1974 Ambassador - Full Restoration

[Lola77]

I have a 78 did you save any parts!

[dbj216]

Hello from another Coloradoan. Welcome to the vintage Airstream hobby. Renovating this old Ambassador to a family vacation trailer is a worthy ambition.

It makes more sense to create a "project thread" in the Airstream Forums Knowledge Base trailer forums. Find 1974 Ambassador and post your progress and problems there. I believe you will garner a nice following of folks who have walked the trail you are starting. A "blog" they call it I think. Folks don't mind lots of posts and pages. In fact you can set your screen to show the last post made first instead of starting from the first one and scrolling down, down and down. Take a look and see if it would work for you. Maybe you can find my 75 Overlander project thread.

I have a 75 Overlander 27' twin bed that I renovated a couple of years ago. It is our family Airstream. Last winter a friend and I worked on his 76 Sovereign 31 foot. We got it done and he and his family are enjoying it in the mountains. I've been in and out of these vintage Airstreams for many years. It is a nice retirement hobby for me.

Warning. It takes many, many more hours to build the trailer than it does to gut it. Be ready for a 1000 hour or more project renovating your Ambassador. It is fun work, but time consuming.

David

[Aopsahl7]

Negative! Sorry!

[Aopsahl7]

David - Thank you for the feedback! Very committed to a long term project! Unlike the houses there is no timeline and this is meant to be fun. I will check out the knowledge base builds and go from there!

[Mikebrady62]

Congratulations on your AS and good luck with your renovation. With lots of patience and skill, this will be a very memorable project for you and your family. Looking forward to your progress pictures.

[77 R GO C MH]

Love the enthusiasm. These projects are good for your mental health......or not sometimes! Have a plan but don't get totally "married" to anything as you will undoubtedly modify and change along the way. With diligence and time you can find most anything part-wise on the internet or this forum. In the end you will have a "degrees" in fabrication, mechanical and industrial engineering and interior design.
Best of luck!

[Aopsahl7]

Originally Posted by 77 R GO C MH

Love the enthusiasm. These projects are good for your mental health......or not sometimes! Have a plan but don't get totally "married" to anything as you will undoubtedly modify and change along the way. With diligence and time you can find most anything part-wise on the internet or this forum. In the end you will have a "degrees" in fabrication, mechanical and industrial engineering and interior design.
Best of luck!

Agree! Biggest learning curve for me will be the metal/aluminum work. But who doesn’t love rivets...especially after a few hundred of them.

[steinVT]

Welcome to the Forums and to the relatively small community of Airstream Restorers.

+1 on what David said about starting a thread in the Ambassador section. It is really nice to develop a following as they will help all along the way. They will become your cheerleaders when it becomes overwhelming, and at some point it probably will. In addition, you will be documenting your build in one place for the future should you decide to sell (horrors) or want to procure vintage insurance.

Look forward to following along - Mark

[Spartan Rick]

Originally Posted by kidjedi

You can always set a microwave or toaster oven on a table, but believe me, especially with kids, you're going to want one. You will often pull into a spot when it's pouring down rain and everyone's hungry, and a microwave-oven-toaster will be like gold.

Another vote for the toaster oven (mine is convection)

Also, once you take care of the subfloor and frame, one of the most important things you're going to need to think about is insulation. Don't miss out on doing this uber-important step correctly, because it's the one thing that you can't go back and fix.

On insulation, similar thoughts re the Spartan. What are people's thoughts on that?
My idea is to do maybe an inch of spray foam on the skin, then batts (roxul) from there out. I see that as giving a good thermal break from the skin, but not filling the whole space with foam. That would allow wiring etc. and I think would be lighter, cheaper.. simpler..
Opinions? Experience?

[Aopsahl7]

Here we go.

[Bermshot]

We have a 31 Sovereign I gutted and rearranged everything other than the kitchen i put back in place. I moved the bath to the middle that had the beds and put a queen in the back and have a fold out couch in the front nose for a guest. that way we both would have access to the bath with out passing the others bed. I found or had the tanks made to fit between the frame rails and cut the access holes for the inlets. Spliced into the mid vents. I was so sick of drilling out rivets when dropping the belly pan !! I used PEX and made access panel for the wiring. I have a dual in line system with a 120 v 10 gallon water heater and a propane instant water heater. Most our camping is with power source or a generator. Ditched the oven and have not used the stove top.
Replaced most lights with LED, got rid of the UNIVOLT. Have solar panels but have yet to add them in.
Mine was a haven for rats and racoons so had extensive damage to the wiring, I bet I pulled 50 lbs of skeleton and nest debris from the ceiling and belly.
You can see some of the work in my profile.
We have had this for 10 years now and my wife wouldn't let me get rid of it for anything.

[Marilyn R]

I am looking at replacing the microwave in my 1969 Ambassador with a micro-toaster. Will my old wiring handle that ?

[Aopsahl7]

Originally Posted by Marilyn R

I am looking at replacing the microwave in my 1969 Ambassador with a micro-toaster. Will my old wiring handle that ?

Not sure! I am putting in all new electrical!

[Aopsahl7]

Originally Posted by Bermshot

We have a 31 Sovereign I gutted and rearranged everything other than the kitchen i put back in place. I moved the bath to the middle that had the beds and put a queen in the back and have a fold out couch in the front nose for a guest. that way we both would have access to the bath with out passing the others bed. I found or had the tanks made to fit between the frame rails and cut the access holes for the inlets. Spliced into the mid vents. I was so sick of drilling out rivets when dropping the belly pan !! I used PEX and made access panel for the wiring. I have a dual in line system with a 120 v 10 gallon water heater and a propane instant water heater. Most our camping is with power source or a generator. Ditched the oven and have not used the stove top.

Replaced most lights with LED, got rid of the UNIVOLT. Have solar panels but have yet to add them in.

Mine was a haven for rats and racoons so had extensive damage to the wiring, I bet I pulled 50 lbs of skeleton and nest debris from the ceiling and belly.

You can see some of the work in my profile.

We have had this for 10 years now and my wife wouldn't let me get rid of it for anything.

Looks great! I am actually impressed. The contents below the sub floor are not bad except for some wasps nests and a few rodent droppings. But I am only half way through.

[nmzouk]

Originally Posted by kenfconnor

I was curious that you specified no micro or range. Having owned 4 vintage airstreams my wife and I both found a microwave to be pretty essential to enjoying the experience. Only 1 was built in with others being secured in a cabinet or countertop. I love grilling out as much as possible but there are many times when a microwave really was the best option. We dont use the gas oven as much but when boondocking it is pretty useful.
We all have different preferences so just sharing ours.

Different preferences is exactly right. We mostly use the microwave to store bread and chips. Because of its power requirements it doesn’t work while boondocking, but even when connected we rarely use it. We occasionally use the oven to bake biscuits, cook a squash, etc. I would miss it, but could get along without it. You can do a lot with a covered skillet. If you like campfires you could get a Dutch oven and bake with coals.

[dbj216]

Hi Marylin R: Welcome to these Airstream Forums. Neat to own a 69 Ambassador 29'. We have a 69 Globetrotter 21'. I'm one of those lazy guys who likes his microwave oven. Best kitchen gadget ever invented in my view.

Microwaves require significant electrical energy. Our 86 Limited 34' came from the factory with a microwave oven, and a switch that allows only the microwave or the air conditioner, but not both.

Airstreams are designed to run on 12v power for all lighting, water pumping, furnace fans, vent fans and the like. The 120v "shore power" or electrical hook plug in power the outlets and the air conditioner. Your 1969 power distribution panel, or "breaker box", probably has one 30 amp main breaker, and then 2 or 3 15 amp breakers or maybe a 20 amp breaker for the AC. Find the breaker box and take a look at what you have.

The appliance you want to plug in has a power rating on the back specifying amps required or watts required. A hair dryer is typically 1500 watts of power, and that's a lot for the Airstream. They are built for 30 amp input, or about 3200 watts of electrical energy available. One outlet could supply maybe 1500 watts of power. I bet the microwave appliance is about the same power required.

Bottom line, you can plug in a microwave into an outlet and likely have it run okay, but with no other big items running at the same time. The circuit breakers will prevent any damage from overload.

David

[Landshark]

Welcome to Airstreaming and the Forum! You'll have a great time restoring yours and will value it like gold when it's finished.

PLUS: it will be lots of fun for you and the family, creating lots of great memories.

Good luck.

Vivian

[G-Ranch]

Originally Posted by Aopsahl7

Attachment 385537

Here we go.

Great project to take on. Have a blast.

[AldeanFan]

Awesome project!
I love the 70’s trailers.

We discussed putting a microwave in our ‘77 Safari but never did and we don’t miss it.
We always stock the fridge with lunchables incase we fall behind schedule and need to feed the kids quick.

[Aopsahl7]

am planning ahead and thinking about when I go to put the shell back on the trailer. With a new sub floor, insulation etc, the only part I cannot fully wrap my head around is why there are a few sections of the shell that have a second "C" channel below the to wrap around the edge of the plywood subfloor. Most of the rest of the shell simply screws and bolts (through the frame in some instances) from the shell into the subfloor.



So with all of that out there it raises the question of why and do I need these sections of lower C Channel? Also, assuming I do need them, how do you get them back on the subfloor considering my new subfloor will already be installed on the trailer?