Tag: 1967 Airstream Sovereign

Well I didn’t actually get any additional work done on the trailer tonight, but I did spend several hours going through most of the things that I had removed from the trailer. I am keeping some pieces to either reuse or for patterns. Most everything that was wood or cloth is being thrown after documenting dimensions. I am ready to remove the bathroom and then start removing the belly pan. I am hoping that by the end of next week I will have that done and the inner skins removed.

Cleanup Before & After

I finally got around to ordering axles, brakes, wheels, and replacement windows (missing 4 at the moment). I decided to go with the Henschen Dura Torque Axle from Inland RV after talking with many other vintage AS owners that recommend the Henschen after having them for some time. Andy gets a lot of flack on the airforums.com forums in the Henschen vs. Dexture flame threads, but in the end I felt that the Henschen was the best choice for my trailer. The new axles are rated 3500# and have 12″ electric brakes. My tow vehicle is a beast and the trailer actually handled great when I hauled it home with the old shot axles and no trailer brakes. I imagine that the new setup will perform really well.

I will post pictures of the wheels once they arrive and I have the tires installed. We are going with a retro look and will either use Baby Moon or Smoothie hub caps, depending on if I can find Baby Moons that will fit my 15″ wheels. The Smoothie actually looks great on the other vintage AS trailers that I have seen and can be easily found.

This morning I removed the existing bedroom. I took my time as I found several old used syringes and eventually a Tupperware full of pot and other paraphernalia. Those that know me, know that I have never drunk alcohol, smoked anything, and never done any drugs so I am not 100% of my odd findings. I believe the PO was a musician in the Austin, TX area so these findings don’t come as a huge surprise.

Scary Bedroom

This was probably one of the scariest looking rooms of the trailer before I began this full trailer demolition project. I purchased this trailer from a guy that buys old trailers like these and he had purchased the trailer from the Austin musician. The guy I bought the trailer from was really nice and sells most of his trailers to people wanting to put these trailers onto leases. He had told me, “it just needs some new linoleum”. I don’t know about you, but even before I found the scary items today I wouldn’t want to sleep in this trailer even with new linoleum.

The bulkheads, closets, and beds came out without much work. They were all still firmly attached to the trailer, but all of the screws and pop rivets were easily accessible. I did also find a bird that had been dead for several years in the street side utility access door area near the closet.

Bedroom Before & After

I spent some more time removing some fixtures from the living room and kitchen area, before wrapping up my morning of work. I am very much looking forward to drilling out all of the pop rivets, as that has been really fun so far. I bought both a buck and blind rivet remover tool, so we will see if those help out with the job. I really think now those tools might have been unnecessary as my new favorite tool, a spring loaded center punch, would have worked fine for getting me started on the buck rivets. The AS is now very spacious, but is lacking character on the interior at this point. 😉

I spent a few hours this evening and was able to remove the existing kitchen. This was much more work than the living room, as all of the cabinets were still very much intact. I am still amazed at all of the dust and little stuff that I find in the nooks as things are pulled away revealing areas that have not seen light in who knows how long. Tonight the big find was a butterfly knife and a leather dog collar that has begun the petrification process, but I guess those are better than finding a dead mouse or rat.

The upper cabinets were the most challenging to remove, but once I figured out how they were attached, a little persistence and they both came off. The PO had removed the original refrigerator and the wall on the door side. They had replaced the original fridge with a dorm type 4-5′ tall fridge and had strapped it to the mount that use to hold the door side wood wall in place. I will have to hit up some other ’67 owners in the airforums for some pictures of what it looked like originally.

Kitchen Before & After

There is a pretty wicked looking wasp nest in the furnace exhaust vent that still has some living wasps. They weren’t so happy when I was banging around on their quarters, but they will soon have to flee or else, once I have time to remove the old furnace.

Kitchen Salvage Pile

The next bit of work will be going through the kitchen salvage pile and determining what I want to keep for patterns, scraps, resale, or junking. If anyone is interested in the old furnace or original oven, please let me know as I am planning on going with something newer.

I began the destruction of the interior of the AS this morning and it took about 1.5 hours to almost completely gut the living room. I am going to be working my way from front to back and will be completely gutting down to the inner-skin and sub-floor for phase 1. I will then remove the belly pan, level the frame, and then finish the inner destruction by removing the inner-skin, insulation, and wiring.

We are missing the front, rear, and street side bedroom windows so I began the day by removing the temporary covers that the previous owner had installed. This really helped with the lighting and also allowing better air circulation, which is really needed with all of the dust and other stuff flying around as things are being torn up!

Front Window

Street-Side Bedroom Window

Rear Window

Time had done most of the work for me in the living room and the couches were almost ready to slide out without my help. The bases were the only thing still physically attached to the trailer, but they gave little resistance. The linoleum flooring was curling away from the walls so that was also easy to remove.

Living Room Before

I am hoping to find at least one pre-1965 silver coin, but so far a 1966 quarter is the closest winner. The previous owner had really let this trailer go to waste and I found so much junk in the living room that I can’t wait to tackle the rest of the rooms and get them gutted.

Living Room After

Things are starting to look better already and as soon as my work schedule will allow, I will be able to fly through the rest of the destruction. I am guessing that the bathroom will take the longest, but will also be the most interesting!

We have a new project and it is a really big one. I have been wanting to get a travel trailer for some time now and know that my family will really enjoy camping and exploring the US. We have wanted an Airstream for a long time, but didn’t really know about the massive community of Airstream restorers and enthusiasts. The requirement was a 30-31′ Airstream that was original and needed a “full monte” restore as they call it in the Airstream restoration community.

Last week I found one fairly close to us and we loaded up the family and went to go check out the old gal. The short story is that we left being the owners of a 43 year old trailer. We think she is a diamond in the rough, but others will see a 30′ piece of junk as she looks right now.

The trailer pulled like a feather on the way home, even with the original axles. The pull vehicle is a V10 Excursion and I couldn’t even tell that I was pulling anything.

The trailer has the well known problem of frame droop caused by a rear bathroom and leaks causing the frame to corrode aft of the axles. The first order of business will be to remove the belly pan, get the trailer level, and then completely remove everything in the interior down to the ribs. We will then assess the damage to the frame and repair the frame and coat with POR-15.  New axles are next on the list and hopefully we can decide on which wheels we want. I already have new Goodyear Marathons that are waiting for new wheels.

Here are a few shots of the interior before we begin the destruction process! Today we moved the trailer into the shop, but it is the hottest time of the year now in Texas and even though the trailer is in the shade and dry, it is like an oven in the shop. I am sure we will go through many cases of water until the temps begin to fall. We will post regular updates as we make progress with the restoration.