Flying Cloud, though, is the fact that our friends with their SOB's have for the most part had to do repairs of some sort to theirs in the campgrounds and I've taken pictures to remind them.

As for the reliability of the sixties Corvettes - don't say anything around my wife about that - she's forgotten (I hope) that part of the equation as I am in the very early stages of the hunt for another. Of COURSE it's for HER . We are at the "oh look, isn't that a nice one" stage right now and will move into the "it would be fun to get another one" stage in the coming weeks, then onto the "do you prefer the '63 in red or the '67 in black" stage and finally into the "honey, look what popped up in the shop today while you were out" stage . The duration of the stages all of course depends on her remembering only the good stuff about the prior ones as well as my ability to deflect any negativity when it comes up. That may be a problem .
Barry

Barry, reminded me of the time a few years ago when after using a rest stop facilities our car TV would not start. Traveling I always have a pretty good selection of tools so I removed the starter in the parking lot and discovered that it was toast. We spent the night in the trailer (SOB) then in the morning called a Napa Parts store in the nearest town about 15 miles distant. They had the starter I needed. I paid for it with my CC over the phone. I asked for the number of a cab co. (another story here for later) to deliver the starter. Lynn and I were having a liesurely breakfast in the trailer when a knock at the door anounced the arrival of our new starter. We were back on the road within the hour. Credit due to my wife, Lynn, who 'calmed' me down the previous evening with the cab idea.

[Stefrobrts]

Originally Posted by safari57

We are at the "oh look, isn't that a nice one" stage right now and will move into the "it would be fun to get another one" stage in the coming weeks, then onto the "do you prefer the '63 in red or the '67 in black" stage and finally into the "honey, look what popped up in the shop today while you were out" stage .

I get in SO MUCH TROUBLE when I even try to start that anymore! Glad to know all car addicts follow the same pattern. My husband refuses to be optimistic about them anymore, if I even point out an old car he's all 'It's rusty', 'it's leaky', 'do you know how much that will cost to fix'! I give up!

I found the 68 Corvette Convertible we had to be a much bigger money pit than the AS. After all, I've had the AS for 4 years now and gotten a lot of use out of it. I barely had the Vette that long and hardly ever had it in reliable driving shape. The AS has been dragged to OK and back (and as Barry said, it had issues then, but if it's still rolling behind you the trip goes on, leaks and all)! Not to mention the fact that the total cost of aquiring and restoring the AS is not even up to the purchase price of the vette yet! Yeah, I'm pretty sure I kept the right one!

But if you're finding a 2006 to be as much trouble as a 60's vette, then I'm pretty worried for AS quality control - and very glad I went vintage!

[ROBERT CROSS]

Originally Posted by overlander63

Ray, be glad the Airstream is not manufactured in a British Leyland factory.
Englishmen drink because they own British auto-imobiles.
The Airstream, like the 'vette, are portable holes in your driveway that you pour money into.

British Leyland just discovered last year that oil is a liquid!!

[anniescc]

Hi
We are also restoring a 64 Overlander and we are having a ball.My companion is a carpenter and so some of the interior is easy for us.We took out the twin beds in the sleeping are and want to replace with one full bed. We found a fouton that fit and Andy used a slide mechanism to make it slide in and out.I was wondering though, is it less expensive to buy a mattress and if so where, we need one that would fold up like a couch during the day, I hope this makes sense.

[FreshAir]

Originally Posted by anniescc

Hi
We are also restoring a 64 Overlander and we are having a ball.My companion is a carpenter and so some of the interior is easy for us.We took out the twin beds in the sleeping are and want to replace with one full bed. We found a fouton that fit and Andy used a slide mechanism to make it slide in and out.I was wondering though, is it less expensive to buy a mattress and if so where, we need one that would fold up like a couch during the day, I hope this makes sense.

If you want a folding 'matteress' what you need is a gaucho set-up. That would be a sliding platform (plywood) with 2 cushions. A cushion would be the bench and a narrower cushion would be the backrest. When you want it to be a bed slide the bench platform/cushion out and drop the backrest cushion along side it to the back.....like a futon.