FOUND!! Wally Byam's '55 Cruiser - 1956 European Caravan trailer

[goransons]

I just need to finish the water lines and the bathroom will be done, actually I’m waiting on some laser cut spacers for the cabinet door catches too.

Hamper and side storage are copies of the original because the back window had no glass, I was able to salvage the Formica on the hamper. Sink cabinet is original.



I installed the curb side drawer slides (wood) made out of poplar today, tomorrow I hope to finish the street side.

We went fabric shopping for curtains. No surviving pictures of the curtains. Just little bits of it in one picture. We’ve been looking everywhere the past month and had no luck finding anything close. So far after hours looking at fabric suppliers here’s the curtain front runners.


I’m trying to figure out the curtain rods. Some are this style,



And some are this



No rhyme or reason that I can figure. I’m thinking the tabs must be the plastic sew in type not the elastic?

[57Vintage]

Our trailer had those curtain rods at the top and bottom of most of the windows. The rods are like your second example with the slot next to the mounting flange. The curtains used the sew-in tabs like VTS has.

https://www.vintagetrailersupply.com...-p/vts-259.htm

Here's an example of the curtain rods on the kitchen window. If you enlarge the photo it appears the slots face each other, which makes sense.



Here's one of the curtains we kept as an example. The front is very drape like.



Here's the back side showing the sew-in tabs. Cool idea to lower the tabs and let the curtain hide the curtain rod. Since most of our windows had upper and lower curtain rods I assume these are replacements.



I believe I kept some of the tabs from curtains we threw out. I can send you some of those if you want to experiment with them.

[goransons]

Thanks Harold. The pictures help a ton! I visited our old time rv place and they have the tabs. I also found someone local who had a few more pieces of the track so things are looking up. My wife is not looking forward to sewing those tabs.

Today was my last day off as part of our mid winter break.

Today was a 10 hour work day on the trailer and the progress is hard to spot.

I trimmed out the bed ends, put up the inside AC cover, cut, bent and installed the kitchen wall channels, did cardboard templates for the kitchen walls (my plywood comes tomorrow I hope!!!) and cut the kitchen sink countertop.

The furnace wall in cardboard. I’m thinking there was a cabinet next to it for small storage, I’m going to build one in between the heater and door. It will be 4” deep so good enough for spices, canned goods and such.



Kitchen sink...



I appreciate everyone who’s chimed in here and on Facebook. I see lots of people read it but don’t comment. I really do like constructive criticism, opinions,advice, suggestions etc. We have to make decisions soon on curtains but can’t decide if we go 50’s busy & bold or just neutral. With 7 big windows whatever we choose will be prominent.

[rmkrum]

Consider bold patterns in the dinette and kitchen, simpler room darkening fabric in the bedroom. Just a thought to work with.

Our International only has curtains in the front bedroom, but they are not that nice looking and do not darken the area. I may add another layer of curtains that look nicer and can block light better. Probably will stay with a simple fabric because it would match the decor.

DW will choose the fabric, but I have no doubt I get the construction tasks....as usual!

[57Vintage]

Not sure if it matters but at the bottom of my furnace wall there is a wider space adjacent to the burner compartment. This is the only photo I have of the shape (back side of cab after removed). If you think it matters I'll get a better photo and some measurements.



Front side

[steinVT]

My furnace wall is a Harold describes also. About 11" wide for about the first 7" or so. It is not a very even cut, but other things from the factory weren't necessarily perfect either.

Mark

[goransons]

Thank you guys that saves me $100 bad cut. I can modify my template. I did see the legs were wider, so I went with that width. I pick my heater grill up from the sand blaster tomorrow so I can confirm it call covers. Thankfully it’s just cardboard at this stage!

[goransons]

I know the odds I would find this trailer are slim and I’m very thankful we did. Perhaps even more lucky is today’s much smaller but important event.

In the photos that show the country list there is an oval decal. Joe Peplinski’s detective work found a better scan that he could make out a Mexico City trailer park.

He then found the address for it in another google search. A few weeks ago I gave the pictures and info to a friend who owns a sign shop and asked her when she had time if she could make me something close.

Today she texts me an eBay auction for the decal. I bought it. She had searched the name and the auction came up. I’ve looked for months and she found it. They will make me a modern copy for the trailer, the original will go in our scrap book display.

[66Overlander]

Exciting!!! I am attaching the best zoomed in close up photo I have of the original decal on Wally's trailer, that unfortunately was only black and white. This was what Scott was working from before today's find. When you compare, you can see that the decal he bought is exactly the same - same words in the same locations and you can now make out the carved face on the lower right, that we previously could not really identify. It is also great to know the correct colors.

BTW, since we have photo evidence to prove that Wally took this trailer on the 1956 Mexico Caravan as well as on the 1956 European Caravan, we can speculate that it was during the 1956 Mexico Caravan that this decal was applied.

[goransons]

Originally Posted by 57Vintage

Not sure if it matters but at the bottom of my furnace wall there is a wider space adjacent to the burner compartment. This is the only photo I have of the shape (back side of cab after removed). If you think it matters I'll get a better photo and some measurements.

Attachment 304657

Front side

Attachment 304660

Harold (and Mark) did your heaters have much structure holding them in? I see two screws going into the floor, the chimney pipe is almost pop can thin metal, nothing to hold the unit up. Harold, best I can see from your picture was maybe just the 1/4" plywood was holding it, were there cleats up top? I'm thinking of running stiffeners up both sides of the unit in the back.

Also I'm wondering if I shouldn't drill and screen an air intake hole below it or not.

I'm still waiting on a good double sided sheet for my kitchen sink divider wall, but two of the three sheets that came in this week had nice fronts to them, so that will work for the heater/refrigerator wall since they are two separate walls with dead space between.

[57Vintage]

What I recall is the heater has a bottom flange that was screwed into the floor and two screws from the front just through the wall, not the metal cover. The outside cover is held to the heater wall with screws from the back side. I've check the front cover and all my photos and I don't show any screws that connect the cover and heater, sandwiching the wall panel. FWIW the back side closet to the heater is about twice as wide as the burner enclosure.



I may be forgetting something regarding this. As you know I don't have all the pieces of the wall heater anymore to look at.

The heater is vented through the floor and belly pan.

[goransons]

I’ve put in a lot of time this week, but haven’t had much for pictures.

At this point I’m really close to being done with the kitchen construction. I need to finish the shelf and element access behind the cook top then I can take everything back apart, put the Formica on, and sand prep and stain the woodwork.

I decided not to add a cabinet within the double wall once I looked at how I needed to route the Krefft exhaust.

The end cap of the double wall will be a removable solid piece of ash so I can access the exhaust for the refrigerator and furnace if need be. My supplier was closed this weekend so there are some scraps holding the panels true for the moment.



When I pull the interior out I can cut the wall channels to the right length and install the bottom sections of them. I wasn't 100% sure where things needed to land on that wall due to the hinge on the refrigerator and the door swing so it's just up with cleco's. They need to have paint removed from them anyway before they go in for real.

Most of Saturday and today has been building the two roof lockers. It’s been extremely time consuming to mock it up, cut, build and install. Lots of cardboard then hardboard templates later and both sides are in. The curb side divider wall is a piece of hardboard since I’m still waiting for that double sided sheet to arrive.


Both upper cabinets will get the bead style welting around them after finishing, but did my best to scribe them as close as possible to the very irregular end cap. One would hope that street and curb sides would be close, NOPE more than 5/8" different

The 12 volt wires go to an under cabinet light, this outlet's sole purpose is the plug in point for the Krefft refrigerator.



The bottom of the upper cabinets will have an aluminum overlay since it's above the cooktop and I don't want the steam, grease etc to cause issues down the road. The front edge will be trimmed out like Stella's front cabinets with an edge trim once I get time to run that through the shaper.

I’m still trying to decide if I should put a header between the walls. Leaning towards it since the other two dividers in the trailers both have them.

We are going to tuck a microwave inside the sink cabinet, I’ll build that shelf as soon as we pick that out and then we are just about set.

[66Overlander]

Wow, now I can finally visualize how small that front kitchen was, basically tucking entirely within the front end cap. Wally and Stella must have wanted maximum open space in the middle of the trailer for entertaining dignitaries.

[goransons]

Mattresses are in! 8” memory foam. Awesome to have them but I lost my tool benches!

[tallytwo1994]

Originally Posted by goransons

Attachment 305114

Mattresses are in! 8” memory foam. Awesome to have them but I lost my tool benches!

Double stack those mattresses; you'll still have one workbench!

I usually catch up with what's happening once a week so by the time I read about an issue or problem; you've already solved it. Since you haven't announced a curtain choice I will state a personal preference for waiting until all wood has been stained, counters have been installed, and bedding has been chosen before I would make a final decision on curtain fabric. It's a lot of fabric and perhaps the decision will be more obvious once the other surfaces are in place.

I hope to hear back from a fellow Spartan owner tonight about a shower he has available. He needed to see the photo again to compare and hopefully it will match. There is another Spartan owner looking for a part for that same shower, so perhaps the two of you will both luck out and get what you need. I’ll let you know as soon as I see what he has. Btw, do you have recommendations on seals for those faucets? Two others are trying to rebuild theirs too.

Carol

[goransons]

Thank you!

To be honest I didn't save the plastic bags with the numbers on the seals, that wasn't smart, but let me see if I can figure it out. Every piece I needed for the valve rebuild I was able to buy at our Ace Hardware. They have tons of little bins for all the different fiber seals, O-rings, and the bonnet seals etc. I took the faucet with me, compared what was still intact and figured out what would work. I haven't tested it with water but it seals with air.

I appreciate all your help!

On curtains I'm going to be cutting cardboard to at least block the UV out of the south and east windows to keep anything from fading in the meantime. We've held off on bedding until we find the curtains, because that seems to be the biggest challenge.

[tallytwo1994]

Originally Posted by goransons

Thank you!

To be honest I didn't save the plastic bags with the numbers on the seals, that wasn't smart, but let me see if I can figure it out. Every piece I needed for the valve rebuild I was able to buy at our Ace Hardware. They have tons of little bins for all the different fiber seals, O-rings, and the bonnet seals etc. I took the faucet with me, compared what was still intact and figured out what would work. I haven't tested it with water but it seals with air.

I appreciate all your help!

On curtains I'm going to be cutting cardboard to at least block the UV out of the south and east windows to keep anything from fading in the meantime. We've held off on bedding until we find the curtains, because that seems to be the biggest challenge.

Scott,
I just heard from the man who had the faucet and unfortunately it isn’t the one you’re looking for. I’m so disappointed, it isn’t even close. But I still have the notice out there and will keep it alive. We constantly have people in the group who are parting out a trailer because they don’t want the vintage look. I haven’t figured out why they buy a vintage trailer just to gut it. I’ll let you know if there are any possibilities.
Carol

[GMFL]

Man that thing is looking GREAT!

[Milo1952]

I would like to know what your background is.
It would take me months to get as far as you did.
Are you a carpenter, General contractor. You doing this all by yourself or do you have people working with/for you.
Just curious.

[goransons]

Milo1952 -
March 2018 marks month 14 on this trailer project.

My background, well my wife and I are both music teachers. I teach 5th grade and high school orchestra. My wife teachers middle school choir. We have two kids, 11, and 7.

Growing up my dad had myself and my 3 brothers helping restore 56 and 57 t-birds, and 64 1/2-68 mustangs. I guess I picked up my love for restoration and working on things from him. My wife and I bought a 1930's house when we got married and restored it, and in 2011 sold and bought a 1910 stone farm house outside of town and have been working on it. We love old stuff and working on things. So far on the project I've hired a professional welder twice to help with frame repairs that were beyond what I felt comfortable doing. I will pay for the final paint and the lettering since those will be handed painted. My 11 year old son has helped me with prep work, he's learned to hold a bucking bar. Technically I guess he's a crew since I paid him in ice cream. My good friend Wally (Flyrc) comes over from time to time and helps with riveting projects and is always hunting parts for me and acting as a sounding board. My wife watches the kids when I'm outside working, and is just as active with the parts searches and moral support. She does all the fabric work, has helped with riveting as well, and she puts up with me! She's very patient and is the only reason I can manage to balance this, work and family. I know she'll be glad when the project is done. I haven't kept track of the hours. I can't say I don't enjoy the work, but it's been like a second job so to speak for the past year. Easily 30, maybe 40 hours a week. Weekends I do a lot early in the morning before the kids get up, I usually start shortly after 5 am and take a break for breakfast when the kids get up. No crews though, working in the gravel, nothing glamourous. I've been fortunate to collect some great tools over the years and love woodworking. Last year we didn't even attend a rally I was working on this trailer that much. That's us in a nutshell.