Well, she’s home. After a one year and one month the trip was finally made to go get the
1956 Safari Front Kitchen (serial # 06336) from Wayne and Linda Moore some 575 miles away during the weekend that was “suppose” to flood the East Coast to the point where we should turn the trailer upside/down and use it as a boat. What better time for trailer recovery than during the Hurricane of Hurricanes. Though my buddy “Tater” and I are dumb, we’re not stupid. We did at least take the route out to the west (I-81/I-84/I-90) to go from Front Royal, VA to Windham, NH instead of the I-95 route up through Philly, New York, Boston for the ride. Leaving at 2:30pm Friday night we headed north hitting a couple of single lane stops because of re-paving up I-81 rolling into Windham, NH around 11:15pm at the Red Roof Inn off I-93 exit 2. After a bad night of sleeping due to the yelling, screaming and banging in many of the other rooms at the motel, it was up and out at 6:00am for a quick bite and trailer recovery. In the process of checking wheel bearings/etc.. I needed a big pair of channel locks to take off the hub seal “nut” which I’d never seen before instead of the normal cap that can be taken off with a flat blade and a few taps to check the wheel bearings for grease. When I called Wayne to ask if he had a large pair of channel locks, I’m asked “Where are you?” I said “In your driveway changing out tires and hooking up”. With that Wayne and Linda came out of the house with hugs and handshakes since we had not seen them since the Historic Rt. 11 Caravan in late spring. In less than an hour or so, wheels, bearings, tires, temp lights, etc… were ready to go. Wayne did need the original split rim wheels/tires for a
1968 Ambassador he’s parting out (WAM52 on the forums if you need parts)
Heading south from the Conn/Mass boarder to Scranton, PA was rain, rain, and more rain but from Scranton, PA to Front Royal, VA was gray skies with no rain.
Except for the middle Herh vent top being left on I-495 in Mass never to be found again (rivets gave way), the trip all went well and we got back around 8:30pm Saturday night.
So now the question becomes, “What do I do with a
1956 Safari FK?” With a
1966 Globetrotter, Safari, Overlander a 1970 Safari Special, a 1974 Overlander and a 1979 Agrosy 24’ Minute. The hope is after the hot air balloon season ends here in VA to have sometime to get looking of what needs to be done on the trailer. It appears from the dinette forward will have to come out because of a very soft in the middle of the kitchen, the back appears to be solid and in good condition. Since it only has a parking brake axle work will be needed though is does have a really cool set of skid plates on it at this time. The driver’s side has a 18-24 crease under the window and the front end cap has a dent that could be pushed/pulled out from the inside. Overall in very good shape even though it’s had a re-paint inside from to cream of the cream/green on green original paint that can still be seen in the cabinets.
It’s amazing the difference just ten years can make when you look at the
1956 Safari lines compared to the
1966 Safari lines.
A big set of “THANKS” goes out to Wayne and Linda Moore for allowing me the chance to own one of these very special model Airstream trailers and for keeping it under a dry roof for over a year until I could come and get it.
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