Visit our Popular Forums

redthies · 01-02-2021, 04:04 PM

We are no strangers to restoration, and this one will be in the running for worst original condition. She is tied with an Argosy we bought years ago for the second cheapest Airstream yet, just behind our ‘74 Ambassador we picked up for $400.

I didn’t even open the door before buying it, and was hoping for the best, but moisture has pretty much destroyed all the wood. I will keep all the original pieces and basically build identical copies of the cabinets, and do slightly cleaner variations on the couches. The zolotone walls are actually in almost perfect shape, so they will hopefully be fine after a wash. We are not slaves to being 100% original on the interior, but will stay fairly close on this one, with the exception of modern appliances and mechanicals. The exterior will be kept as original as possible.

This is all subject to change without notice as contents may settle during shipping...

Pics:

redthies · 01-02-2021, 04:07 PM

And more...

redthies · 01-02-2021, 04:09 PM

And a few more...

redthies · 01-02-2021, 04:12 PM

At least there were a few treasures inside, like the original aluminum stands, sewer connection and “Lifetime” Warranty.

I’ll be calling Jackson Center on Monday to see when I should drop it off for it’s “warranty work”.

Hittenstiehl · 01-02-2021, 05:32 PM

This will be fun to watch.

Those jack stands are very cool and sought after. Seems Jackson Center is not very good about honoring their lifetime warranty we have one of those two they weren't interested :-)

dbj216 · 01-02-2021, 06:03 PM

Welcome from Colorado: What a find out in the woods somewhere. That trailer needs a lot of work, but it will be so cool when done. Thank you very kindly for starting a project thread, or "blog" as it were. Hopefully a lot of us can follow your Globetrotter project in the coming months, or years.

I am currently working on a 1969 Globetrotter 21'. The first year of the new body style. My son has owned it for about 10 years. I am very envious of the rear bath in your trailer. The 1969 got a rear corner wet bath that should be flushed. We plan to try to improve it. However, it is hard to beat the Airstream designers.

You are undertaking a very big Airstream project. You will have many ups and downs. Just keep plugging away, one thing at a time.

Nice to meet you..

David

Bubba L · 01-02-2021, 06:06 PM

Agree with Hitting, will be an interesting reno to follow. And didn’t realize those jack stands were sought after. Some came with our 66 and that’s all we use on both trailers. They’ve worked well for us. Good luck on your renovation and looking forward to seeing the progress. Take care and stay safe.

redthies · 01-02-2021, 06:55 PM

dbj, bubba, thank you for the welcome, but I’ve been here for 10 years. (Unless you mean the 60-64 GT section, that is a new place for me). We have done dozens of trailers for ourselves and clients, so while this one will be a full-on project, I’m not afraid

I’ll try to keep things updated as we go. I have 8 trailers on the go right now,with one more arriving Tuesday. This one is for my wife and I, so might get less time than I’d like...

InsideOut · 01-02-2021, 07:30 PM

This one does look like a nice project trailer once it's been stripped of all the "green stuff"...the body looks to be in pretty good shape! At least you have templates for all the original furnishings - I'd much rather have one in this shape with all the original stuff intact than one that's been stripped of all the good stuff!

Good luck bringing it back to life!

Shari

InsideOut · 01-02-2021, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hittenstiehl

Seems Jackson Center is not very good about honoring their lifetime warranty we have one of those two they weren't interested :-)

Actually, we had a "much older" friend when we first joined the WBCCI 20 years ago that was the original owner of a 1962 Overlander he bought with his first wife upon retirement. He still was having some work done "under warranty" at that time, 10-15 years ago - he bragged about it frequently as we struggled through our first restoration! So cute!!! The warranty wasn't transferable, but it was honored as long as he owned the trailer.

I don't know what happen to good ol' Ray, he ran off about 10 years ago and got married to a new bride at 93. They rode off into the sunset together to Texas with the Airstream in tow. I often wonder about them - they were very cool 80 & 90-somethings! Livin' the life!

Shari

redthies · 01-03-2021, 12:15 AM

Thanks Shari. I tend to agree, it’s nice to have the existing cabinets to use as templates. On some of our builds we don’t follow any rules, but since this one is older, and fairly small there aren’t a ton of options, and it doesn’t hurt that the factory layout will work for us. It’ll be our third trailer so we have lots of choices on which one suits which adventure!

docflyboy · 01-03-2021, 01:16 PM

Great project. What did you use to clean the exterior grime, and have you hunted down the history of the ghost number yet. Will be following. Jerry

dbj216 · 01-03-2021, 06:17 PM

I hope you spend the time to keep your project thread going. It will be fun to see an experienced expert at work. We will learn from you I'm sure.

David

redthies · 01-03-2021, 11:41 PM

Hi Doc, no, I haven’t looked in to the ghost numbers yet, but definitely will. I have a lower pressure (2700 psi) Honda pressure washer. It does a great job on the green funk, without being too strong like a 4000 psi model which can actually damage things if you’re not careful.

redthies · 01-04-2021, 12:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dbj216

I hope you spend the time to keep your project thread going. It will be fun to see an experienced expert at work. We will learn from you I'm sure.

David

I will do my best to keep things updated. I’m about one day away from being finished my ‘74 Ambassador. It suffered an interior fire before we bought it, and the only thing salvageable from the interior was the window trims and some of the window hardware. The only thing left original on it is the exterior skin, frame tanks and those window bits. I didn’t do a build thread on it, but will try to be a bit better with this one.

I used to be a high end residential builder with a background in electrical and finishing carpentry. I also worked as a ski industry fabricator and fishing boat builder in previous lifetimes. I may do things differently than a lot of people here, so hopefully you won’t judge me too hard.

Anyhow, we gutted everything today and kept the overheads, wardrobes and bathroom fixtures and tucked them away to be used as templates for replacement cabinets. They are way too far gone to be used for anything more. We will definitely refinish the tub, and use the original sinks. Other than that, it’s all going to be new. We are thinking of doing just a cooktop instead of a range, as we usually bbq instead of roasting when traveling. This will give us way more food and cookware storage. Layout will stay more or less original aside from that.

A new Suburban furnace (or possibly a Dickinson P9000 gas fireplace), modern fridge and Atwood 6 gallon water heater as well as a proper gray tank will be used. We are not planning on an AC unit, but will do a Fantastic fan by the bath, and an Icon skylight up front. We will be using Icon tanks for gray, black and fresh water. We may do a single 100 watt Samlex solar panel up top, but I have one of their 130 watt portable kits too, and I’m not sure I want a panel on the roof of this one. A pre-wire might be as far as that goes for now. A Zip Dee awning will end up on it as well. I like the vintage stripes, but my wife (designer) is liking one of the solid colours. We will see who wins that battle...

We will also likely be doing an axle and polish job on it. I don’t see any way around it at this point. We aren’t going to polish our ‘74, but the exterior is in really nice shape on it, and I have two large panels to replace on this one so it won’t look right without a polish.

Pics from today below. Looks like the welder is going to get a work out...

Hittenstiehl · 01-04-2021, 02:05 AM

Looked at your website (again) wow that was some fire.

Love your use of the Dickinson heaters. Going to look up those Astrodome alternatives. Think I see one on the website photos of your trailers builds.

redthies · 01-04-2021, 09:24 AM

Yeah, the PO “needed” an electric La-Z-Boy in the front, and installed a second battery under it, using speaker wire to keep it charged. What could possibly go wrong?? I’ll post a couple of fire pics below. Once the rains stop, I’ll take a few of how “el Jefe” sits today.

If you want one of the Dickinsons ever, let me know. I’m just down the road from them and I often get factory seconds for WAY less than what you find on line.

The only negatives with the Icon skylight is they don’t open, but I love being able to see the stars at night. They come in clear, or a smoke tint, which is what I usually install so it matches the Fantastic fan lids.

dbj216 · 01-04-2021, 06:17 PM

Hello redthies: That's quite a herd of Airstreams you posted in that picture. They are out grazing I suppose. You have a craftsman resume for sure. Me, not so much.

You already know how the awning material debate is going to go.

I too like the cooktop over the full stove and oven. We don't bake many cakes in our Airstream. I do wire a good space for a microwave. We find that handy when we have shore power. We use our little gas grill outdoors at times too.

We have a lot of sun "heat" here in Colorado. I have measured exterior skins at 150 degrees when in direct sunlight. I'm always looking for shade, or pulling down the blinds to keep the hot sun out of the trailer. A skylight might make it hotter inside the trailer.

Icon builds tanks with ABS. Rotomolded tanks are usually polyethylene. I really don't know the difference in performance, but I do know polyethylene is tough stuff from working in a rotomolding factory for a few years. The Icon tanks look very good on their webpage.

David

redthies · 01-04-2021, 11:51 PM

Hi David, we have 4 more not in that pic... a ‘61 Bambi, ‘68 something or other (there are no ID plates on it at all but I thing it’s a 28 or 30. I’ll throw a tape on it at some point), and a ‘70 Trade Wind being worked on under cover. My ‘74 Ambassador has moved to the house instead of the shop.

The smoke skylights don’t transmit a lot of heat, but we do 90% of our travel after Labor Day, so it’s much less of an issue.

I was talking to Icon today getting prices on my tank options for the ‘63 and Adrian mentioned they were doing poly gray/black tanks now as well as the ABS ones. I have a parts shelf full of ABS grommets and fittings so I’m going to stick with that for now. It looks like I’ll have a 25 gallon gray, and 12-14 gallon black capacity along with 40 gallons of fresh. All their fresh tanks are poly.

dbj216 · 01-05-2021, 06:34 PM

The mystery 68 Airstream is the last year of the old body style. I'm going to bet it is an Ambassador 28'. That will be a special trailer when you get done with it. Is your 74 Ambassador in your living room? You said it was in the house. Just curious.

We also travel in the spring and fall seasons typically, but not this year. The Pacific Northwest is one of our favorite destinations.

I have ordered a 27 gallon holding tank from Inca Plastics in California. They are rotomolders since the early sixties and make a lot of tanks for the RV industry. They are polyethylene. The material is thermoplastic and can be welded, but most adhesives won't adhere to it. ABS offers more flexibility.

David