1964 Shasta Louise

VSTF Black Friday Sticker Sale...

2011-11-21T09:03:00.000-06:00

I thought I would throw this out there for Friday...

Buy ONE...Get ONE FREE!

Please see the link for more details...

http://vintageshasta.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=miscforsale&action=display&thread=3893

STOLEN...Do NOT Buy...

2011-11-16T08:12:00.003-06:00

Stolen Image Being Sold on Esty...

PLEASE... No one buy this calendar or anything from this person!

This person used my VSTF logo from the forum WITHOUT my permission to make and sell calendars on her Etsy site.

I have contacted the seller requesting that they take the item down immediately... BUT I'm kinda pissed that I have to tell someone NOT to use my images to make money. Please pass this along to other trailer folks.

Trailers Of The VSTF...

2011-06-18T23:52:00.002-05:00

On the Vintage Shasta Trailer Forum I asked members to submit their trailer photos for a video project.

I have gotten the first two videos done. I have actually never done a video on the internet. I think with the meager software that I have the videos are the best I can do. I haven't ever edited a video before but I think they turned out well.

I hope to do more videos if folks enjoy them and I will get more member submissions in the future. Enjoy...

Trailers Of The VSTF...

Trailers Of The VSTF 2...

Insert Witty Title Here...

2011-06-15T00:21:00.001-05:00

Been busy today. Lets get to it...

First I put a self-leveling floor patch on the scrapped floor. There were plenty of divots that This will help once the underlayment is laid down...

I went on with the exterior. I put some attention to the roof. Here is the black water tank vent cap...

You can see the PO put a thick layer of roofing tar on the vents. I managed to scrape most of the tar away and remove the cap so I can clean it up and reseal it properly...

Apparently, I have never took a shot of the roof vent before I took it out. I can assure you it was covered with the same thick roofing tar. Here is the hole with the skin cleaned up to get ready for the Fantastic Fan...

If you have this on your roof you can use a heat gun and warm the tar then scrape it off with a putty knife. Once you get it all off you can go back and clean the skin with Goof Off and a cloth. It dissolves the residue well.

I went back inside and removed the upper kitchen cabinets so could remove the damaged ceiling panel completely...

I pulled the panel completely and re framed the ceiling area. If the skin and frame looks a bit separated its because I shimmed the vent area so water will run away from the vent...

And test fit the Fantastic Fan...

And insulated the area...

Ignore the sloppy tape job. I was getting tired and wasn't in the mood anymore.

More to come. Stay tuned...

Moving Right Along...

2011-06-14T00:22:00.000-05:00

This post isn't as timely as it should be. I have been doing work that takes a bunch of time but it is what it is. You can't rush some things. Lets get to it...

I managed to get all of the insulation in all of the walls. It is such a slow process just because each panel is a different size. I think all of this will help. Here is the curbside...

The rear...

The blue paint is left over exterior paint from another project that I applied to all of the new framing to help keep water from soaking in if it does get behind the skin. It isn't bulletproof but it is better than nothing at all. The street side from the rear...

The street side from the front...

I have managed to stuff it in every nook and cranny that I could. I wish I could get every area but most areas aren't accessible doing the type of restoration we are doing.

Moving on. I put the final coat on the A Frame and coupler area. I talked about it a little bit in this post but I should explain the process a bit more. I used chemical stripper on the old paint. Scraping as much paint as I could off of the areas. Then I used a wire wheel and a flap disk to remove the rust and remaining paint. I primed with same Rustoleum that I used on the entire frame. I then used Rustoleum Professional in the aluminum color. I ran out of that paint so I finished it off with Rustoleum Silver Metallic in rattle cans. I think it looks a ton better than it did originally...

Here is the before and after...

I also did the same thing on the bumper. Here is the final coat...

And the before and after...

This bumper needs to replaced but that may come farther down the road. The rust removal and paint will help keep it serviceable for a while longer.

I also FINALLY got the floor tiles and linoleum scraped off. That project seemed to take entirely too long. I don't know if I have mentioned it before but you really have the right tool for that. I started with my Dremel Multi-Max and the rigid scraper. It tool took WAY too long. It would work if you had a tiny section to remove but it isn't the right tool. I bought a heavy duty floor scraper with replaceable blades. Like this one..

It works so much better because it really is the right tool for the job. Those tiles seemed to fail after all this time but that glue or mastic or whatever it is that they used to adhere to tiles is a bear to scrape up. Wear your mask and all of that good stuff too. They say that the tiles contain asbestos. I wore my respirator because I am sure those little disposable ones won't do the trick. Here is the work done...

Another shot...

I cut and fit the new closet panel also...

I pulled the ceiling panel to start work on that area...

I should have new stuff soon. I have written out my to-do list. I won't bore you with it but it is really long when you write it out like that. It does motivate me to push on. Stay tuned for more...

A Bit More Progress...

2011-06-01T15:05:00.001-05:00

It has been awhile since my last post but I have been working a few hours here and there. Here is what has happened since my last post...

The door got put back together and sealed. Here I had taped off the "Z" stripe for polish...

I used the felt buff chucked in my drill and some brown compound to give it a good shine..

I then taped off the stripe and primed the door...

It is now set aside waiting for paint.

I removed the section of the floor where the leaky door had started to rot and delaminate the floor...

Let me apologize for the crummy pictures. I swear this camera is getting worse and worse. Here is the new section of floor installed...

You might have noticed that the closet panel was also removed. I didn't want to take this out but it is just too far gone..

I have been hunting for rot and trying to find it and remove it. Here is some more rot that must have come from a leaky black water tank vent cap...

I have also been tackling replacing the framing. I removed all of the rotted framing and tried to make the new framing more substantial. Here is the curbside done up to the door...

A before and after of the baggage door framing...

Again, sorry about these crappy pictures. Here is the curbside wheel well framing...

Here is the street side framing done all the way up to the front...

Once I was done with each side framing I went to the back to finish that up. I had bought a Hehr Standard window for the rear window which was gone. I had never really fit the window in the hole to because we had the rear window sealed up with plastic since we bought the trailer. It had always been in the back of my mind. Really because I wanted to see if the PO had altered the opening to fit the AC unit in the window opening. I didn't think that the actual replacement window wouldn't fit. Talk about a oh $#!@ moment. I study a lot about Shastas but even I didn't know (or even think) about the fact that an Airflyte would have a larger window than a 16 SC. Luckily, I discovered this at this point in the work. I just needed to make the opening larger to accommodate the bigger window. I removed all of the rear cross members to start fresh...

I redid all of the rear framing which was going to get redone anyway...

Going back to a few previously discussed items...

Here is a horrible shot of the grinding, priming and painting I did on the entire frame...

I also did the wheel wells which probably benefited more from this. They are on the verge of rusting away. I think the rust removal and paint will keep them serviceable for a while. All of this sort of thing is really easier when you do a complete frame off but that wasn't in the cards this go around. I had to make due with the options I have. It was a lot of work to spend that much time under the trailer but I feel better knowing I have done what I can to make sure it isn't rusting away.

I also got the new tires mounted on the rims...

Again. These will probably end up another color but I can do that later. I am still hunting for a good buy on vintage 15" caps. I have really been eyeing up early 50's Oldsmobile caps. I like the design they had. Then again I keep seeing other caps on ebay that I like also. Maybe at some point I can have more than one set of caps and could change them out to suit whatever mood we are in.

I am sure I will have more updates soon. Stay tuned...

Another Late Night Post...

2011-05-18T00:11:00.001-05:00

Lets get right to it...

I got my hubs finished finally. I removed the races because one was nicked and I thought it would be best to just redo both sides. It cost more than I had planned but it is peace of mind. After removing the races I took a flap disk and wire wheel to the hubs. They were looking rough. Here they are after the rust removal...

I primed and painted them with Rustoleum Professional Aluminum paint that I have been using for the frame and other parts. The paint won't last for ever but what the heck. It will stop them from rusting into oblivion. I installed the new races, packed the bearings, installed the grease seals and mounted the hubs. I will try to post the numbers and sources of the races, bearings, and seals at some point. This might help someone I guess. Here is my favorite picture...before and after...

I received my grease seals and outer bearings and races in the mail just yesterday. Unfortunately, the bearing supplier didn't ship me two sets like I ordered so I was only able to assemble and mount one side.

I also stripped and wire wheeled the three wheels. I primed and painted them with Rustoleum Metallic Silver. That is what I had on hand from other projects...

They don't look to bad. I think they will get repainted at some point. Probably the Cloudburst color we have picked for the body of the trailer. It may not matter too much as I plan on running full caps. I am still looking for some vintage caps that won't kill me budget wise. We are now $268 over budget so finding nice but affordable caps are is a challenge.

I also have been banging out the entrance door stuff. I assembled the Bargman L-66. If you are taking your lock apart remember to grease the parts. I put it 80% together before I realized I hadn't greased anything. I don't think it looks that bad...

I still think these things are junk. I don't like them at all especially for the money they command. If you are repairing and cleaning your lock here is the exploded view to help you out...

I finally finished the interior door panel. It didn't go that smooth. I did two coats with the shellac thinned with denatured alcohol on the advice of a VSTF member. It was looking a little on the light side color wise and I got cocky and applied the third coat full strength. That did not go well. I had to sand all of the finish off and start over. IT SUCKED! I did it all again but stuck with the thinned shellac this time. I think it looks pretty good...

You can see that I have dry fit the door lock. It took a ton of working on this. My "guide plate" broke in my hands so I had to fabricate a fix. Did I mention these locks suck? Here is the plate I had to make...

It seems to work. I spent WAY too much time making it and making it fit.

I got rid of the stupid hasp the PO put on and got us a RV door lock from VTS. Here is the dry fit of the deadbolt. I think it seems to work pretty well and looks a lot better than a hasp...

Sorry the picture is crappy. It was getting late. I stopped there because the shelter is about 15 feet from the neighbors bedroom window and I don't want to be a crappy neighbor and be hammering and drilling at 10 at night. Stay tuned for more...

Today's Progress...

2011-05-15T23:29:00.001-05:00

I spent a little time today at my second home...Menards. More money out the window. Today was VERY windy so I didn't get any painting done. Again. The wind was violent and consistent all day. Makes working in a shelter that once blew down very interesting. It seems that the new anchors are doing their job...

Today I got to work on the door. I rebuilt the frame and got it insulated. Sorry, no progress shots. Just the end result...

This is heavier than the original frame but it will eliminate the flex that the original frame had.

I cut the interior skin and got one coat of Bulls Eye Shellac on...

So far it looks pretty good. I got to few more coats with sanding in between. Hope to get this door done soon.

That is all for now. Only so much you can get done in a day. Stay tuned for more.

Rain Rain Go Away...

2011-05-14T22:34:00.000-05:00

Today was a horrible day weather wise. I really want to get the frame painted and a coat on the wheels but today was not a great day for that. Too windy, rainy and cold. Not painting weather. Tomorrow looks to be more of the same. Blah.

I tried to keep busy doing other things...

I wet sanded down the inside fridge vent panel. Here it is in progress...

You can see the scale on the left and the sanded on the right. I hate aluminum oxidation about as much as I hate rust.

Here is the LAST of our drip caps shined up. The last one being the door cap was knocked out today. I am very happy these are done. That is enough of doing those stupid things...

With the crappy weather I thought I would take some time to clean up the drip rails that I pulled off when I removed the lower skins. Here are the four I wire wheeled today...

There was a bunch of butyl tape both sticky and dry stuck on the back. The PO did a thick bead of silicone to seal the rails which also had to be removed. All of this will help later to make good seals when the time comes to put them back on. I gotta shoot some self etching primer on these. Maybe when the wind dies down.

I went to town on the wheel well trim with the wire wheel. These were loosing most of their paint and had very thick rust spots from the steel screws holding them on. There is a bit of electrolysis around the screw holes but nothing major. Before in the back and after in the front...

Here is another shot...

Nothing that will blow your skirt up in this post but I gotta stay on top of this stuff. Just trying to keep this current so I don't have to back track too much. I have a few more days left on my vacation so I am racing to get the most I can done before I go back to work. Stay tuned...

Work...Color...Work...Patterns...Work...

2011-05-13T20:29:00.000-05:00

Haven't had a blog post for a while.

I have been working hard on the trailer. Not much to show at the moment which is a bit frustrating. A few projects have been going on all at the same time. I have sanded, primed and started painting the trailer's frame from front to back. I have also wire wheeled the steel wheels and put on the first coat of primer. Sorry no pictures. I will cover that later.

I have also been busy buying parts and material left and right. We are hemorrhaging money. So much so that we are now $115 over budget. The sad part is we still have stuff to buy. Not good. Not good at all. It will all be worth it in the long run. Right? Anyone want to buy a kidney?

Because I don't actually have any projects completed I thought I would share the new interior scheme. Our laminate has seen better days we thought we would go with some new stuff. This spurred the whole change in the interior design. Here is the lineup...

First up: Paint. We picked Sherwin Williams Industrial paint for the exterior. "A" is a off white called "Marshmallow". The bottom color will be the "B" which is known as "Cloudburst".

"C" is our Pionite laminate called "Surfin USA".

"D" and "E" is marine vinyl for the seating made by Morbern.

"F" is our curtain material the "Daddy-O" in butter cream.

"G" is our flooring choice from Armstrong also known as "Butter Cream".

Lastly "H" is our awning from Marti is the Sunbrella pattern called "Easton Lagoon".

First I will say that the picture really doesn't represent the colors very well. They look much better and closer together in person. Just trust me on that. Yeah this is sort of a bush league post but I don't much to show for as much work as I have done lately. So... back to work.

Email me if you are interested in that kidney.

Parts Round Up...

2011-05-02T09:28:00.002-05:00

Jefferson Swap...

2011-05-01T16:33:00.003-05:00

I realized 20 minutes into owning this trailer that we would defiantly need a spare tire for this trailer. The problem is there wasn't one with the trailer. Hence the crap we had to deal with when we had our first blow out. I wanted to keep the style of steel wheel like it had originally. I realized that after getting the tires removed from the wheels that one was original to the trailer and one was a replacement. My local shop said I should look for the newer version to match the replacement and use the original for a spare. Where would I find a used steel 15" wheel with a 5 on 4 1/2" bolt pattern and a 3 3/4 backspace? Good question. Jefferson Swap Meet maybe?

I haven't been to Jefferson Swap Meet in quite awhile. Usually the weather sucks when we have gone in the past. This year it was pretty nice and warm. My Dad went with me on the mission to find the rim and a set of hubcaps. Only about 3 or 4 rows in I saw a vendor just setting up set the sea foam green wheel down in front of me. I grabbed my tape measure and everything looked good. $20 dollars was all the vendor wanted. Not a bad deal. Here is the "new" sea foam green wheel on the right with our other two...

I need to find someone to media blast this things so I can paint them up. Something like powder coat would be the best option for a finish but that is at a minimum over $100. Too pricy for our budget. I will have to stick with paint.

There were actually a few vintage trailers that vendors where using at the show. I ran into a kind old man (If I remember right he said he was in his 80's) and his son that had a 1963 Shasta 16 SC that he had owned for a few years. He gave me a tour and we talked a bit about his trailer. It was in the typical shape for a Shasta of that age. Water damage and that sort of thing. It was pretty much all original. One thing that was different was that he had the front gaucho instead of the more typical dinette. He did add more modern 12v lights in a few spots inside. The only big downside is that he had cut the wheel wells larger so he could fit a different size wheel and tire on it. It wasn't the best feature on a trailer this age but it could be fixed by someone with skill. The SC had the optional heater in it and stated that is why he bought the trailer. He said he sold the canvas bunk that was almost brand new and sold off the Shasta script badge. My Dad popped the question if it had wings when he bought it. "Yeah, I sold those for scrap a few years ago" he said. Dad and I let out a groan and I told him that those things go for around $200 now a days. He tried to keep a poker face when he asked if that was the case. You could tell he was rethinking that decision again.

He also mentioned a story about the trailer having a spare tire carrier on the back and loosing that on a trip and not realizing it until he got home. That must have been interesting for someone following him. He said that he may be leaving the parts business soon and would no longer have a need for the Shasta. I gave him some contact info and told him if he wanted to sell it that I could probably find a buyer for him. Not sure what he would want to sell it for but I might be a decent deal for someone.

Ultimately I did not find any hubcaps. There were plenty to choose from at the swap. The problem is that they are usually branded by the car manufacturer. I am looking for something more generic. My choices were to do a full size generic cap or find some baby moons and maybe do a beauty ring also. I found a vendor selling new made baby moon caps that fit the Ford style rims but they suck. The new caps are made in Taiwan and not what I would say a quality product. They are very thin and the chrome seems thin also. The vendor was selling them in sets of 4. First off I don't need a full set for $65 bucks. At the most I need 3. The cap on the top of the stack was nice and shiny. If you picked it up and turned it over it had rust on it already. The next one on the stack had small scratches in the chrome and more rust. The third had a tiny dent in the face. That was all I needed to see. $65 bucks for brand new scratched rusty caps? I don't think so. I think most vendors online sell the same thin crappy caps. Of course there was a guy at the swap selling full 15" Moon style caps but when I decided to go back to see if he still had them they were gone. So the hunt is still on for some hubcaps of decent quality.

Sorry for the lack of pictures in this post but there isn't much to show. Maybe more next week...

More Work. Nothing Done...

2011-04-30T01:56:00.002-05:00

Here we are again. I have done a ton of work on the trailer lately but nothing really done. I really want to keep up on the blog regardless. If I fall too far behind it takes forever to update this thing. Resizing pictures, uploading pics, writing stupid and poorly written comments... It all takes time. Enough complaining. Let's get to it then...

Where to start? I removed the curbside rear skin to see the horror. And really it wasn't that bad. I was surprised...

The back lower corner has a bit of rot. Nothing horrible or nothing that can't be fixed...

There is some more rot in the wheel well area...

All of this is getting replaced of course.

I removed the wheels and had the tires removed from the rims at a local shop so I could pay the rims some attention. As you can see from the picture above it is still wearing the Chrysler caps the PO had put on it. One was destroyed when it went flying off on the highway during the initial recovery. I had assumed that both wheels were the same. Not so. One was a older rim and one a slightly newer replacement according to my local shop. I don't know why but I didn't care. I needed to find a spare so maybe I could find a match to one of the two wheels. More on that later...

The hubs/drums look decent. Just need a cleaning...

When we towed it home I noticed a scraping noise in the wheels. I thought maybe the brakes were too tight or something. No. I pulled off the drums and found the brake tension adjuster (?) and spring were riding free inside the hubs. This was actually on both sides. I don't know if they had just adjusted them all the way out (to free up the brakes) and that caused them to come off? I don't know. I honestly don't know much about brakes. I will have to fix it if we plan to use the brake system...

I am also ordering new bearings, races, and seals which normally wouldn't be horrible but some of the numbers on the parts I have don't match up to some of the parts like eTrailer.com. Trying to figure out if I can get all the parts from just one place. Frustrating.

Another frustration is the fact that I can't seem to get 1/8 birch plywood anywhere in the Madison, WI area. Everyplace tells me they have to order it but the supplier is out of stock. One place in McFarland told me they could have 4'X8' sheets by the end of next week. Then I get the call today that he was wrong and I can't get it until June. WTF?!? I called 5 places the day I ordered. Looks like I have to make more calls to track this stuff down. I really didn't think it was going to be this hard. I really need it to have it on hand when I reach this part of the restoration. That won't be June. Again... frustrating.

Back to the resto...
I started sanding down the frame and coupler area to get it ready for primer and paint...

I started doing the bumper also. There was 3 or four layers of paint on both the coupler and bumper. I had to do paint stripper twice...

Then I realized that the skin was getting in my way. I was going to pull this anyway so it isn't the biggest deal to do this. Here it is pulled. I see the street side corner had a nasty leak and there is quite of rot on that side. You can see the first coat of primer on the coupler also...

One of my side projects was to clean up the door trim. On some parts there was a thick layer of gritty oxidation. I quickly wets anded the parts with 600 grit to get rid of most of the grit. Then I shined it up a bit with the Mother's Polish by hand. Here is the shot of the main door hinge...

I also pulled the fridge vent access door. This was REALLY oxidized on the inside. I'm not sure if this was from hot exhaust air from the refrigerator or what? It took me a while to cut through the scale. It didn't turn out to bad...

Another side project is to figure out the door lock situation. We had a broken outside handle on our trailer. One of the VSTF members named "Flyingham" donated a outside lock assembly so I could fix what I have. I also ran across and bid on a L-66 on eBay. I think I ended up getting a decent deal on it. The auction ended and I was surprised I had won. So here is the lineup. The top one is the donated half from Ham. Next is our original lock. Other than the broken handle, I never really though this looked that bad. Wow. Put it next to the eBay lock and it looks like crap...

Here is the locks taken apart and given a vinegar bath to remove rust on some of the pieces...

All of the parts out of the pool, cleaned up with steel wool. I should be able to make at least one really decent lock out of all these parts...

But... I haven't done it yet. So many things...so little time. I have more info but I'm tired so I will save it for later...

Stay tuned for more.

I Win...

2011-04-20T08:00:00.000-05:00

I win. I have finally defeated what was quickly becoming my nemesis. The front window. What a pain that was. A ton of parts to sand and polish. All of these parts start to look alike and confusion sets in. Rivets that were set, drilled out, and reset because of not paying attention. A lot of time was put into this beast. I do want to thank Molly for her help with setting the rivets.

It can be done. You can redo these things but you must be armed with determination, patience, and a whole arsenal of cuss words. Sorry for the crummy pictures in our dark basement but here it is...

Back to my real job for a bit...Stay tuned for more.

A Little Bit Of Everything...

2011-04-19T03:28:00.002-05:00

Ahhh... Where do I begin?

There has been a lot of things in progress but nothing completed. Just a bunch of started projects. I thought I would dump a bit here as to not get too far behind on the blog. Lets get to it...

Late last year I started to strip the floor of the original tiles that were covered with cheap linoleum. This project has been a pain. Of course it was stopped shortly before putting up the shelter and never picked back up because the weather quickly went to crap Wisconsin weather mode. I did find some rot near the main door when I removed the flooring. I also removed the front dinette benches and realized that the dinette structure was holding the wall near the door in place. Now that the bench structure is gone the wall moves freely. This means there is considerably more rot in the wall that will have to be addressed later. Here is the damage to the plywood floor and the wood directly under the threshold...

You can also see in that picture that there is no door trim. Now that the trailer is under wraps I can freely open it up. I pulled off the door, the door trim, and the drip cap above the door. Now that the trim and drip cap were removed I was able to look closer at the crack in the aluminum above the door. I found two other cracks that were hidden by the door trim...

I of course will have to address these also. The list grows longer...

Now with the door off the hinges I am able to really look at better. Here is the patient on the operating table...

The PO said that they "rebuilt" the door at one point. Well, given how much water was apparently running down the door I was expecting very bad things. I pulled the Bargman L-66 lock and drilled out the hasp. I HATE hasps. This is getting replaced with a deadbolt. Cleaning up the holes left by the rivets is going to take a bit of creative work. Anyway, I bit the bullet and cracked it open...

Just as I expected. The bottom is completely gone. I took apart the entire thing to clean the parts and build a new frame...

Mud Daubers were living in other parts of the trailer but apparently they were also subletting to some wasps...

I need to get my hands on some lumber and insulation to rebuild the door...someday soon.

I started cleaning up the door trim. There was quite a bit of oxidation on these pieces so they needed to be dealt with. I did a quick wet sand with 600 grit paper. Cleaned up the residue from the sanding with some mineral spirits and started to polish. I wanted to knock this out quickly so I opted to do this by hand with Mothers Polish. I don't care if it shines like a mirror and the thin aluminum dictated the hand polish. The bench buffer doesn't do that well with that thin stock. It's too aggressive. Here is the aluminum door trim cleaned up a bit...

It doesn't look too bad but you can see in this picture that the trim has been pretty abused over the years...

It is what it is. It won't be perfect and the polish brings out the defects. With the oxidation removed it does extend the life of the piece which is a good thing.

Next. I removed the front corner fixed windows. I told you this was a little bit of everything. I really don't have any progress pictures of this. The windows were REALLY chock full of silicone. These windows are notorious for leaking. I guess the PO combated this with applications of silicone. There were some very hard clumps that tell me they did this more than once. These windows really are a poor design. Here are one of the problems with these things. You can see that over the years the Heer Standard Glass Seal has shrunk. The PO pumped silicone in there to attempt to fix the problem...

I also started to remove the rear bed so I could continue to remove the flooring. No pictures of that. I did run into a snag when trying to remove the nightstand. It was secured from the outside before the skin was applied. Time to remove the panel. The screws holding on the drip rail were horribly rusted so it made the process incredibly slow. After struggling with screw after screw you sit and see this...

A long line of screws ready to give you a headache. Finally I was able to power though and remove the rear panel...

I started removing the rock wool to get a better idea of what damage that stupid AC unit had done. Here is some of the worst...

The cross brace was so brittle and rotted it crumbled in my hand. This cross piece must have collected the water that was shedding down the back of the trailer and spread it across the plywood panel under it. As you can see in this photo the panel is completely gone directly under that point...

I removed the two panels right above in the last photo. I was able to see that at one point the street side of the trailer had a leak in the corner. This is indicated by the color and the delamination of the plywood strip. It isn't the worst I have seen out there but it's never a welcome site...

The curb side edge looks a lot better...

You can see that it isn't dark colored and the nails have little rust on them. I hope I find more in good shape like this but I'm guessing no.

Sooo... That is a little bit of everything.

Stay tuned for more...

Screen Door Rehab...

2011-04-10T08:00:00.001-05:00

Having a job is great when you need to pay a few bills but it doesn't facilitate a lot of trailer restoration. Soooo... It has been slow going. I have off a few days in the next month so perhaps it will speed up around here. Lets get to it...

Here is the screen door still mounted in the trailer. At first glance it doesn't look too shabby but looks can be deceiving...

The door was pulled not long after getting the trailer and stripped of all the crap. There was broken plastic bits, leather straps, and odd brackets screwed into it...

I'm not sure what happened here. I'm not sure if they pulled it or if the wind ripped it off. It was removed at one point and put back on with more holes. Hopefully this doesn't cause problems down the road when I have to reinstall it...

I did a quick wet sand and tried to even out the surface. The frame was pretty scratched and banged up. When you polish that it just points out the flaws. The frame did need the attention. The surface was gritty which means that it is starting to oxidize. Let it go and it will start to pit. Most of the scratches came out. The dents remain. There is no way to fix that on a frame like this. All of the extra holes will get some attention also. The door frame got a polish which was a huge pain. I struggled to get it done on the 6" buffer and a bit of polishing with the drill. After I also wanted to add some pieces to the door to add some stiffness and dress it up a bit. The door had a too much flex in it. This may work. It may not. I used flat stock aluminum from Menards that I trimmed to size. I put three cross pieces near the slider and one on each end. I drilled a few "speed holes" in the 3 near the slider just for some style. It is a hot rod trick thing that I really dig. I think it looks cool on aluminum. After I polished them up very quickly and I then riveted it to the frame. I then installed new aluminum screen and splines. Sorry, I really don't have pictures of this process but here is the end result...

And here are the cross pieces with the holes drilled in...

There was a bracket here that was removed and filled the holes with stainless screws and finish washers...

Here are my favorites...before and afters...

I added a chrome dished cabinet knob on the inside. There was a hole there anyway so what the heck. You can see that I filled a few smaller holes here and there with aluminum pop rivets. It looks a lot better than a empty hole...

I am sure that the polish will make this a scratch and fingerprint magnet for a while until the finish dulls. I am fairly happy with the way it turned out. It is JUST a screen door. This may seem silly to post piece after piece when I get them done. However, in this case the trailer as a whole may be measured by the sum of it's parts. Ok, that was lame but it is true. I hope that the attention to detail will pay off in the end. More to come...

Shelter Sweet Shelter...

2011-04-07T14:45:00.000-05:00

Some work to make more work...

I finally had time and decent weather to get the shelter put back up. It was a pain but it will facilitate the work that needs to get done later. The broken pieces were replaced and the tarp patched. I anchored the shelter with a much better system to replace the previously broken anchors. Here it is back inside the shelter...

I even installed 3 shop lights to give some general overhead lighting. I will use other work lights that I can move around in and around the trailer when I need it. These lights will allow me to work past sun down...

The shelter is large but you can see that it is a bit tight on the sides. I gave myself more room on the curbside for the door to swing. I will have to move the trailer to really work on the street side...

Here is the damage that occurred when the shelter was blown around. It is not the end of the world but I was excited to find a trailer that needed very little skin repair. This repair is in such a unfortunate location. It isn't a simple fix...

Hopefully the shelter will make the rest of the restoration easy and quicker than if we had not had it. I am crossing my fingers that the shelter stays up this time around. No more wind storms please. Stay tuned for more soon.

Louise and the Blustery Day...

2011-03-31T08:36:00.003-05:00

A few folks have asked about the status of the trailer resto. I don't have any progress pictures or before/after shots. Just a little tale. Well, it goes a little something like this...

Last October my folks grew tired of listening to me complain that I had nowhere to fix the trailer. A nice sized Shelter Logic shelter went on sale at Menards and they were awesome and plopped down some cash for one. My Dad was cool and not only helped me go down to Janesville once to pick up the shelter but went back down again to get the second box that should have came home with us the first time around. Dad also helped me put together the shelter skeleton which is a pain but we got it done. We put on the tarps later with the help of my friend Kurt. All was well. I was happy as hell. I thought the shelter would serve as a great home for the trailer this last winter. Things didn't remain great for long.

About 1 week after getting the shelter up we had some trouble blow in. We were set to have a pretty good size wind storm come in one day. I thought it would cause some problems but wasn't thinking it would cause the catastrophe it caused. I had come home from work in the morning and waited up for a guy that was set to come to do a home inspection around 11:00am. The wind had already started to blow by the time I had gotten home. I went out and put a few more good sized stakes in the ground to help out the insanely small sized anchors that came with the shelter. I was planning to get a better set of anchors in the ground at some point. It just didn't happen in the small time frame after getting the shelter up.

Anyway, I kept looking out the window a little nervous about how it was going to fair in the increasing winds. About 15 minutes before the guy was suppose to show up to do the inspection I looked out the kitchen window to see the shelter crumpled in the front and in a odd position. I raced outside to find the shelter had broken some of the tiny cables and pulled a few anchors and stakes out of the ground. The back of the shelter had been blown up on to the Shasta. One of the feet of the shelter was blowing back and forth on the skin making a deep rut in the aluminum and opening part of the Pittsburgh seam. I pushed the shelter off of the trailer and tried to hold it down while I though about my options. While I was struggling trying to hold the shelter in place with my weight the winds kept blowing. The shelter was a horribly shaped kite in the wind and literally picked my big ass up off the ground and threw me into the back of the trailer a few times. So I franticly called Molly to call the inspection guy and cancel the inspection. The guy ended up showing up while I was using my body weight to hold the shelter. I told him to just do the inspection while I figure out what to do. Molly raced home and helped me hold the frame as I tried to take off the main tarp. Once I got the main tarp off the skeleton was more manageable to stake back down. The skeleton was bent up a bit in the front door area but wasn't that bad over all. Just a bit out of shape. I moved the trailer out of what was the shelter and inspected the damage a little closer. So far I haven't been able to see any cuts in the skin so that was one plus but it will be a lot of cosmetic repair besides repairing the Pittsburgh seam.

We left the shelter staked in place while we waited for the storm to stop and I could get some sleep. The storm went on for another 24 hours or so. It wasn't done doing it's damage. The back fixed tarp panel of the shelter isn't easy to take off so we left it in place. That panel acted like a sail during the remaining winds and crumpled the rest of the shelter down to the ground. The winds had broken many of the bolts and twisted and bent a bunch of the poles. Later I took down the rest of the shelter. I placed a order for almost 200 dollars in replacement parts to Shelter Logic. I was defeated.

I hate to sound so dramatic about the situation but that was how I felt. I pretty much threw a tarp over the Shasta and walked away. I didn't want to think about it at all. I was pretty burnt out by that point. I think it was about a month ago I started thinking about the project again. Sooooo.....

Right now I am putting up the shelter again. I am also working again on the front window restoration and rehabbing the screen door at the same time. Before the shelter incident I was scraping up the crappy linoleum and original tile in the Shasta. Once I can open up the trailer again I will be trying to finish up that mess. I have a ton of work to do. It is a bit daunting at this point.

Stay tuned for more!

VSTF Stickers Now In Stock!!!

2011-03-24T23:38:00.002-05:00

I am happy to announce that VSTF stickers are now for sale. The stickers are printed on outdoor grade vinyl and measure 4.5" X 3". These are premium quality stickers and should hold up to weather on your trailer or tow vehicle.

The price for these stickers are $5.00 USD EACH or BUY 3 & GET ONE FREE.

The price includes shipping in the US.

Please see the VSTF thread for more details...

Parts Round Up...

2011-01-29T03:45:00.001-06:00

Merry Xmas From The VSTF & Shasta Louise...

2010-12-09T10:23:00.001-06:00

Reconditioned Spring-A-Grab Handle...

2010-07-22T00:20:00.000-05:00

It's all about little victories with "Louise". I like to tackle the little stuff while doing the big things. One reason is to to take my mind off of being bogged down on a big project. The other reason is to have stuff like this done when it comes time to button everything back up.

As you can see our Bargman Spring-A-Grab handle shown below is in real rough shape. The crappy pot metal these things are made of don't hold up real well. The thin chrome job they were given chips and flakes off exposing the metal below that quickly starts to oxidize and begins to pit badly. This isn't something that can be buffed out of the chrome. The chrome is basically gone. I would love to get these original pieces re-chromed but that may be a huge waste of money. Besides a few pieces sent to the chrome shop would be out of our budget. I thought I would paint instead.

The picture of the handle prior to hitting it with a wire wheel to remove the flaking chrome and scuff the surface...

After wire wheeling the hell out of it and hitting a few spots with some heavy sand paper I cleaned and sprayed the first coat of primer. You can see that I am using Duplicolor Self Etching Primer. I thought I would give Duplicolor a shot even though it is a little bit pricey Vs something like Krylon. I would think of using Rustoleum if I hadn't used Duplicolor. I have had good luck in the past with some of Rustoleum products but went with a the Duplicolor because they spray well and seem to look real good. I'm not sure about durability but we will get into that more later...

You can see here that it the pitting looks like the surface of the moon...

The pitting is so bad that a filler is needed. I thought for a bit that I could use a Filler Primer but it was really just that bad so I used Bondo's Glazing & Spot Putty. The stuff works real well. Just spread it on and sand it down. Once you sand smooth just go ahead and prime with a regular primer. I went back and forth sanding and priming until I figured it would be fine to spray the top coat...

I used Duplicolor's Chrome paint. It laid down real nice. I can't rally complain. It looks pretty good for a rattle can paint. I could have done better with the filling and sanding the primer to give me a smoother overall finish. One reason is I didn't because it started out as a test to see if the process would work. Second is that it is just a stupid grab handle...

Here is my big reservation... I hope it holds up for a few years. No chrome paint is ever real tough. I'm just hoping that it isn't a chipped and cracked mess in a couple seasons. Time will only tell. At this point I'm pretty happy with the outcome. The Bargman licence plate light will soon get the similar treatment. I believe that the interior lights will also. Stay tuned for those.

Little Progress...

2010-07-09T05:08:00.000-05:00

It has been entirely too long since my last post. I have been working here and there but it seems to be REAL slow going at this point. I also have to say that I am TIRED of working on windows. It is becoming a real drag to work on them. I have pulled the front window and that thing is a bear. I am almost done wet sanding that and will be moving on to polish. I'm very ready to do other things. But here is my update...

Here are the curbside Jalouise window and the "kitchen" Jalouise window screens. I polished these up and fit new screen material and splines. It isn't a real WOW picture but it is progress...

I was finally able to get the kitchen window back together today. It had been polished but I needed to get a time when Molly and I could sit and rivet the mechanisms back together. I need someone to hold the pieces while I hammer them back together. Having a rambunctious two year old in the house makes it terribly tough to sit and get stuff like that done. However, the kitchen window is now crossed off the list...

Just some detailed shots...

The newly riveted mechanisms look and more importantly work so much better than before. You would be surprised how much those old steel rivets would bind up the operation. I also dig out all of the old dirty grease from the torpedo opener's gears. I add new grease and it seems to help also...

New seals for the window. Look at that crud built up in the window. Looks so much better now...

That is it for now. Nothing major but I can cross it off the list.

On a side note... the Vintage Shasta Trailer Forum is doing very well lately. A LOT of new members showing up with newly purchased Shastas. I have been having to devote more and more time over there. That is a good thing but taking time away from restoration. But I guess that is a good thing.

Reproduction Shasta Plate Available For PreOrder...

2010-05-17T21:57:00.000-05:00

I contacted Steve from Vintage Trailer Supply a little while ago to see if he would be interested in reproducing the green factory nameplates that Shasta put on their trailers. The nameplates indicated which factory the trailer was assembled at and the address of that factory. I sent Steve my original name plate and he was able to get it in the reproduction process. I got to hand it to him. The plate artwork looks spot on...

The plates are not in stock yet. They are still being produced. Steve said they would be a few weeks out. However you can sign up to be notified when they are done. Go to the link below and click "Email Me When In Stock". You will receive the email when they are available. The current price is $12.99.

At this time VTS is just doing the Goshen, IN plant because that is the plate I sent him. If you have a plate from another factory and would like to have it reproduced. Get in contact with Steve and send him your plate. He will most likely give you a reproduction plate for your troubles. He is interested in doing the other factory plates but needs a original example to get it accurate.

Follow the link to the nameplate page...
VINTAGE TRAILER SUPPLY SHASTA NAMEPLATE- GOSHEN, IN

Ironing Board Update...

2010-05-13T08:57:00.001-05:00

My suspicions were on track and THIS is in fact a ironing board storage bracket. A few folks were nice enough to point it out and give me the info I needed. VSTF member Distant75 sent me some additional info...

Here are the measurements he sent me...

I hope to reproduce this item for our trailer at some point. It is one of those original features that makes the Shasta a Shasta. Again, not a critical item but hey, I think it is a feature from a bygone era. You don't usually see a ironing board in a 16 foot trailer now a days. Not exactly looking forward to ironing my slacks at a State park or anything like that. I hope this helps another owner recreate their ironing board if they wanted to.

Curb Side Jalouise Window Part 2...

2010-04-29T21:32:00.000-05:00

Made more progress and was able to get the window riveted and back together...

I ordered new aluminum DF11-10-ST rivets from Hanson Rivet & Supply Co. I have to say thank you to VSTF member Joek for the information on which rivets to buy. They are spot on and were a needed replacement. I bought the overpriced squeezer dies from Hanson to set the rivets but didn't get the hand tool to put the dies in. Those tools are CRAZY expensive and I didn't want to blow more budget on something like that. Having done a bit hand riveting while leather working I knew I could do it with a hammer. The softer aluminum rivets are pretty easy to set unlike something like a steel rivet. I just took the bottom die and placed it in a mini vice I have. The other die got stuck into a socket screwdriver that was just about the right size. I set one on my own and it worked fine. The problem was I needed another hand to hold the part while I held the screwdriver and hammer. I roped Molly into the project and she became that third hand. She was a good sport about it and was a big help. The rivets were pretty easy to get to roll and flare.

Here you can see the steel rivets the Hehr factory put in their windows and the new replacement rivets in the cleaned up parts. You can see some pitting on these parts still remains but overall they look a hundred times better...

Here you can see the right side (as you are looking at it from the outside) with the new felt weather strip installed. 8 rivets per side. Some advice for anyone out there taking their Jalouise windows apart: Take pictures before you take it apart. That way you know how to put it back together. It can get a bit confusing and you don't want to have to drill out rivets you just set...

Here is the outside of the window. As you can see the steel rivets are done and barely holding on. Shined up and new aluminum rivets now set. They will probably last longer than the trailer...

Here is the whole window before and after. The after is missing the insect screen in the picture...

Here you can see the bulb seal and the felt strip weatherstrips...

Just some details. The window works so much better and I'm not so worried about breaking the opening mechanism gears...

And thats really is about it. I have been saying that I will do a in depth step by step for folks that want to redo their Jalouise but that process is pretty time consuming. I just want to keep moving on with the project. Thats it for now.

Ironing Board Storage Bracket???

2010-04-29T01:56:00.001-05:00

Alright boys and girls...

What the heck is this. Is it a storage area for one of those cutting-board-slot-mounted-ironing boards?

This is in the back of my long cabinet on the curb side. I am wondering if it is factory. I know some trailers came with the ironing board that slid into the cutting board slot. The bracket looks pretty decent in it's construction like it could come from the factory. The bracket rotates on the one mounting screw. Whatever it secures would be flat enough to sit against the back of the cabinet. There appears to be a slot in the bottom of the cabinet that would accept something like a board.

I dunno. Anyone have an original ironing board the could measure? If I have the measurements for one of the ironing boards I think I could determine if it is mounted in the right place to fit one in. I'm really curious about this.

Curb Side Jalouise Window Part 1...

2010-04-28T00:01:00.000-05:00

I had a pretty good day today. I pulled the "kitchen" Jalouise window and a few drip caps to get polished. I also removed a lot of the stuff from inside the trailer. I pulled the interior lights, bunk brackets, and started removing the cabinet doors. Nothing major but it really gives you a idea of what you need to wrap you head around and concentrate on. I hope to soon sand and re-shellac the cabinet doors and drawer fronts. It isn't mission critical but something that can take awhile and there isn't reason to rush a project like it. I'm still tackling one thing at a time.

Ultimately, I still need to find a shelter to get the trailer in so I can really dig into it. I can't move ahead with pulling some of the skin back and repairing some of the rot. Opening up the trailer to get things repaired to move ahead with the projects needs to happen at some point. My painting process itself will take a few days itself. I have been trying to track down one of those portable shelters that I can store it under. Most I find on Craigslist are too small, junky, or not tall enough. Cheap is the name of the game here. I don't have a budget that I can just go to a supplier like Shelter Logic and buy one so I have been scouring Craigslist trying to find a used one that works. I will keep everyone in the loop on that side project.

Back to the restoration...

Here is the curb side Jalouise window. I pulled this window a while ago. You can see most of it in that jumble of parts I showed you before. I pulled it apart to really give it a good polish. Unfortunately you can't do that when the window is whole. One of the downsides of these windows is the the were assembled with steel tubular rivets. The rivets on my Jalouise widows are almost completely gone. I will be replacing them with aluminum rivets. The level of oxidation of the aluminum was surprising also. I really wasn't expecting what I found. There was quite a bit of pitting on some parts like the lower sill. The rubber seals were hard and brittle and there was hardly any pile left on the strips. Everything will also get replaced. Here is the window straight from the trailer...

I really didn't take too many shots of the window before I disassembled it. Everything got the wet sand and polish treatment. I am still loving that buffer. It does a great job on these thicker frame pieces...

Good looking stuff...

Here are the glass holders and rods....

And thats it for now...

I did get my new rivets. Now I just have to set them, reinstall the seals, and reassemble the window. Look for a part 2 soon.

More Shiny Stuff...

2010-04-19T22:16:00.000-05:00

Not a huge post today but sometimes it's the little stuff that counts...

I finished up some of the window trim today. Here you can see the small bathroom window interior trim (inner), the curbside Jalouise window insect screen frame (middle), and the curbside Jalousie window interior trim (outer)...

They turned out alright even though the 6" bench buffer likes to grab these really thin pieces and try to turn them into pretzels. I learned a small trick to take a long thin piece of 3/4" scrap plywood and hold it in inside the 90 degree angle to support the thin frame. This allows you to put some pressure on the piece without bending it. This also doesn't allow the wheel to grab the edges of the trim. I did have a few times before the wooden support where the buffer would yank the trim and damage it. Oh well. Live and learn I guess.

Here is then curbside Jalouise window drip rail and the small bathroom drip rail. The side by side of the before and after really shows how the wet sanding along with the new buffer really does a nice job...

I have actually crossed this pile of parts off of my polishing list. I am just waiting for my new rivets to come so I can can put my Jalouise window back together. I hope they come in a day or so. They better. I'm getting worried. Anyway... I will update this when they do finally show and I'm able to get it back together.

Hehr Bathroom Window Resto...

2010-04-18T01:38:00.001-05:00

I managed to knock another window of the list today.

The Hehr Standard pop-out bathroom window really wasn't in bad shape. The textured glass was there and solid I have noticed that even though there isn't much damage the aluminum on all of the trailer's existing windows was starting to oxidize. It is a good thing they are getting attention now. I disassembled the windows and wet sanded all of the aluminum.

I picked up a 6" Craftsman Buffer from Sears the other day. WOW... what a difference it makes in polishing. I still use my drill and buffing cones to get into the hard to reach places but the 6" wheels really get the shine to come out quicker and is less mind numbing.

Once polished I put in a new Hehr gasket from VTS and reassembled the window using their Hehr Standard fasteners. I think it turned out real nice. The polish looks so much better than the last window.

Click on the pictures for a better view...

SHINY!!!

The details. You can actually read the Hehr LA Calif now...

One more down...

Quickie Update...

2010-04-02T05:37:00.000-05:00

Because I know someone out there cares...

I'll be wet sanding until my hands fall off.

I'm in a downright foul mood...

2010-04-01T01:54:00.002-05:00

First: The Formica dinette table top epoxy experiment failed. The two part epoxy was just too thick and wouldn't spread out real thin for me. I attempted to squeegee the epoxy so it would lay down in a nice thin layer while filling the voids and making a nice shiny layer. This didn't work. It just started to streak. So ultimately the finish is uneven and rippled. No good.

I don't think even wet sanding would solve the problem. SOOOOO.... We are on the market for new laminate. Not really what I wanted to do but maybe this will be something that will be better in the long run. Now that the yellow Formica is going bye-bye we may even be changing the color schemes we had picked. The jury is still out.

Part two: Vintage Trailer Supply started carrying a new product. Now that isn't the bad thing. I'll explain. First the product...

Trail-Lite Rebuild Kit

This kit includes most of the small parts you need to refurbish your 1950s Bargman Trail-Lite license light.

Kit includes:

bulb socket with single pigtail
bulb
custom gaskets for both ends of glass lens
two stainless cover screws

Kit does not include:

main casting
clear glass lens
outer cap (red lens version sold separately)
license bracket (sold separately)

Awesome huh? Even has a decent price for $9.99. What is the bad part? The kit does not include the clear glass cylinder lens. Today while messing around with my Trail-Lite and trying out the new red glass outer cap lens the clear glass lens fell off the table and shattered. The lens was cracked but I was going to use it anyway with a cleaning and some epoxy to help that crack stay together. Not now.

Does anyone know where to get something that can act as the clear lens for the Trail-Light? There has to be some cylinder shaped object that can be modified to work. I looked through our spice cabinet looking for some container that could be cut to work. Nothing. I'm sure I may be able to find something that works somewhere. I just figure that someone else has solved this problem.

Nothing left to do but wet sand some aluminum... blah.

Space City Trailer Club Patch...

2010-03-22T21:32:00.001-05:00

I picked up this trailer club patch off of Ebay. Finally got it today...

I'm not sure how old it is. The image of the trailer and the chain stitching suggest it is is 60's. Houston didn't receive the nickname Space City until 1967. I suppose folks could have been using the nickname before the city gave themselves the name? I dunno. I couldn't find anything about this club. I'm guessing they are defunct. I love the patch though...

It is a nice big patch too. 5.5 inches X 11 inches. Now I have to find a vintage style jacket to put it on. The weird part... I bought it from a guy in Canada. How did it get way up there???

Dinette Table Resto...

2010-03-21T23:35:00.002-05:00

Started work on the dinette table. The PO had covered the original yellow and gold flecked Formica with a thin white cheapo formica type stuff. You can see from the picture below there is quite a bit of glue still on the yellow Formica even after I scraped a bunch off...

This sucks. Thats all I can say...

A picture of nails? Yeah. This is something that should NOT be used anywhere near aluminum trim. Ring shank nails. WHY!?!?! Some days I wonder where some folk's heads are. Once they laid down the crappy white Formica stuff they reattached the trim piece with ring shank nails. As Red Dirt would say... this does not make me happy...

Once I got the aluminum trim off the top Formica comes right off. It is glued to Masonite. The Masonite is not attached to the plywood table. I found this logo. From what I can tell is that Roseburg is still in business but they don't make Resin-TITE anymore. I don't know why but I love finding stuff like this...

I spent some time with a scraper and a whole lot of Goo Gone. There is a few problems that need to be addressed...

There is a few deep scrapes and the dark spots. I tried to get the spots off but they aren't going anywhere. The gold flecks that are at the surface actually rust.

I think the dilemma here is that we actually want the original Formica if we can keep it. We dig the vintage aspect of owning a vintage trailer. So keep the chewed up Formica or replace it? Thats the dilemma...

If we decide to keep the original it needs some protection. I was thinking of getting some of that 2 part epoxy that is made for bar tops. If it was nice and thin it could serve as good protection and fill some of those deep nicks and scratches. It won't get rid of the dark spots but maybe the dark spots add to the character. Maybe not. Maybe a material replacement is the better route. Anybody have any ideas? Let me know.

The table leg is a bit chewed up also. The damage is from a eye bolt in the floor. Not sure how to remedy this. I may sand the whole leg and turn it around so the deep scratches are facing the rear. That or replace the whole leg with new wood...

I'm also not real excited about this aluminum hinge on the leg. It isn't the most secure and a bit bent up. I bought a new heavier hinge to swap this one out. I also have to sort out a way to hold the leg in the down position without that stupid eye bold in the floor...

Even the aluminum trim was a pain. It is so big and awkward that polishing is a pain. But it is done. The areas around every hole is sorta messed up from pounding in those nails...

I need to come up with a few solutions before I move forward on the table. I will keep everyone posted.

Interior Trim...

2010-03-21T02:07:00.001-05:00

Just a quickie post...

I pulled all of the interior aluminum trim pieces to clean, wet sand and polish. Mostly counter top trim. There is a sink trim piece and the roof vent trim piece there also...

The good ol' before and after shot...

They were a bit scratched up from general wear and tear but they will be fine. I can't wait to re install them. However, that is long down the list of things to do.

More Parts...

2010-03-09T22:30:00.003-06:00

Not the most exciting thing in the world but I got a drip rail knocked out. Luckily the drip rail for the rear window that was removed for the AC unit was saved and found in the trailer. Here we go...

Here it is in the raw. It isn't in real bad shape just needs a polish...

I started wet sanding with 400 grit and 600 grit. Finished up with 1500 grit. I did this all very quickly but it needed the corrosion removed...

It still had the dried putty on the back of the drip rail. I use a very fine wire wheel chucked in my drill to go at the crud. I only use the wheel on the back of the drip rail because I think the wheel is too aggressive for the front that I want to be very smooth and shiny. The point is to get nice smooth surface for the new putty to stick to when it is reinstalled on the trailer.

The backside cleaned of any residue...

Here is the front side again. Now polished. I'm still not happy with the final product but it is much better than when is started. Like I said before, the thinner aluminum does give up a real deep reflective shine that other thicker pieces do. Oh well.

This shot is only because I love the before and after shots...

One down... 8 more drip rails to go.

The Best Trailer EVER Is Now For Sale...

2010-02-26T22:44:00.002-06:00

On the Atomic Addiction blog I did a tiny write up about the 1960 Holiday House Model "X" (later named The Geographic). You can see that HERE.

I loved this thing the first time I saw it. The trailer is very rare and is now for sale on Craigslist of all places. Here is the info off of Craigslist...

1960 One of A Kind Retro Trailer Home Original Showroom Model - $135000 (West Hollywood)

"For sale is an original prototype, showroom model Travel Trailer built in 1960 with a design years ahead of its time. This "Trailer for the Rich" was designed by David H. Holmes, owner of Harry & David, and Chuck Pelly, an engineer and designer of BMW race cars.
The "Geographic Model X" was originally listed for sale in 1960 for $8,495 (In 1960 you could buy a house for $13,000). It includes a living area with two (2) fold out sofa-beds, kitchenette with teak cabinetry, Original Norcold Refrigerator and two pairs of wall foldout Magic Chef brand gas stove burners and a Magic Chef Oven (all appliances are in perfect working condition). Original receipts, invoices, advertisments and promotional items have all been retained and preserved (available on website below). I purchased this trailer and put my heart and soul into restoring it. This is my personal luxury antique one-of-a-kind land Yacht! There has been tremendous media buzz regarding this unique trailer in the LA Times, the Harry and David Frutier and other publications.
You can find a full description, history, and additional pictures at ***** http://www.1960prototype.com This antique, one-of-a-kind trailer should only appreciate in value, unlike new trailers that will be guaranteed to depreciate tremendously. Serious buyers only please. Please reply to this post and I will contact you back at my earliest convenience. Willing to consider possible 1035 exchange. I hope you enjoy this piece of history and I look forward to speaking with you soon. "
-
In my opinion the inside is a bit too nice and modern. Some how it looks like some swanky modern hotel on the inside and an awesome Jetsons car on the outside. HOWEVER... if you have $135,000 to buy it I would bet you have the kind of money that you could make it look like anything you want. Really it doesn't matter. I think it belongs in the RV/MH Hall of Fame. It just wouldn't seem right camping such a rare travel trailer. I wonder if it will sell???

Updated Listing: http://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst/rvs/1626155500.html

Hehr Window Restoration (Part II)...

2010-02-20T04:25:00.000-06:00

I had an opportunity to finish up work on the rear window. You can see part one here. A few more hours of work has brought me here...

I continued cleaning up the main inner and outer frames of the window. On the left you can see the inner frame when I got it. After it didn't shine up REAL well but it looks a lot better...

You can see the new replacement galvanized window screen from Vintage Trailer Supply is now installed. I had to use pop rivets to re install the retention "?" plate rather than the large tubular rivets that were originally on them. Works fine and it's hard to notice the difference. Those plates look good don't they?..

These "U" shaped channels that support the inner window frame was one of the worst parts of this whole restoration. What a pain in the butt. They were really messed up but the hardest part is that they are small enough that it is almost impossible to get real good tools in there to clean out the corrosion. It took forever and it isn't great but it is better than before. The spring loaded plate now rides freely...

I had some new glass cut and I replaced the smoke damaged plexi-glass. I also installed the new Hehr standard glass seal and glazing tape from VTS. I did notice when trying to polish the frames and thinner pieces of the window that they didn't shine up as great as I liked. Oh well. What are you going to do?

New nuts and screws from VTS. You can see some more of the corrosion that wouldn't leave...

Here you can see the glass frame joined with with the main frame...

Man... these things turned out nice...

And opened up...

One more beauty shot. I love it....

Ultimately, it took a lot of work but I'm pretty happy with it. Now on to more and more parts!

Louise Is Now On Facebook?

2010-01-20T13:24:00.000-06:00

Let me start out by saying I hate Facebook. Yep. Hate it. I really have no interest talking to people from high school and so called "long lost friends". If we were such great friends we would talk often so we wouldn't need Facebook. I run two blogs and a vintage trailer forum so I don't really have time to sit around and look at people's lives that I really don't care about. People also seem to work "for" Facebook and don't make Facebook work for them. Given that I am not a fan of Facebook I want to make it work for me like a rented mule...

HOWEVER... If by using Facebook I can be better connected to other vintage Shasta owners than so be it. This is the reason that Louise is on Facebook but not me. My purpose is to connect with other owners and add just another way to keep together. My goal is to make Shasta owners as cohesive as Airstream owners.

Soooo... if you are on Facebook and are a Shasta owner then please add LOUISE as a contact.

Also I made a page for the Vintage Shasta Trailer Forum. Hey... If I'm going to make Facebook my slave I might as well go the whole way...

The VSTF on Facebook.

Sadly, I'm sure this will be another waste of time but it is worth a shot.

Hehr Window Restoration...

2010-01-19T23:17:00.000-06:00

As you saw earlier I got an rear window replacement for the trailer. The "new" window is from a trailer that was burned out. The poor old window took quite a beating. I don't know if the heat made the window aluminum super-oxidize or not but it is A LOT worse than most I have seen. There is a thick scale and soot (I'm guessing) on all of the parts. It smells like a camp fire. The inner parts are a lot worse than the outer. See for yourself... (you can click on the any of the pictures for a larger view)

You can barely see the spring plate. It is in there somewhere..

I started taking the window apart. Of course there were snags. The screw where completely rusted together. I didn't want to wait on a penetrator to do it's magic so I went to work with a Dremel...

This is what you get for your troubles. A cap full of busted screws. I ordered new screws from Vintage Trailer Supply they should be here soon.

Who knew there were so many parts to these windows?

You can see the nasty parts are now disassembled...

Parts of the frame where pretty bent up...

I used my pliers to straighten them out...

I started cleaning and refinishing all of the parts. I used 250 grit sandpaper, a fine wire wheel, a green scotch brite pad, mineral spirits and steel wool to really try to remove all of the crap. It took a very long time to cut through it. Of course all of those abrasives really messed up the aluminum finish. I then went to work wet sanding all of the pieces. I started with 320 grit working my way up to 1500 grit. I used 320, 400, 600, and 1500 grit waterproof sandpaper from Gator Finishing Products. Here is the results from about 10 hours of wet sanding...

You can see it is quite of a improvement. There are bunch of swirl marks and tiny scratches in the finish. However it is a great jumping off point for the polish...

My polishing supplies came today from Caswell Plating. Here is the result from a bit of trying out the polish on the lifter arms. The one on the left is wet sanded and the one on the right is polished...

Maybe you can see the reflection of the camera in the polished lifter arm?

It is not perfect but then again it is a world of difference than what I started with. The finish would also be better if the parts were better to begin with. I'm happy with it. I think I have about 18 hours or so in this window and I'm not done yet. More polish and reassembly. Yeah, I know what you are saying.."Are you out of your mind? At this rate you won't be done until 2025." Yes and no... For one I want to do it right the first time. Why not? I won't have to touch this window for quite sometime. I shouldn't have even half of the issues with the rest of the windows in our trailer. Those windows should be a quick wet sand and polishing.

Like I said, still more work to do in the polishing department. I have to get a new piece of glass cut for it and I'm waiting on a package from VTS. Then reassembly with new gaskets and seals. I will keep you all up to date on any progress.

The Date Is Set...

2010-01-08T09:45:00.000-06:00

What date? The Vintage Trailer Rally in Montello, WI. That is my make-believe deadline.

We attended this event as spectators last year. It looked like a good event. I want to go to this year's rally. Can I make it? Will Louise be done in time? Will the the vintage Shasta gods smile upon us? Man, I hope so. It's a question only answered by two elusive things...money and time. Wish us luck.

Here is the information on the rally...

MIDWEST VINTAGE TRAILER RALLY

Montello, WI

August

12,13,14,15

All vintage trailer makes and models welcome!
Step back in time, enjoy ,Trailer Show-n-Shine, Burger Contest, Lawn Chair Drive-In, Pot luck and much more!!
Special guest
Al Hesselbart
Vintage RV Historian
Check schedule for details

$130.00 standard site*
$150.00 Premium sites
Includes 3 nights/4 days and all rally activties
*Price based on 2 adults, and 2 children. Add $15.00 per extra person. $16.00 per extra nights camping.

Questions
contact
Kimberly Steiner
n2vintage@hotmail.com
RESERVATIONS
call
608-297-2915

http://www.buffalolakecamping.com/
Get your reservations in fast, as the sites fill up quick.

http://n2vintage.tripod.com/

Window Found...

2009-11-19T23:42:00.000-06:00

I finally found a rear window! Yeah, I know it isn't a huge deal but it's nice to know that I will be able to plug up that huge hole in the back. I bought this window off of a VSTF member Frankshasta...

The window came out of a burned out Shasta so it kind of rough but I should be able to clean it up this winter to get it ready to be put in when the trailer gets repainted...

I know this isn't a earth shattering post but there won't be a lot of progress till the spring time.

Happy Halloween...

2009-10-29T23:35:00.000-05:00

We carved our pumpkins tonight. I thought I would share one I did. It ain't perfect but you get the point...

Lit up...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!

Future Plans...

2009-10-04T10:06:00.000-05:00

There has been no physical progress on Louise. No dough...No go. So we have been doing some planning on the interior design of the trailer...

This is the plan as of right now. We have the yellow and gold flecked counter tops in the trailer which we really like. We plan to add color to the exterior of the trailer also. That color has not been decided yet. I am going to recover the dinette and rear bed in vinyl. Hopefully the marine grade vinyl will stand up to some abuse by a young child. It should be really easy to wipe down and clean.

I threw together a quick sketch to see how the colors that we have chosen for the vinyl would look. My plan is to do a tuck and roll on the benches. I have always liked that in old cars and I think it would look cool on the dinette. We chose Morbern Seabrook for the vinyl. The colors being Marigold and D Gel White. They make a welting in those colors so that makes my life a lot easier. We may be starting work on the dinette benches and rear bed this winter. I know it sounds silly to do that when there will not be much work done to the trailer by that point. Although I can work on the upholstery in the basement with no concern for the weather.

We also selected Boomerang Beat in Jade as the curtain fabric. It has some off white and yellow in it so I think it will go nicely with the upholstery. We will keep you posted on the progress of this project when actual progress has been made!

Lego Vintage Shasta...

2009-10-02T05:41:00.000-05:00

I found THIS Lego Shasta trailer some time ago. I thought it would be pretty cool to have one. Come on...who doesn't like Legos? I figured I could make one too. My friend, who is really into Legos, told me about Lego's Digital Designer application. It turned out to be a pretty neat thing. You can create your own Lego kits in a 3-D environment. Once you are done you can buy the kit that you put made and have it in real life. It takes some getting used to but after 3 attempts I think it turned out well. So, here is my Lego trailer...

Side view: Sadly, the application doesn't have any windowless doors to choose from so I just gave the appearance of a door being there...

This trailer is a bit bigger than the red trailer that I showed you on Flickr. You can see the twin propane tanks, the "wings" and big front window...

Here is the street side: The window layout is like an Airflyte. I used stacked small clear blocks to make the look of Jalouise windows. You can see the roof vent also.

The back window area is kinda funky because I couldn't continue the curve with the window there. Being that these are Legos so they have their limitations...

Overall, I like the way it turned out and I want one. The problem?

Anyone that has bought Legos in the last ten years knows...they are EXPENSIVE for what you get. This design comes out to about $52.60. Isn't that crazy?!? It is 255 pieces but wow. That is a bunch of dough for a little model. Maybe I'm just cheap. 50 bucks could help me out on the real Shasta. So this little guy is on the back burner for a while. I hope you enjoy it.

Nice and Shiny...

2009-09-26T00:55:00.000-05:00

One thing I could get done is shine up the orginal script badge off of Louise. I think it sure looks better than it did before.

As you can see, it is pitted quite a bit. If I stay on top of it and polish it often it should not get any worse.

I know this isn't much of a post but it is the little things that count. Right?

Midwest Vintage Trailer Rally...

2009-09-20T07:45:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, we attended the Midwest Vintage Trailer Rally. We were just there as spectators because Louise is far from being completed. I didn't get pics of all of the trailers there but I got a few...

This is our friends, Dave and Rebecca's 1968 Kencraft...

Of course I tried to get all of the Shastas that were there. I think this is the same colors that we will be going with for Louise...

This Yellowstone was pretty cool...

Love the color of this one...

Later model but still cool...

This Aljo was very cool...

We met some very nice people there. It was fun to see what other's were doing with their trailers. I hope we can get up there next year with trailer in tow. We will see!

Baby Steps...

2009-09-15T23:13:00.000-05:00

I have done a very small amount of work to the trailer so far. Here is the work to this point...

- Filled 12 trash bags full of crap out of the trailer. Very little was of any use so I pitched it all.

- Pulled that stupid AC unit out of what was once the back window. I actually put that on the curb and somebody took it. Glad I don't have to deal with throwing it away. Now I have to find a back window to fit the hole.

- I removed the Bargman license plate light/bracket. As you can see from this picture that the plate bracket is almost toast. I don't think there is any saving this bracket. I will use it as a template to make a new one. I should be able to fab one out of aluminum or something like that. I don't think I will buy one unless it is DIRT cheap. I don't like buying stuff like this. It is a piece of metal with some holes and some bends. Shouldn't be too big of a chore...

- I removed the Bargman tail lights also. The screws holding them in were almost gone so I figured I would save some trouble latter when they would be even harder to remove. The putty tape under the light was some what soft under the right light. I was kinda surprised. The left light was a bit more dried out...

This is the right light. It isn't in too bad of shape. I will de-rust it and paint it to fight off any more rust. The left light assembly was just a tad worse shape...

The offending screws. As you can see they are in pretty bad shape. One was completly rusted in half. I will replace these with stainless during reassembly...

It is looking pretty bare back there now. Just a lot of aluminum tape to keep out the moisture. Glad that AC is gone...

- I removed all of the badges also to restore them as best as I can. Hopefully they clean up nicely...

Here is the LP gas info plate. It is pretty faded. Does anyone reproduce these? I would love to put them back on. I think it adds to the trailer. Little things like that make a difference to me...

Electric info plate that was attached under the exterior outlet...

Here is the dealership badge. It was mostly covered up by the AC unit. I hope to get this back to life. I'm not sure how I will do it but I will get it done. It is kinda hard to read so here is what it says...

CENTRAL

TRAILER SALES

6511 State Street

EAST ST. LOUIS, ILL

EXpress 7-5907

Because I know this trailer was only owned by one family I know this is the orginal badge when they first bought it. I was misinformed though. The Dad said he bought it in St. Louis. He forgot to mention the EAST part. I thought he ment over the river in BIG city. Anyway. Doesn't matter. The name Louise still fits. I really like this badge. I like the old 5 digit phone number.

I found these old leveling jacks in the exterior baggage area. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them. I won't be using them. I bought nice new stacking jacks. I will keep the old wheel though. It is HEAVY. This one has a metal wheel. Not rubber like the new ones. I think it is kinda cool. Don't ask me why.

- I also pulled the propane tanks off of the rack and pitched the bolt on stabilizer brackets. I don't have that kind of stabilizer so I don't need them.

I hope to get around to pulling the wheels and starting to sort out the running gear before winter. Around here that could be next week for all I know.

Stay tuned for more...

Join The Vintage Shasta Trailer Forum!!!

2009-09-14T04:58:00.000-05:00

When we bought Louise I really started looking all over the internet for information about vintage Shastas. I really was disappointed with what is out there. I was really looking something that would answer all of my questions in a neat, organized, and easy to use manner.

All I found were the two Yahoo Groups on Shasta. I am REALLY not a fan of the Yahoo Groups format. That is nothing against the creators of the Shasta Groups. It is really a knock on Yahoo Groups itself. I find the format outdated and hard to use.

The Vintage Shasta Trailer Forum is very easy to use and find information.

I have run a few forums myself in the past and having seen how successful they can be. I think the need is out there. The Airstream Forum is huge and I hope at some point the VSTF can have that much success if even on a smaller level.

I think it will be a place where owners can come share, learn and enjoy themselves. I really hope that Shasta owners come and join the forum.

Join the Vintage Shasta Trailer Forum!

Blog Of The Month...

2009-09-11T09:22:00.000-05:00

If for some reason you own a Shasta and have missed Red Dirt Shasta...shame on you.

This is my favorite Shasta blog out there. Why? A few reasons...

Jeremy does a nice job of showing step by step progress on his Shasta. He is ahead of me in the game so it's a good reference point for me. He does insert a bit of humor now and again so it makes it easy to read along. One of the best parts is that he is doing this with a budget in mind so he is coming up with new ways of doing it well but cheap. That is important to me. I have read my share of Airstream blogs where guys POUR money into their trailers. They look great in the end but it doesn't give me any info because I am also on a tight budget. Nothing against you "Airstreamers" out there. It is just a example. Anyway...

HOWEVER...I hate Jeremy a bit too. He pulled this Shasta out of Wisconsin. Shame, shame, shame. AND...if I am putting two and two together correctly he snagged this trailer right before me off of Craigslist. I was heart broken when I called and it was gone. It is all good. I'm glad it has found a good home and he is doing it justice. I'm looking forward to his progress!

Check it out.... Red Dirt Shasta

Vintage Coleman Resources...

2009-09-08T05:49:00.000-05:00

I dig old camping stuff as much as I dig old trailers. I am not a expert on the subject but enjoy learning about the stuff that was used in the past. I figured I would pass along any information that I come across...

I recently picked up a Coleman 413G Two-Burner stove at a thrift store for $6.50. Not a bad deal. It needs some work and I will probably restore it at some point. I did a bit of looking around and found some good info out there for anyone that also uses or collects vintage Coleman stuff...
-

Old Town Coleman Center

This is a great website for anyone looking for information on Coleman lanterns and stoves. They have a great tutorials for anyone that is looking to repair or restore these items. I printed off the stove tutorial myself for a future rebuild. They also have original owner's manual PDFs for these products.

-
Old Coleman Parts

Maintains a parts inventory and has great parts diagrams for the Coleman products.

-
International Coleman Collectors Club

I haven't looked at this site too much but it could be a valuable resource.

-
Classic Camp Stoves Forum

I haven't had a chance to look to close to this either. There is a bunch of vintage camp stove info on their for Coleman and other makes.

-
Gas Pressure Appliance Decals and Labels

Reproduction decals for your vintage restoration

-
Doron Papo's Lantern Site

A huge collection of vintage lanterns.

-
I'm sure there are many more links out there. I just have not run across them yet. If you have a favorite vintage stove or lantern site let us know!

Parts Round Up...

2009-09-03T22:07:00.000-05:00

Some parts from Ebay that my help some Shasta owners out there...

Shasta Vintage Travel Trailer Aluminum EXCELLENT

Time left: 5 days 23 hours

Current bid: US $76.00

PAIR TAIL LIGHT LENS--BARGMAN TRAIL-LITE NO. 99

Time left: 6 days 22 hours

Starting bid: US $4.99

2 VINTAGE SETS THEO. BARGMAN PLASTIC LENS COVERS

Time left: 6 days 22 hours

Starting bid: US $1.99

Vintage Shasta Travel Trailer Outside Metal Logo Sign

Time left: 4 days 22 hours

Starting bid: US $0.99

Vtg BARGMAN Trail-Lite #5 # 5 License Plate tag Light

Time left: 24 days 15 hours

Price: US $140.00 Buy It Now

Bargman Trail Lite # 5 LICENSE PLATE TAG LIGHT BRACKET
Time left: 16 days 11 hours
Price: US $15.00 Buy It Now

Wing Watch...

2009-09-01T10:54:00.000-05:00

We, of course, need some wings! I have been keeping my eye out on Ebay for a set. So far the results have been less then promising...

Vintage Shasta Wings camper travel trailer 1960s

Winning bid: US $76.00

Shasta Camper Wings RARE

Winning bid: US $261.70

I know that these are the average prices that these fetch but... YIKES. I guess I will have to make my own.

Shasta T-Shirts on Ebay...

2009-08-29T09:30:00.000-05:00

I came across these shirts on Ebay. I really didn't think that the $13.00 price was that bad at all. Just thought I would pass them along. Go to the link here...Shasta T-Shirts

The Dime Tour...

2009-08-27T04:29:00.000-05:00

Overall, Louise is in good shape for her age. There are a few problems and water damage but nothing major... hopefully. She has been relatively untouched. The missing wings are probably the biggest deal. The loss of the rear window to a bad AC unit being the second place winner. In recent years she has been "dressed up" with some wall paper and some newer flooring. I believe that the female half of the previous owners thought the original aspects were not that great. Those changes are easy enough to undo. We really want to get the Shasta back to the vintage look. We dig that and think that this trailer will be a good candidate for such restoration. There will be some real challenges along the way I have no doubt. However we will cover that in later posts. Lets get to the tour...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-The curb side shot. The skin is really in pretty good shape. There is a small crack in the skin just above the door which will be repaired. The Bargman L-66 door handle is broken and need to find a replacement for it. Need those wings!

Street side. No major problems. You can see some staining from rusty screws and parts on the paint. No matter. It will get repainted anyway. The white on white isn't my favorite color scheme. Besides, the paint is worn and oxidizing...

Front view. You can see the dent in the front left side. Nothing major. I'm glad that is one of the only bad spots...

That damn AC unit. How I hate it so...

Original wheels with the new temporary tires on it. They need a repaint and some slick hubcaps...

I HATE you...

Exterior entrance door and screen door are in decent shape. They will get some attention though...

The grab handle is a bit pitted. You can see the Bargman door handle is broken...

One of my favorite parts of a Shasta! The great big name plate. A small amount of pitting. It needs some polish...

All of the windows are there (except for the back) and in good shape. These will get pulled, taken apart, polished, re-weatherstripped, and reputtied back in the trailer...

The original license plate light and holder is in rough shape. It will be take all apart and cleaned up. Hopefully it won't be too far gone to save...

One of the original hubcaps. Too bad he is an only child...

The marker lights are too far gone. Good thing replacements are only 5 bucks a pop...

I love original badges. A Shasta made in Indiana, Sold in Missouri. Lived in Illinois. And now stays in Wisconsin...

The original Bargman No. 99 "Wedding Cake" tail lights. These will be restored also...

Twin propane tanks...

Original water fill spout...

Original Mobile Home Manufacturers Association badge...

Now to the interior...

Shot of the dinette. Some snazzy wall paper border as you can see. The table top has been recovered but I'm told the original yellow and gold flecked formica is still under there. We will see. The dinette benches will get a new upholstery...

The overhead storage...

Another one of my favorite features of the Shastas... The magazine rack. All of the sconces are there too which is a great thing. You can see one of the canvas bunk brackets too...

Some of the bad stuff. Water damage under the curb side window...

The fresh water tank. You can also see the rear window drip rail laying there. I'm glad they saved it...

The kitchenette. Most of the cabinets are in good shape. The original cabinet pulls are replaced but I'm trying to find the best replacements. The stove and fridge work good and are just in need of a bit of polish...

The original vent has some leak issues. The vent lifters work but need some TLC. The vent will get pulled and restored. My favorite light is there above the stove...

The original yellow and gold flecked formica is OK condition. It is 45 years old after all. We will clean it up and keep it. You can't get formica like this anymore...

The tiny potty area. Is it bad of me for not wanting a toilet? I am thinking of turning this into a storage area. There are plenty of campers out there with out a toilet. There are toilets available at most camp sites. I may buy a mini porta-potty for cases of emergency. We will get into that more later...

Original propane lamp. Don't you just love that wall paper? Yuck...

The nasty air conditioner has caused a bunch of problems. The back panel is messed up and needs to be replaced. I can't wait to pull this out...

The small plywood box that makes up the cargo area is delaminated from moisture and will have to get rebuilt...

The shelf and cabinet above the rear pull out couch/bed...

The canvas bunk was in it's storage area under the rear plywood box that was messed up. Water had dripped down and rotted out the bunk. I think I will restore the bunk but I'm not sure if it will see any use...

Well there you go. That will be 10 cents please. I could use the dime to fix her up! I'm sure I will be posting much more detailed pictures and information when I get to each part of the restoration. Stay tuned!

Where IS MY Link???

2009-08-26T01:56:00.000-05:00

"What gives? Where is my link?".

Please be patient. I have a bunch of vintage travel trailer links saved on my 'puter. It does take some time to get a blog up and running and I am in the proccess of flushing it out. However... I can not find every link on my own. If you don't see your link up here please feel free to leave a comment on this post and I will add it when I'm doing blog maintance. Thanks for your understanding!

The Story Begins...

2009-08-26T01:42:00.000-05:00

The Story Begins...

I had been looking all summer of 2009 for a vintage trailer. We were getting frustrated with trailers in serious disrepair and over priced. I happened upon this trailer on the St. Louis Craigslist. I don't normally check the St. Louis listings because of the distance from us. I ran across a post for a Shasta trailer that had been posted a few hours before. It had no pictures and limited information but given the asking price of $1000 made me curious as to what it was. I heard back almost right away from the seller and they emailed a few pictures. From what I could see it looked like it was in decent shape. A few emails back and forth and a phone call and we were headed to Columbia, IL the next day at 8 am.

Molly and I went down with the full intention of dragging a Shasta back to Wisconsin unless there was some kind of major flaw that would keep us from doing just that. The 6 hour drive down was pretty uneventful except from being snagged by a Illinois State Police speed trap. Luckily, I was let off with a warning and we continued our trip. Driving and reinforcing each other that we were NOT completely out of our friggin' minds for making such quick a decision the whole way.

We met the seller and made our way to the trailer that was parked at his Father's house. His Dad bought the trailer brand new in 1964. We had the pleasure of meeting him as well. After some questions from the sellers about our sanity and some small talk about WHY some one would drive that far for "this old camper" we had the grand tour. We will get into more details about that later. They did tell us that they had 15 emails in the 24 hours since the trailer was posted on Craigslist. I'm pretty sure one of the seller's started to put two and two together and realized they probably should have asked for more dough for it. We paid the man his grand and hooked the trailer up and made our way North. We were sort of in a bit of shock and glee of buying the 45 year old trailer and only 20 miles down the road...

BANG!

I instantly knew what that sound was. I managed to look in the mirror in time to see the hub cab bouncing across 2 lanes of traffic. . I quickly pulled over to see what was damaged. The curb side tire was shredded. Now, I had looked at the tires before we had left. They were a bit dry rotted but didn't look that bad. I was wrong. Having no spare I jacked up the trailer and removed the wheel and threw that in the truck. Molly was franticly trying to locate a place that would have a trailer tire to replace the shredded one. Finally we found that Wal-Mart would have the tires and it wasn't too far away. I unhooked our new found friend and went to Wally World. They quickly mounted the new tire and we raced back to get it back on the trailer. Once that happened we pulled the Shasta back to Wal-Mart so they could replace the other one. We were not about to let that happen to us again. Add another $250 to the cost of the trailer.

That experience really sucked to say the least. We took it real easy going back home. I didn't really want to chance anything and have another catastrophic failure. We made it home VERY tired and grumpy at 1am Sunday morning.

Overall the experience was a good one. We can cross it off as something we have done in our lives. We found out a few interesting things about the trailer from the original owner...

-He bought the trailer new not far away in St. Louis, MO in '64

-The trailer made the trip down to Disney World the year the park opened.

-The trailer survived a tornado that picked up another trailer parked a few houses down and tossed it 1/4 mile or so. The Shasta sat untouched.

-He always wanted to paint the trailer...I think we are going to make that happen.

-His son always wanted a awning...That will happen also.

-He took the wings off 20 years ago...Unfortunately.

Because the trailer originally came from St. Louis, Molly came up with the nickname of "Louise". Get it? St. Louis...Louise...it makes sense to us. She is a good addition to the family and we hope she will not cause us too many more problems for us. I hope to give you all the grand tour so stay tuned...

Welcome...

2009-08-26T00:58:00.000-05:00

Welcome to our vintage travel trailer blog!

The purpose of this blog is to chronicle the adventure which is owning a vintage trailer. We maintain our main blog known as Atomic Addiction. We really enjoy all Mid Century items and is the focus of that blog. I'm sure some folks that read that blog get tired of my camper posts and vice versa so by buying this trailer we did not want to clog our main blog with trailer posts.

Our intentions, I hope, is to provide links and information from all over the internet that will assist ourselves and the rest of the trailer community. We might throw in some fun stuff from time to time. We may also provide event and vacation information and coverage when we finally get on the road. Although the majority of the posts is to give ourselves something to look back on as we restore our trailer.

Given that this is a very long project and is our secondary blog I wouldn't expect a daily post but more like weekly and monthly posts. I'm sure it will be jam packed at first but will slow down after a while. Sometimes real life gets in the way of blogging. I hope everyone enjoys the blog and feel free to contact me with any information!