1948 LINER - A 70 Year Journey

[dbj216]

Well, I hope to go to a local vintage rally this summer. And I hope to take the Overlander. Like you, I'm reluctant to commit to it. There are some things more important than the Overlander.

I understand the Colorado vintage Airstream club is quite nice. At least my Overlander is old, but likely won't have much else going for it. A seventy year old Liner it ain't.

David

[MsRivet]

The interior lower panels have been removed along with the floor tiles. Also the storage under the rear window has been taken out and stored for restoration later. In doing so we did covered what we thought to be possible ... a previous owner had replaced floor decking and did not run the replacement plywood under the c-channel. We’ve made our first floor template prior to removal of the shell.

[wkerfoot]

The Colorado Vintage Airstream Club is great, aka Rocky Mountain VAC. Go the the rally and have a great time, regardless of which trailer you take.

Bill

Originally Posted by dbj216

Well, I hope to go to a local vintage rally this summer. And I hope to take the Overlander. Like you, I'm reluctant to commit to it. There are some things more important than the Overlander.

I understand the Colorado vintage Airstream club is quite nice. At least my Overlander is old, but likely won't have much else going for it. A seventy year old Liner it ain't.

David

[dbj216]

You are nearly done with the pre-operation activities. Surgery (shell off) is just around the corner. Funny how someone thought that making a plywood overlayment would somehow help. At least it covers up the holes. Once a person understands how Airstreams are made (semi monocoque construction) you know an overlayment just adds weight, not strength.

David

[MsRivet]

The new torsion axle has arrived!!!

[dbj216]

But, but; your Liner had a beam axle with leaf spring suspension. You are wise to upgrade to the "torque flex" axle. Did you folks spec this axle yourselves?

David

[TouringDan]

Originally Posted by dbj216

But, but; your Liner had a beam axle with leaf spring suspension. You are wise to upgrade to the "torque flex" axle. Did you folks spec this axle yourselves?



David

Easy to provide the specifications for the axle. Much harder to design and specify the mounting details for the axle.

Good improvement. Wally would approve!

Dan

[MrRivet]

We decided early in our planning for the Liners reconstruction that the torsion axle was the only way to go. It has always been our goal to make it dependable and user friendly as possible while trying to maintain the original appearance of the trailer. With the torsion axle, it eliminates the issues that plagued the beam and leaf spring axles. Our biggest concern was having a failure of a spring while traveling and having to wait for days for replacements.

Since we are building an entirely new frame, having the axle delivered ahead of the frame construction allows us to make sure that the axle and frame will come together with no issues. We contacted Colin Hyde Restorations for his guidance with ordering the proper axle configuration. It was a painless process and we took delivery about four weeks after ordering it.

Safe Travels!

[HiHoAgRV]

Originally Posted by TouringDan

Easy to provide the specifications for the axle. Much harder to design and specify the mounting details for the axle.

Good improvement. Wally would approve!

Dan

And Wally would require it if you went back in time and signed up for the Around the World Caravan!

[MsRivet]

So, so long in the waiting ... the frame is almost done!



Since the beginning we’ve had conversations of do we build the frame? Meaning buy a welder. Learn good welding skills and hope the welds hold. Or just throw money at it, save some time and have a professional do the job?



Thanks to our trip to Texas where we not only got the range and ice box, we also got frame plans used for another ‘48 Liner. THANK YOU TEXAS! Then once we found a welder, who is also an engineer - that we had confidence in, we gave him the go ahead and a set of frame plans. MrRivet modified the plans slightly to fit our rig. Our welder was excited to take on the project. He has been working in his spare time on building the frame over the past month in his shop. After seeing what he has done so far we know we made the right decision and anyway we by no means had all the proper tools and space like he has in his shop to accomplish what he has.



MrRivet and I have been going out for visits to see the progress. Just this past Tuesday it had none of the outriggers attached. Today it is looking a little more complete.



Tomorrow we take a short trip to Cedar Key in the ‘04 Airstream. By our return the axle should be attached and ready to tow home! Then the rest of the build should then be all on us.

I’m sure some are saying ‘over kill’ on the frame build. Yes. We agree. In order to accommodate fresh and gray tanks we needed the frame depth. In order to keep the look of the original deep belly pan ... we needed this frame depth. MrRivet will respond to any technical questions about our new frame.

Guess this will be the last outing in our other A/S for awhile. Once we return it will be full speed ahead on the ‘48!

[dbj216]

Fabricating a new frame for a 70 year old trailer is a feat beyond most of us amature vintage Airstream enthusiasts, especially me. There are lots of considerations. It must have kept Mr. Rivet up at nights figuring out everything. The new frame looks very stout indeed.

David

[MsRivet]

Originally Posted by dbj216

Fabricating a new frame for a 70 year old trailer is a feat beyond most of us amature vintage Airstream enthusiasts, especially me. There are lots of considerations. It must have kept Mr. Rivet up at nights figuring out everything. The new frame looks very stout indeed.

David

David!!!
OMG ... hilarious! So true. if I survive this the dogs will be grateful they won’t be split between two homes/parents. Since I freelance most of my jobs are 1 to seven days. I MAY have a 4-6 month job coming up. MrRivet responded with ‘But, but we have rivets to buck this summer!’

Now that he is retired .... someone still needs money not only to put food in the dog bowls but to buy all the rivets. He will hopefully sleep better tonight now.

[TouringDan]

The frame looks great!

Good decision on building a new frame, finding some good plans and the right guy to fabricate the frame.

Dan

[MsRivet]

Originally Posted by TouringDan

The frame looks great!

Good decision on building a new frame, finding some good plans and the right guy to fabricate the frame.

Dan

Thanks, Dan! We can’t wait to return home to get that frame to the house. This trip will be spent researching and not so much doing the touristy stuff. Our welder is doing an amazing job. All cut edges were beveled prior to welding. This guy is a true professional and very proud of his work.

David was soooo right. I thought MrRivet would begin to sleep better now. Nope ... not the case. He spent all last night measuring that ‘finished frame’ for tanks and installing ‘the tanks’ that we don’t even have yet. LOL

At least we have a great view to research from ...

[dbj216]

I read about Liners in the latest issue of Airstream Life. The article was about the Globetrotter name that was applied to the top of the line Liner 22 foot.

That is a lovely view out your Airstream window. And tell Mr. Rivet to get some rest before he gets real crabby. The Liner is just a hobby.

David

[goransons]

It's looking good! It will be great knowing what's holding it all together! Those old pipe frames just were not meant for modern speeds and tanks. You're doing it right!!!

[dbj216]

You probably saw this famous Colorado 1948 Liner 22' in the Classifieds. If not, I thought you might enjoy the pictures and write up.

http://www.airstreamclassifieds.com/...22-colorado-2/

Show this ad to Mr Rivet. He'll get all excited and stay up all night again.

I might add that there was a nice article in Airstream Life about the first "Globe Trotter" model name. It was applied to the Liners of the late 1940s. It was a fully optioned Liner. You might like finding that article in the Spring issue of Airstream Life.

David

[MsRivet]

Originally Posted by dbj216

You probably saw this famous Colorado 1948 Liner 22' in the Classifieds. If not, I thought you might enjoy the pictures and write up.

http://www.airstreamclassifieds.com/...22-colorado-2/

Show this ad to Mr Rivet. He'll get all excited and stay up all night again.

I might add that there was a nice article in Airstream Life about the first "Globe Trotter" model name. It was applied to the Liners of the late 1940s. It was a fully optioned Liner. You might like finding that article in the Spring issue of Airstream Life.

David

Yes, yes and YES!!! Thanks for yet another sleepless night ahead for MrRivet.

Interesting I finished reading The A/S Life article this morning and saw Bud’s Colorado add this afternoon. Great information on how the Globetrotters came about. And that ours being an early ‘48 was probably a base model for it. Thanks to Fred for a great article and Rich for keeping the dream alive. We spent the afternoon today under palm trees finalizing taillights. The taillights seem so far away but really don’t want to be scrambling with that the last minute. Since taillights will need to be finished and secured well before Interior skins are reinstalled.

I’ve already done screen grabs on all the pictures of the Colorado Liner. Everything is a reference to us at this point. Also thanks to EVERYONE we have met and socialized with over the past twelve years of Airstream’n. We are seeing everyone and everything come full circle in our efforts to make this ‘48 Liner come back to life.

[MsRivet]

Arrived home!

[MsRivet]

No progress but progress has happened. MrRivet has spent a good part of the week measuring and re-measuring the new frame. There were a few critical measurements to confirm like where the door opening lands and cross member placement. So far it looks to be perfect! He seems to be sleeping somewhat better now. The cross members were spaced to where we would not need to special order holding tanks. Once the frame landed we confirmed those numbers so we could go ahead and order tanks from VTS and Plastic Mart.

So this week we did go ahead and order the holding tanks. Even tho no physical progress we still feel that something was accomplished by placing those orders. VTS has given us a five business day turnaround. All they will do is insert fittings, to shelf stock, where requested by us. By not ordering custom tanks it saves some money but still an expensive purchase.

This week we will order the metal needed for holding the tanks in place and begin prepping the frame for paint. Also on the horizon looms the purchase of the Marine Plywood for the decking.