Visit our Popular Forums

VIKING · 11-06-2008, 05:30 PM

Hi everyone,
My name is Rich, and I just got myself a beautiful 1964 Safari. This is the result of a 4 month search covering most of california. I was lucky enough to find this one only 35 miles from my home in the Santa Cruz Mountains. It will be needing a new floor and cabinets soon, but I'm planning on using it for a while first to shake out the bugs. It has a brand new axle and tires, and a load leveling anti-sway hitch. The inside is in poor shape over-all, but all appliances, plumbing and electrical are working. Enjoy the pics. This is a great website.

**Kevin245** · 11-06-2008, 05:46 PM

Looks like a nice find. If the interior is in poor condition the photograph sure dosen't seem to reflect it.

Good Luck,

Kevin

vinstream · 11-06-2008, 06:14 PM

It should be a great trailer to work on... It has almost all the parts you need for a full resto project... GREAT FIND!

ts8501 · 11-06-2008, 06:21 PM

Viking:

Welcome aboard! What a great year for a Safari! I actually think yours looks like it is in pretty good shape for being 44 years young. I just added a few pics to the gallery of ours. It will need a shell off restoration, as you will see. The interior is very rough. We just bought it last week, and it is now in storage for winter (it's a Minnesota thing). This forum loves pictures, so keep 'em coming, and let us know as you make progress, or need help!

Cheers,
-Tim

willyd · 11-06-2008, 06:31 PM

It looks like you found a great Airstream. Welcome to the forum - where you will find the answers.

aircooled4 · 11-06-2008, 07:46 PM

When you said a rough interior, I expected mouse tunnels through the cushions like our '67 safari!!! I'll trade ya :-)

Actually, looks like an awesome find. Welcome to the forums, and may you have many happy years of Streaming!!

VIKING · 11-06-2008, 08:02 PM

Thanks for the welcome.
The interior must have gotten damp at sometime in the last ten years or so. The oak plywood doors and cabinet bottoms and ends are all delaminating. It doesn't show up in the pictures much. The floor in front of the door is pretty far gone also. I'm going to put down a piece of sheet aluminum temporarily, so we don't fall through in the meantime. There were leaks in the jalousie window frames and in the seam just in front of and above them. I sealed them after the rain we got on monday and they appear to be holding. There is some light surface rust on some of the metal surfaces also, but it comes off easily. Here's some more pics.
Rich

toddster · 11-09-2008, 12:46 PM

As the person who sold Rich his trailer I can honestly say that it could not have gone to a better home. I look forward to watching him transform this trailer, bringing it back to its former glory. Keep us posted with all of your progress!!!!!!!!

94Tri · 11-09-2008, 02:22 PM

Looks like a great project. I would love to have a unit this size for "shorter trips".

jerrypeterma · 11-09-2008, 08:07 PM

that looks like a great find
have fun with the new project and welcome to the forum

goransons · 11-09-2008, 08:38 PM

Great find is right. Congrats and just remember to take a lot of pictures, its easy to get into it and forget to!

64airstream · 11-10-2008, 05:44 PM

Viking,
Looks like a great find to me too. Our first is a 64 Safari like yours, but started out with the dinette layout in the front. We modified it to a couch/bed combo. If you're interested, 64airstream.com is the web page my wife and our son put together.
You'll want to look at the flooring under the fridge and below the bath good also.
Best of luck and enjoy the project. If you run into any problems, let us know, we probably have photos that might help.

Roy

VIKING · 11-11-2008, 10:25 AM

There is some floor rot around the front window and below the jalousie windows and the ones to the right of the refer. The worst of it is below the front window, where my awl encountered no noticable resistance as it went south of my floorboards. The plywood panels that support the back of the gaucho there were no longer plywood. They were just a pile of 1/16" veneer sheets, turned black from the water.
I fixed the gaucho and got it sliding well again. the cushion configuration has me confused. Does anyone have a picture of their front gaucho in the open and closed positions? Same question with the side gaucho. The platform pulls out 6" further than the cushions allow for. Is there another cushion that takes up the space?
64airstream, I'm considering changing my front gaucho to a dinette, just the opposite of what you did. My wife and I don't like the size of the bed, and I thought I might be able to make it larger if I used the dinette layout. The problem with that is that we have the two windows where the dinette seats would be placed, and we really don't want to cover them up. I'm open to suggestions on this. I saw your website yesterday. that's a very cool combination with the convertible. Nice polish too, did you do it yourselves?
Here's a few more pics. A couple of 44 year old appliances, a funky toilet valve and a very cool shower head. Enjoy.
Thanks, Rich

64airstream · 11-11-2008, 08:44 PM

Viking,

Three out of four of the appliances appear to be original. The toilet valve has been "upgraded" The original valve mounted into the fiberglass bench to the right and rear of the seat. The vacuum break (which is where the water enters the toilet) used to fit where your "upgrade" is.

As for the front dinette. I'm not sure about your cushions, but, your model did use taller windows in the front because the dinette benches were not in the way. We had to design and build our own front sofa bed, because we couldn't find what we were looking for. We wanted a full queen sized pull out that allowed each of us to get out of bed from our own side. (I can still remember when crawling over one another to get up in the middle of the night was part of the fun. And, I think it's unfortunate that one's perspective changes in that regard.) In our case the sofa has a gaucho slide and a convertible coffee table. The table acts as a coffee table, the foot of the bed, and has an extra set of (longer) legs to become the dining table. Two crib sized mattresses lay long ways on the gaucho and the back cushion fits the table. Top it off with a comfortable mattress pad and sheets and it is perfect. The critical dimension is the front wall to the fridge. We redesigned that cabinet and moved it back a few inches. We even angled the front face and put in an electric fireplace (to compensate for not crawling over top of each other in the middle of the night.)

Roy

64airstream · 11-11-2008, 08:54 PM

Viking,

Oops, forgot to answer the polishing question. Yes we did it ourselves. Pretty labor intensive, but enjoyable in that you get to see the results as you progress. Important recommendation here is to get a variable speed compounder and wool bonnets rather than a drill and backing pad. We're at the Cyclo-polish once a year stage. We'll consider clear coat when polishing becomes more work than it's worth.

Roy

gail · 11-22-2008, 07:43 PM

Thanks for sharing your find and photos! Keep us updated as it is fun to see how we all fix up our ol gals!

Inland RV Center, In · 11-22-2008, 11:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VIKING

Hi everyone,
My name is Rich, and I just got myself a beautiful 1964 Safari. This is the result of a 4 month search covering most of california. I was lucky enough to find this one only 35 miles from my home in the Santa Cruz Mountains. It will be needing a new floor and cabinets soon, but I'm planning on using it for a while first to shake out the bugs. It has a brand new axle and tires, and a load leveling anti-sway hitch. The inside is in poor shape over-all, but all appliances, plumbing and electrical are working. Enjoy the pics. This is a great website.

Be advised that all 1974 and older axles will fail due to an improper rubber rod comp[osition.

Yours may have already been replaced.

Also be advised that the spare tire mounted on the bumper, is a guarantee of rear end separation.

Spare tires can be mounted below the front window, or with an Airstream spare tire carrier, which holds the spare underneath the front of the trailer.

Andy

VIKING · 11-24-2008, 02:59 PM

I'm fortunate that the PO replaced the axle and tires on this one. the spare on the rear bumper is a real pain in the...rear. Access to the water pump and battery is awful. I would like to put the spare on the front behind the L P tanks. I would also like to put on larger tanks for the L P, because the future holds a propane powered generator in store for me!
I've also been looking into the possibility of removing the furnace and replacing it with a slide out air conditioner. I'm not sure that I want to change things that much though. I really like the fact that this trailer is so close to original.
I work in a cabinet shop, so the interior wood will be replaced with either mahogany or quarter sawn red oak using the original layout and construction. The accordian door was missing from this one , so I may make one with the same material also. I need to make a new cabinet to go above the front window, but the old one was already gone. I could sure use some good close-ups of the cabinet with the doors opened so I could see the construction better(hint, hint).
I'm too busy right now to spend as much time on this project as I want to. For now I'm just working out the plan of attack and picking up parts(see picture for lights, I need one set) and Ideas for the future(a nice set of wings, and this would be an awesome ART CAR.
I'll see you at BURNINGMAN. look for the TUNA GUYS!
Sashimi,
Rich

64airstream · 11-25-2008, 08:37 AM

Rich,

Attached are some photos. Hope they help. If you need any critical dimensions or other specific photos, let me know. Also, I have a couple of extra knobs and latch receivers, from our dinette removal, if you can't find a source nearby. By the way, the rear cone light is a single light fixture, not a double like the front ones.

Keep us posted on your progress,

Roy

VIKING · 11-25-2008, 01:03 PM

Thanks Roy, that's a big help. I had just the frame for the front of this one and could'nt tell how it goes from there. I will be installing all new cabinets this winter and I'll probably be replacing the cabinet latches with similar new ones if I can find suitable replacements. I'll keep you in mind if I decide to re-use the old ones though, as I would be short a couple.
It looks like your cabinets are either mahogany or stained oak. Do you know which it is? I'm still torn between the two, but I'm leaning toward using quartersawn red oak. I like the flame figure like you see on older mission and craftsman furniture.
Progress will be slow until I can get a shelter over it, as we are already starting to get rain here.
thanks again
Rich