Hi Grumpy:
I know in my case it was a matter of being stupid and not doing my
homework. I naively took the word (someone I thought I knew) of
someone I knew, and bought my trailer sight unseen. It was either
misrepresented OR simply an innocent difference of judgement as to
what "good" "clean" meant to each of us. Then, of course if the unit
is truly in crummy shape (judgement of new owner), you're left with
trying to resell to some other poor smuck or take the gut-and-go
route. My choice. Although I did reinforce the original frame quite a
bit but with the new interior, a tiny little voice in my head
sometimes whispers "Overloaded?" to me when I get rambunctious in
driving. I do think that modern engineering is better that the old
stuff however and at least had enough sense to keep all the guts and
redistributed to those souls would choose to restore rather than
rebuild. I think you're correct on the price of redoing, having spent
about $20K to rebuild a $7 K trailer. Throwing good money after bad
comes to mind but no one twisted my arm. It has only taken me 3 yrs to
come around to this point.
Jo Ann
> Alan's thoughtful post of these poor trailers that need a rescue
> prompts me to say something.
>
> Apparently, these 4 trailers have been gutted. Someone had a grand
> scheme I suppose, and was going to make all new fabulous interiors.
> Maybe the interiors were in fact hopeless due to animal occupancy, or
> too many beer parties, but probably not.
>
> I do wish people would hesitate before removing everything. First of
> all, in most cases, any antique is more valuable if in original shape,
> so a collector wants the old stuff in there. Secondly, much of what is
> in there is pretty good engineering, and will be hard to replicate or
> replace without over loading these old frames. Thirdly, redoing the
> interior will take 4 times as much labor and 8 times as much money as
> you think it will, and then you are left with nothing to go camping in.
>
> The price the owner has put on these shells ( isn't one of them a
> Vagabond ?) indicates they are thinking money first. $2700 is a
> ridiculous price for them, unless it is for all 4.
>
> So if you are reading this list and wishing you had your very own
> Airstream, when you find it, don't gut it ! If it is that bad, find
> another one.
>
> On the other hand if you have plenty of time and buckets of money and
> skill, go to Phoenix and rescue them !
>
> A teeny bit grumpy,
> Daisy