And yet, another 1960 Tradewind!

[markdoane]

Just one correction. Photo #20 is the underside of the bathroom vanity, not the galley double sink.

You have a very nice Tradewind.

[henrydahm]

Welcome Dacia - you are gonna love it!. I just got mine back from Safford RV after a thorough look-over, new furnace and waterheater install & totally modern a fan-tastic fan with rain sensor - Don Mills is the gentleman who did the work and he did a FABULOUS job of the installs and fabricated airstream aluminum to re-do where the old "chimneys" for the furnace and h2o heater were. Had I used the furnace I would have set the beautiful coach on fire!!

I'm really glad you prompted Brad with those descriptions of the differences - they were murky in my mind too. Thanks Brad, once again for your depth of knowlege about the Tradewinds. Now I'm REALLY curious what kind of wood the PO painted ofer with white semi-gloss.

[scottanlily]

SUGARFOOT ,

Its a hot rod kinda look ,but not a vintage airstream look ,but that old school
feel ,so its your choice you know .It has a different flavor to it .On the small red air compressor the little black box type thing on the top to side corner
to the right is a pressure regulator ,it turns off the compressor at 60 psi.
I still use this setup and it works very well .most replace it with a newer
system .those tanks after forty years are usually junk and pin holes develope
from the inside out and leak on the floor under it .You will see what you have
and do what needs to be done. Look over the plumbing and waterheater,
another area of possible trouble ,check out (norcal bambis) threads on his
restoration of his bambi .It covers how he handled the old Bowen water
heater restoration.You get alot of good ideas from everyone here.My floor
was in really good condition all around except under the jolousie window and
entry way area ,about 2x4 ft section I replaced.Your trailer has alot of the
good stuff intact so makes it easier .

Scott

[Sugarfoot]

Thanks so much Mark, you're right. I fixed the description.

Henry, I know you're glad to have your TW back in your hands with all your new upgrades. Yeah, I've been hearing a lot about those Fan-tastic fans. That's on my list too. My list is growing daily. If I can't get work I need done in Georgia, I'm glad to know there is source in Virginia. Compiling a local resource list (well, "close to home" as in not west of the Mississippi and preferably below the Mason-Dixon line!) for everything from repairs to polishing is another task I'm trying to accomplish. Now, tell me about the wood and semi-gloss thing . . . . which pic are you referring to? You've got me curious too.

Dacia

[flyfshr]

Dacia ~

I'm fairly certain the galley light is not original although it does look similar to the original. It just looks to modern to me. Not that its not a good match for the original. Also, not sure of the peaked wheel well openings. Thought those were only on CA trailers. I know for certain your trailer is an OH built unit. A couple of indicators are the showerpan/toilet combo, streetside closet in bathroom, construction material of the over the bed cabinets and type of overhead galley cabinets.

Brad
FF

[scottanlily]

Sugarfoot ,my 60 tradewind is serial # 240291D close to yours by 20 trailers,
D for double bed .Which it has ,thats cool .

Scott of scottanlily

[scottanlily]

Hey Brad ,
the entry door are inside ,fridge placement ,stove sinks and alot of the interior is like my 60 double ,but different bath layout and a tub .The stove
and oven are the exact same ,gaucho and under it .I have the peaked wheel wells but I think mine is a CA trailer .Toby Folwicks is exactly the same inside
and out completely as mine ,the complete layout including the bathroom
and sink /tub colors.I wonder how close his serial # is to mine ,can't be too
far off in order.

Scott

[scottanlily]

Brad sugarfoots trdwnd should have the ships wheel wally byam logo under
those jolousie windows and it should say landyacht.If it has the globe for
international it should be up above the front window or forward of those windows on the curbside .Only the 60 trailers had the shipswheel and the
wally byam picture .but I know you know that .

Scott

[robandzoe]

The 59 Ambassadors had the Landyacht with Wally's picture too! So, it was some of the 59s and the 60s that had that Land Yacht image. Colin Hyde's 59 Ambassador has the Land Yacht picture along with his International Globes as well.

[flyfshr]

Scott ~

The one sure way to tell which plant the '59 and '60 models came from is the placement of the commode vs. the shower/tub. On the OHIO models, the commode is curbside and the CA models the commode is streetside. Now to make things even a bit more confusing, some of the OHIO built units had a tub opposite the curbside commode and others had the showerpan directly in front of the commode and had a cabinet on the streetside. The placement of the commode is key in identifying the plant of origin..

I'm not certain the OHIO built units had an Int'l globe on them like the CA built ones did. I don't recall seeing any OHIO units that did. Not saying they didn't, just I haven't seen any.

Brad
FF

[flyfshr]

Colin's '59 Ambassador

Is Colin's Ambassador a CA or OHIO built unit? Be interesting to find out it is an OHIO one with the Int'l globes. Also, what is the serial number of his Ambassador? Maybe you don't have that info handy. If it's a CA unit, it should also have a month and year date stamp on the ID placard.

Brad
FF

[scottanlily]

Hey Rob ,

thanks for the correction as I did not know that ,it was the 60 model that
had that ,supposedly only 60 ,but then that 59... maybe an early 60 model .
If it has the globe it should be a international model .Well you know with
these vintage trailers anything is possible ,lots of special built to order by
what the customer wanted .

Scott

[Sugarfoot]

Hey Scott, yes the SN relationships are cool, and MarkRs 60 TW is only 9 digits before mine. They could almost be twins. Mark, I hope you will share pics and info as soon as you are able. When you mentioned ‘hot rod’ and ‘old school’, it clicked. I’m finding these Airstreams each have unique personalities and they require individualized feeding and care. I’ve been having a hard time getting a truly late 50s-early 60s feel with my TW. The PO s fabric choices don’t scream vintage either, but I’m going with it for now and plan on adding some retro accessories to bring it back to its roots. I’m glad to hear you use your compressor. I pulled out the Grover installation sheet in my packet and found it is set to maintain 30-50 psi. That solves the pressure relief valve problem.

I thought that galley fixture looked too new to be original as well, Brad. I’ve added a couple of pics of it to the photos link 1960 Tradewind - As Found. I haven’t figured out how to add pics to posts yet (the newbie factor). It takes a 9 ½” lens at least 3 ½” deep to clear bulbs without heat damage. Its wired for both 110 and 12V and has a switch for each in the same style as the sconces. I’ve got feelers out for an appropriate replacement lens.

Yes, I do have the Wally shipwheel below the jalousie windows curbside with the model and SN plaquards mounted below Wally. I have no International globe plaquards at all. I don’t know about the wheel well either. Does anyone know if OH definitely produced Internationals base on SN . . .uh, Brad? I also seem to remember reading that OH had straight-across wheel wells and CA had peaked. I checked Vintage Airstream Photos and they all looked peaked to me except one that was modified. I’m pretty certain mine is OH since it originally came from Robert Crist and Co. when located in Chicago (more about Crist here if you’re interested). I doubt their inventory would have come from CA.

My life is starting to center around Airstreams. Aluminocentric, maybe? Can that be healthy? I'm off to Home Depot to get a 30amp drop cord.

Dacia

[Safari Tim]

Brad,

By your description, with my commode being on the curb side, I have an Ohio trailer. I also have the International Globes, highly coveted by Rob . My serial number is I280148T.

Having said that, I wish my commode was on the street side. When I redo the plumbing I'd like to have all the services located on the rear of the trailer on the street side since that is where hookups are located at campgrounds. With my toilet/tank on the curb side with a straight down dump, I don't know how I can manage it.

Guess I should have held out for a CA trailer!

Originally Posted by flyfshr

Scott ~

The one sure way to tell which plant the '59 and '60 models came from is the placement of the commode vs. the shower/tub. On the OHIO models, the commode is curbside and the CA models the commode is streetside. Now to make things even a bit more confusing, some of the OHIO built units had a tub opposite the curbside commode and others had the showerpan directly in front of the commode and had a cabinet on the streetside. The placement of the commode is key in identifying the plant of origin..

I'm not certain the OHIO built units had an Int'l globe on them like the CA built ones did. I don't recall seeing any OHIO units that did. Not saying they didn't, just I haven't seen any.

Brad
FF

[47WeeWind]

Originally Posted by Sugarfoot

Yes, I do have the Wally shipwheel below the jalousie windows curbside with the model and SN plaquards mounted below Wally. I have no International globe plaquards at all. I don’t know about the wheel well either. Does anyone know if OH definitely produced Internationals base on SN . . .uh, Brad? I also seem to remember reading that OH had straight-across wheel wells and CA had peaked. I checked Vintage Airstream Photos and they all looked peaked to me except one that was modified. I’m pretty certain mine is OH since it originally came from Robert Crist and Co. when located in Chicago (more about Crist here if you’re interested). I doubt their inventory would have come from CA. Dacia.

Hi Sugarfoot:

Congratulations on your new 1960 Tradewind and the incurable disease you are quickly succombing to. Identifying all the correct details and features of a California vs. Ohio trailer for a particular year, model or trim level is an ongoing learning process. Few, if any, of these things were ever published, so our community knowledge comes from observations and eureka moments. Some things we "knew" a few years ago based on a smaller number of observations have since been proven incorrect by additional observations, but they don't always get immediately revised in writing. We now know that both California and Ohio trailers from the late 1950s or very early 1960s had the low arabesque, or "peaked", wheel wells. Ohio also used the International globes on some of the International trailers it made from about 1958 to maybe 1960, when the factory location and trim level began appearing on the new larger serial number plate. Keep looking, posting your observations and asking questions -- that's how we all learn. Welcome aboard!

[Sugarfoot]

I’ve just added a few more pics to 1960 Tradewind - As Found for those who would like them. These are of the original drop-leaf table details (to bad my gaucho doesn’t open out as easily as the table), exterior shots of the Bowen controls, and exterior shots of the Dometic connections. I'll try to get better detail of the Klixon burner later. I forgot about the plaquard above the Bowen water heater exterior access. It’s quite faded but appears to have had a dark blue star in the upper center surrounded by a field of Airstream blue. Does anyone know what this once may have looked like or if it was lettered?

[flyfshr]

Safari or Ambassador Tim ~

Those globes are not only highly sought after by Rob. I was looking for some way before he was.

It is my understanding of the commode location being the sole determining factor on the factory of manufacture. There are other clues as well. The CA plant was the only one to use the sliding laminate doors on the overhead cabinets above the bed(s) and the galley cabinet that used an externally mounted channel or track. OH eith used an all wood constructed overhead cabinet with matching cabinet doors or the angled front metal cabinet with the internally mounted track for the sliding doors. This hasn't been verified but by only my keen observations.

Send me the link to your photos again Tim and I'll look them over.

Brad
FF

[henrydahm]

Dacia,

Just to clarify - Safford is a BUSY place that sells mostly MoHos. Their trade is in new Airstreams. I really felt good about Don Mills and his talent with Airstream repair but not too too warm & fuzzy about the rest of the place. I will go back there IF Don is there & the one to work on my AS.

The service manager quite literally suggested thet I get my trailer out of there because "I got twenty service jobs waiting and Don needed to be working on other things". I always thought that money was money but apparently mine wasn't quite good enough - guess I should have trimmed all those $100 bills I used to pay them with. I did give some feedback to the service manager and will be composing and sending out a commendation for Don Mills. I will also be sending a note to the CEO about my experiences there.

I will have to scope out other talent though & will go to S.C. or PA.

To be fair to Safford, it is busy with problem fixes for the new MoHos they sell. I guess when you drop $350K for a pusher it darn well better work! (But in ten years when we sell the house and buy one of those monsters I won't be spending my money there)

Let me know what you find in GA

Henry

[flyfshr]

TradeWind Serial Numbers ~

I thought this might be a good place to offer up the serial numbers for '59 and '60 models I have in my registry. I find all of this so very interesting and informative.

CA plant:
24T-0114 (mine), 24D-0129, 24D-0132, 24D-0138, 24D-0152, 24D-0158, 24T-0167, 24D-0170, 24D-0185, 24D-0202, 24T-0255-I, 24D-0273, 24D-0279, 24T-0303, 24T-0309, 24T-0328, 24D-0340, 24TSS-0447, 24TS-0448, 24DS-0467 and 24T-0536

OH plant:
24-9-021, 24-9-033, 24-9-040, 24-9-065, 24-9-082, 24-9-118, 24-9-123, 24-9-173, 24-0-216D, 24-0-291D, I 24-0-298T, 24-0-301T, 24-0-310T, I 24-0-312T, 24-0-338, I 24-0-409D, 24-0-430T and 24-0-440

There are six additional ones that I'm aware of but don't have the serial number. A few of these owners are suppose to be getting back to me with theirs. If you have a '59 or '60 TradeWind and your number isn't listed, please send me a PM.

Interesting that only one of the CA units is an International and three from Ohio. Would have thought there to be more of them. Also, Ohio didn't start to designate bed arrangement in the serial number until the '60 model year. As you can see, there aren't two sequential numbers from either plant. When and if this ever happens, it'll make my day. This stuff is exciting.

Brad
FF

[MarkR]

Dacia (anyone else can chime in), I noticed in your pictures that it looks like your frig is set up to run on propane . . . and I noticed there are no louvers out side, or a flue/vent at the roof. Did they just depend on the interior of the trailer for combustible air . . . and then not use a flue? I can see a small "eyebrow" on the roof sort of near the frig but I can't see anything on the interior - unless it was vented within the 1-1/2" wall space?
Curiously,
Mark