questions from hope to be owner

[moisheh]

I am in the market for a 75 to 78 Argosy MH. I have restored other classics including a 65 Cortez ( my favorite) and an 18 ft, 69 Winnie. I have never owned or even closely examined one of these baby Airstreams . So here are my pent up questions:

Any special weaknesses I should check out before purchasing?

Do they use the basic Chev P30 chassis unmodified?

What is the appr. weight and GVW of a 24 ft.?

Some salesman tried to claim 10 mpg. Every 454 truck I ever owned never got more than 10 empty. Hard to believe a heavier MH could do better.

Is the interior construction, i.e. cabinets, airstream standard or just a bunch of staples like mass produced units?

Are there any items that are impossible to obtain: door latches, roof vents,plastic items?

Any problems with alum. corrosion or fatigue? Maybe a galvanic reaction between the alum. and other materials?

Thanks: any help appreciated.

[thenewkid64]

Welcome to the forum!

There are a number of us Argosy owners here.

The floor is the main weakness. It can suffer from dry rot if a leak has not been fixed in a timely manner.

The rest of the construction of the shell is aluminum, the frame is all steel. It is built on a P30 RV chassis. Depending on the year you may have a rear airbag suspension and drum or disk rear brakes.

The interior is NOT stick and staple. The interior skin is normally aluminum covered with a vinyl sheet. The interior furnishings are attached to the interior shell with screws and rivets. Most of the interiors are made with a combination of thin plywood, extruded aluminum and sheet molded ABS plastic. This is the same as the interiors of the same vintage Airstream trailers.

10 MPG Downhill with a tailwind, maybe

Approx weight will be in the 10K range max on a 24. My 28 is maxed at 12.5K and I never have it that heavy.

The only items are a hard to get right now are the window tracks and sometimes the window seals. The rest of it is still available for the most part.

The only areas I have seen a galvanic reaction is where the end caps meet the main body. This is an area that then experiences surface rust. I have not seen any on the underside.

[moisheh]

Brett: Thank you for the quick reply. I am sure I will have more questions after my purchase.

Thanks again