NMGem@aol.com wrote:

A nasty hail storm recently ran through my town in New Mexico. Besides the Frozen jaw breakers doing considerable damage to my house, I now have some pock marks on my Airstream! There are a few on the curved front top sections, and on the window and door caps. What has this done to the value of my '59 (in the middle of restoration)? I'm afraid when she's all polished up the dents will really show. How should I approach my insurance with this? Any ideas?

Thanks...

Jim Jewell
'59 Globester
Albuquerque, NM

There are a couple of things you can do. These are small fixes that do quite well sometimes. Apply dry ice to the dent. The idea being to cause the metal in a small area to shrink and draw the dent out. Let the coach sit out in the sun and get plenty of heat. The idea is the opposite, or let the metal heat up and expand. Both methods have been known to reduce the dents of hail.

Another theory offered in the Blue Beret after the 1992 Bismarck rally was that the dents helped improve fuel mileage. It had to do with the theory of dimples as applied to golf balls for distance by smoothing the air flow, inversely dimples on an Airstream reduced air flow friction thus reducing drag and improving fuel mileage. Just a theory.

Charlie