'61 Sarfari - plastic or masonite endcap?

[59toaster]

Originally posted by flyfshr
Here's a pic of the stripped front. We felt the shiney aluminum would be too busy and detract from the overall interior appointments. Kinda looked like a funhouse mirror.

FF

Yeah that is some of our worries (Fun house). We have no choice but to strip. Two coats of latex enamal on it and it looks horrid! I have to pull out everything in the back already so I figured it would be eiasest to pull everything and then strip the paint. THen we can also do the cabinet repairs and fix that edging (that has paint on it).
Fun Fun.

[Silver Bullet]

I'll have to try White Oak and Danish oil. I intend on relaminating our draws and doors. Thanks Mary.

Oscar

[Rick Dotson]

Thanks everybody,

It seems that we have something other than aluminum under the endcap paint. It seems to be to round to be aluminum and the brown color under the lights is seem to confirm this. I am planning to take out the sofa to look at the wall behind it.

One of the previous owner paint white over the zolatone and siler aluminum paint over a lot of other things. It seems that we can clean up most of these with some elbow grease and wait till later to strip paint.

thanks again

[Windspill]

The wall behind the sofa (bottom half is probably aluminum under the paint and Zolotone. The "brown" material of the upper end cap is most likely fiberglass. That's what was on my '65 Trade Wind. We've stripped most of the walls and ceiling to expose the aluminum and we like it - it goes with the style of remodel we are doing. We still have to create a way to make the fiberglass portion work with the rest. Good Luck!

[cherring]

I have a 61 Ambassador and it has a rear interior cap that is made of fiberglass. The rest of the interior shell is all alluminum. I was told by some folks in the know that early 60's Airstreams had fiberglass bathrooms. I also have a '60 Tradewind that has a fiberglass interior for the bathroom only.

[59toaster]

Well I feel like a knuckle head!

I started working on ours a little and our has the one peice interrior end cap as well. I never noticed it. It must have been the disgusts of the baby blue paint over it that I could not look at the ceiling for more then a few seconds at a time before I had to avert my eyes! I hate baby blue and it looks particularly bad with the wood cabinets. I suddenly relaized there were no seam past the first rib. I forced myself to look closer, despite the color, and sure enough it's one peice.

[Rick Dotson]

Mary here--thanks for the info!

I was off for a week to South America for work, so wasn't able to get back and say thanks (plus, for some technically convoluted reason, I don't seem to be able to get my own account working on Airstreams Forum). But thanks for the info! It has stopped me from attacking the rear with stripper chemicals!

Am now working on the cushions and consideirng what to do with the woodwork! But I think that probably needs another topic!

Mary

[Rick Dotson]

We have finally strip out the furniture and some of the shell and the end cap turns out to be fiberglass!

Sometimes you never know until you start ripping.

[flyfshr]

Figured it would be fiberglas. They must have had a mold for the end caps and formed the fiberglas around it. Really glad mine's aluminum because of the desert heat. I think the fiberglas would shrink and/or crack.

FF