Demolition Time!

Here are some pics of the demolition process. It took me about 30 hours to strip the trailer down to the frame. I was able to sell the frame and some parts off of the trailer. Of course, I saved a few parts for Curly II.

The Parts Donor

We knew when we bought Curly Sue II that we'd have to replace the rear end-cap, which had been destroyed by a fallen tree. So, we had a few options for doing this: 1 - pay someone to repair it, 2 - or do it ourselves. We chose option #2. Now then, where were we going to get the parts to take on this enormous task. We knew of an end-cap for sale in Canada--anyone up for a ferry ride ay?

Although a trip to BC sounded like fun, we decided to look closer--Spokane, WA, it turned out. One day Summer saw a posting on Craig's List for an old Airstream parts trailer. I gave the owner a call and we had the trailer a week later. Here are some pics of the parts trailer, which would be striped of its useful parts.

My tongue is silver..

Well, after Curly Sue II had sat wrapped up all winter, we just couldn't wait to get started on some project to bring her back to her former life. So on one unseasonably warm day in April, Summer and I loaded up the tools, the kids, and some cups of coffee and headed over to grandma and grandpa's house (AKA - Airstream central/storage: temporary storage while renovations are in progress). Fortunately, grandma was ready to play with our three and less than one year old munchkins, which gave mom and dad a few hours to get some work done. We wielded sanders and brushes and a fierce determination to eradicate rust: tongue rust. We figured that sanding and painting the tongue was something we could do in a few hours. Moreover we needed to do it to feel as if we were making progress on our dream of trailering once again. So off we went, sanding, brushing with a wire wheel, and then repeating. One and a half cans of special rust sealing paint later, Curly was already looking better! But don't take our word for it, we have pictures...

Before - Nasty

My beautiful better half getting ready to tape off the trailer for painting

The finished product!

Come on in!

Here you go! These are some pictures of the interior, as we

found it. As you can see, the cabinets are in decent shape

overall. The floor is also very sound, which was surprising!

Even the floor by the front door was in good shape. However,

the floor in the bath area is a slightly different story. I'll be

adding that one to the list of projects. Hopefully, it will be replaced

by the end of the day Saturday--we'll see!

The galley! Complete with a four burner Magic

Chef stove. We're looking forward to cooking

many new camp dishes on this beauty!

Looking towards the back of the trailer

This is the wardrobe and vanity. Across

the way is a pull out double size bed!

Here's the refrigerator and a few storage cabinets

Let's check out the inside!

 As you can see,

we have our work

cut out for us.
Although this picture

doesn't show all of

the little, and big,

imperfections,

trust me, they're

plenty! Foremost is

the giant divot in

the aft roof. But

we're not deterred.

Plans we have for this

silver land yacht! Plans

we have! New floor, new

beds, some new wood panels, curtains, and a few hundred rivets (oh yeah, lots of vulkem sealant too) are all that stand in our way to restoring this beauty to her former glory. We're looking forward to each small step and to sharing all of it with anyone willing and wanting to tag along. Let's get to work!

Dirty Birdie!

I just used a little soap and water and some elbow grease!

The BIG Project

We bought the trailer from a couple that lived only about 20 minutes from our house. A pretty funny story...Back in August of 2009 Aaron and I had been dreaming of owning another Airstream. We'd sold our 66 Safari about a year and a half before, and had been dreading the decision ever since. However, financially we didn't know how we could afford to be AS owners again. Beyond that, it seemed as if vintage Airstreams were few and far between.

Back to the story. One August evening I was doing my usual perusal of craigslist, seeing if there was anything out there. Incredibly, there was! I came across an ad advertising a 65 Tradewind in a town just down the highway from ours...make an offer. I almost couldn't believe my luck when I went to click on the link. Well...you know what they seem about things that seem to be too good to be true. The airstream was in great condition with one exception- a tree had fallen on the rear left side of it during the winter. I thought that it was a deal breaker. But, then my silver obsession came over me, and I wondered if it wasn't worth having Aaron take a look at it to see just how bad it was. I thought that for sure he wouldn't be interested, but lo and behold, he gave the owners a call. Ten minutes later (on a Sunday evening), he was out the door.

While I stayed with the kids, Aaron drove feverishly down the highway, way up in the hills, past the vineyards and cow farms until he arrived at a country home perched atop a hill where he hopped out of the truck and knocked on the door. No one answered. He wondered if he was at the wrong address. As he was heading back to his truck, the homeowner came out of the backyard and introduced herself. A nice gal, she was eager to show Aaron the trailer. She said it was parked on their property and he said "fantastic, let's go see it." She then explained that she would drive him to it. Aaron was left wondering just where this trailer was at. Aaron hopped in her 1970's Suburban and they went rumbling down a dirt trail (literally). They wound 3/4 of a mile through the forest, across a bridge over a pond and arrived at an old pole barn. Parked there was a beautiful hunk of aluminum that only an airstream enthusiast would find attractive. They spent the next half hour looking at the trailer. During that time, Aaron determined that it would be worth making an offer on. Given the damage, he offered $500. Bartering ensued, but the owner was happy to settle for $700, and both parties felt that was fair.

Aaron was thrilled with his purchase, knowing that all of the windows opened and closed, and the trailer was overall in great shape. After putting down a deposit, Aaron agreed to come and pick up in the trailer the next weekend. When he arrived home, Aaron pulled a practical joke on me- telling me that the trailer was totally junked and he couldn't bear to buy it. Later that night, while I was reading my book, a bill of sale fell out of the pages. I couldn't believe it- we were now the owners of another airstream. We knew that we had a huge project on our hands, but were excited to make it our own.

The following weekend, we headed over to pick up the trailer. It was our 4 year anniversary, and getting the trailer was a perfect anniversary gift. While there, we learned a little bit about our trailers' history. Before finding a home with the owners that we bought it from, the trailer lived on a movie lot in Hollywood for many years, owned by an Asst. Director for various movies. In fact, the owners that we got the trailer from had a picture of Drew Barrymore in the trailer. How fun!

From there, we took the trailer to our house for an initial cleaning. After about a week, the trailer made its way to Aaron's parents home, where it spent the winter months. During that time we acquired a second trailer that was being sold cheap to part out. It was 1967 Tradewind, and had the parts we needed to fix our trailer. Aaron has just completed parting out the trailer, and is now ready to start the big project.

We are on the road to starting the renovation of Curly Sue II. She sits waiting, we are ready, and the wild ride is about to begin. We hope you'll follow us on this journey...

Street Side View

Here's a shot of the street side of Curly II

For a 44  year old trailer, she's in fairly good condition.  Although, by

 the same token, we are talking about the wear and tear of half a

century on the trailer.  So, there will be a lot of work to rehabilitate

her and get out on the road. We're looking forward to getting our

tools out and getting dirty!

More Outside Shots

Curb side looks straight<~~>