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Hello Jdean. You are now the proud owner of an old Trade Wind and also own all of its needs. Body work on aluminum Airstreams is expensive. The crease on the curb side behind the door might need a big new Alcad sheet to make it like new. The dent in the front segment would also likely need a new panel. However, this dent looks like it could be pulled or rolled out and made to look much better, but not like new. This would be less expensive repair. Most old Airstreams, except for the show girls, have cosmetic issues. I have come to live with my hail dents. I had a crazy dealer quote $50,000 to replace the hail damaged roof and end caps on my 86! I decided to pass.
Both repairs would need access to the back side of the panel from the interior. Thus the interior cabinets and inner skins and front cap would need removed along with the old fiberglass insulation. Wow, now you can see the floor rot, the leaks, the corrosion, the bad wiring, the rusty furnace, the split copper pipes, etc. There's LOTS of labor involved.
Chances are this old Trade Wind has many needs more urgent than cosmetics. If you plan to renovate, you can address the body damage "while your at it" with all the other projects. Some folks actually separate the body from the frame and then begin to rebuild the trailer from the ground up. Your trailer has value as it sits to crazy people like me who enjoy renovating them, especially 1960s trailers.
There are very good Airstream shops in the northeast that can repair the bodies (shell) with no problem. Maybe one of these experts can chime in and get you an estimate. My guess it would be over $4000.
David
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