Happy New Year 2010

Here at Airstream Moderne we're ringing in the new decade with a resolution.  Nothing like setting myself up for failure, but I hereby resolve to have our Cruisette refurbished and back on the road for its 60th birthday in 2012!

Cruisette Diary 7

More detective work.
In numerous spots around our trailer there is evidence of change.  Stray holes here & there, paint "shadows", & widely varied build quality.  An obvious example sits on the closet door:

Its pretty obvious that the current "pinch catch" has not always held that door closed.  Several years ago while surfing "The Ebay"  I ran across these:

The holes line up EXACTLY & the use if this sort of hardware is confirmed in photos at Vintage  Airstream.com:  http://vintageairstream.com/archives/index.html

One bid and a couple bucks later they were mine.  Even better, I can now re-use the pinch catch to reconstruct the under-bed compartment door.

1952 Airstream Cruisette memories

When I was a kid I was perpetually sitting on the tounge of our trailer pretending that I was driving down the highway to parts unknown.  Its even cooler now that I have a truck and the keys.

Vintage camping details

This cool decal is available from the Shenandoah National Park bookstore and is a spiffy addition to any vintage trailer.  Its dirt cheap too:

http://www.snpbooks.org/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=SNPBOOKS&Product_Code=CO&Category_Code=GIFT

Mine will live on the tiny curbside window on the Cruisette.

 

Cruisette Diary 7

When we first hauled our Airstream out of the field where it had been sitting for years it needed some temporary reenforcement to the floor where the front of the shell attaches.  The body separating from the frame on I-70 would have been embarassing to say the least.  When we peeled back the blue indoor/outdoor 70's carpet to add the floor patch some of the original floor tiles surfaced.  They're definitely not linoleum, and don't quite appear to be vinyl but rather seem like some sort of composite of cloth & paper.  The pattern is an interesting mix of colors. 

Since these tiles lay on top of lots of rotted subfloor preserving them in place isn't going to happen.  I removed a few pieces and they are pretty fragile.  Finding a modern equivalent is not likely to happen so a current idea I've got is to try to save a few tiles during the floor replacement and incorporate them into a serving tray

Cruisette Diary 6

Detective work.
My goal for our Cruisette is to retain as much of the early 50's atmosphere inside once its all done. So before I rip everything apart I hope to establish and record what is original and what is not. First up: paint. There are currently 4 different colors/finishes in the trailer.

The present powder blue on the inner skin and cabinets dates to an early 80's redecoration done by my mother and sister.

Before the blue, the interior color was a sort of yellowish- cream. Some traces of it are still visible on the wheel wells and inside all of the cabinets:
Inside of the wardrobe cabinet there are sections of the inner skin that are painted in a mint green color. This was a common OEM interior color for Airstreams from the late 40's and early 50's:

Finally there are several places where a brown-dominant Zolotone finish visible. It seems, in most places, to be the lowest layer of paint, and where paint has delaminated from the end caps the Zolotone was next to the bare aluminum of the end caps:

Once the interior is removed I hope to verify which color is original, and use that as an element of the final interior design.

Time

Time and money. Blogs which follow projects that are driven by money and time often go fallow when neither money or time are available. No Cruisette money--no progress. No time--its going towards the residence we can't tow behind the truck! Sometimes time is more expensive than money.