"Loretta" 1964 Ambassador

[Heliguy63]

Well I posted on the new members section and I think its about time I start posting here. After a long wait my wife and I have finally acquired the title to our trailer. My wife and I have named her Loretta. So from this point on I will be referring to the trailer as Loretta.

We found Loretta on Craigslist in early March. After exchanging a few emails with the seller who offered very little information about her I deiced to make the 3.5 hour, 220 mile drive to a small trailer park in Palo Verde, CA. The seller had it on Craigslist for a $1000. So southbound my good buddy Kenny and i went not knowing much at all except that the trailer was still available. Here is what she looked like when we first met Loretta.

















The seller said that it rolled across the trailer park but he did not know the condition of the bearings. Loretta also needed one new tire. So we jacked the trailer, ran into town to replace the tire. Before taking the trailer off the jack, I spun the wheel and the bearing seemed to be fine. The other three wheels i was not so sure. it was starting to get late in the day and knowing i had a long journey back to, Vegas i was anxious to get on the road. After a quick conversation with the seller he talked him self down to $500. I paid him the cash and against my better judgement we started our voyage back to Vegas.



Our first stop was just down the road at a gas station to refuel the 4runner. I checked the wheel hubs for excessive heat and they seemed just fine. So with no trailer brakes and make shift trailer lights, we started our journey back home. Loretta, Kenny and I rolled into Vegas about midnight.

More on Loretta and her progress soon..

[laducky]

Sounds like the start of a great adventure!

[Heliguy63]

Well a lot has gone on since my last post. While trying to bring Loretta back and forth to storage the rear electric brakes started to seize up. Upon further inspection this is what I found.



Parts from inside of brake drums.



I'm thankful it didn't seize up halfway back from California.



Any who I parked the trailer out in front of my house to get some work done on it. Then my HOA towed it away. $160.00 later I pulled it out of impound. The HOA said because the trailer was not registered they towed it off my street.

The best part of this is that we have recently moved and now Loretta sits on the side of our house and I can work on her whenever I feel the need to do so.

I have had some time to work on Loretta while in front of our old house before we moved. I started the interior tear down. I know it looks like a huge mess but I will be keeping so parts to help me fit the new interior when I'm installing it.







I normally work until about 1 pm as the temperature is normally over 100 degrees by then.
Her new resting place is on the side of our new house.



Loretta sits on a good size RV pad on the side of our house, and once we get all settled in I will start work on her ASAP. I "plan" on going all the way to the frame as there is considerable amount of rust from what I can see of the frame. Once that is done, I will start to rebuild new interior with bunk beds for my 3 boys.
Thanks for reading in, I will update soon.

[Tradewinder]

Sounds like fun. I'm just a couple months ahead of you on basically a trailer in the same shape, although I paid $3200!! Great job finding a seller who talks himself down !

Now you get the fun decision whether or not to do a shell on restoration or shell off. I just finished redoing the floor doing the shell on technique and it turned out great. My wife, new son and I went camping in the big aluminum tent last week to the sand dunes in Oregon. It was awesome, it was the only vintage trailer in the camp, and I had 2-3 people every day stop to ask about it!

Good luck !

[Heliguy63]

Originally Posted by Tradewinder

Sounds like fun. I'm just a couple months ahead of you on basically a trailer in the same shape, although I paid $3200!! Great job finding a seller who talks himself down !

Now you get the fun decision whether or not to do a shell on restoration or shell off. I just finished redoing the floor doing the shell on technique and it turned out great. My wife, new son and I went camping in the big aluminum tent last week to the sand dunes in Oregon. It was awesome, it was the only vintage trailer in the camp, and I had 2-3 people every day stop to ask about it!

Good luck !

Thanks. I'm thinking at this point we are doing a shell off restoration what year is yours? In 1964 airstream changed how they changed the end caps. The sheets no longer line up. I like yours much better. I'm going to get more done on her In the next couple days. Thanks for the post.

[Tradewinder]

Originally Posted by Heliguy63

Thanks. I'm thinking at this point we are doing a shell off restoration what year is yours? In 1964 airstream changed how they changed the end caps. The sheets no longer line up. I like yours much better. I'm going to get more done on her In the next couple days. Thanks for the post.

Ours is a 1960, so a little older. I wish I could have don't the shell off method, but I knew I had a short window to get it done because we had a pre scheduled camping trip we committed to attending.