Hi Steve,
With all due respect:
"not all that complicated to replicate"- As a retired high school shop
teacher, and veteran of a 1740's house restoration, I agree with you in
principle, but. Good intentions are no substitute for skill, time,
tools and above all $$$$$$. I am trying to intervene at the moment when
someone just guts one without thinking, operating under some fantasy
about what they might put back in there. And often the fantasy involves
a big sale to some star of stage and screen.
Saving a derelict or unusable Airstream and putting it back on the road
will get you into heaven every time. Some folks may want museum quality
restoration, I just want them .....on the road again, Goin' places that
I've never been, Seein' things that I may never see again, And I can't
wait to get on the road again.
Daisy
> Dr Daze & Scott,
>
> I'd like to offer a different view point. I too am dismayed by all the folks
> that manage to gut their trailers of what's left of the original interior
> and then for a number of reasons decide to give up... but I don't feel that
> these trailers and their history are lost to the landfill. Other than a few
> of the bathroom pieces, the interiors on these are not that complicated to
> replicate. In the case of my '67 Ambassador, though well cared for, 40 years
> of condensation saturated rodent leavings and various other wear and tear
> had left the interior in a state that no amount of cleaning was going make
> clean enough for my family. I chose to carefully remove the interior and
> re-use for the purpose of patterns in constructing a new interior from fresh
> materials. Having grown up in the era, I am very familiar with the elements
> that will keep my new interior sympathetic to the original. It will not be a
> museum piece that is representative of the trailer as it rolled of the
> Jackson Center Assembly line in '66 or '67, but it will be as it could have
> been at the time... and it will be suited to the needs of my family. This
> gets to the key issue in this debate... the trailers were meant (by Wally)
> to be used. Any trailer that is used is better than one that is not. I plan
> to learn all I can in my restoration and then do my best to encourage and
> assist folks in creating their own Vintage Airstream experience.
>
> Steve