Shasta Retro Redo

Monday, August 21, 2006

It has to be love. Once I saw vintage travel trailers decorated by Sisters on the Fly I was hooked. It was a Cowgirl festival at the Farm at South Mountain in Phoenix April 2005. The wood interior gave a warm cozy glow that is irresistible. Each trailer had its own charm with horse shoe curtain rods, cowgirl fabric quilts and cute pillows. That was the start of my obsession with vintage travel trailers and the reason for this blog.

It has to be love. Hundreds of hours have been spent removing brown flat house paint from the exterior, refinishing a wood interior covered with pigmented stain and lifting first dirty carpet and then asbestos laddened tile from the floor. The entire siding has been removed to reveal rotted wood and then wood, insulation, electric and gas copper line replaced. New cushions and curtains were made. Accessories were located at garage and estate sales every weekend and other parts were gathered as gifts for birthdays, mothers day and Christmas. The pictures tell the story.

8 comments:

jean313 said...: Paulette,
This is AWESOME. Congratulations on your achievement. I'll have to stop over to see it in person one of these days.

Jean M.; 8/23/2006 3:45 PM
Unknown said...: Wow who would have thought the trailer could look that good and on top of that a grandma with a blog site! When do you want colin to sleep over??; 8/24/2006 8:30 PM
Big John said...: What did you clean your lights with. Did you remove all the paneling?; 9/16/2006 9:33 AM
Renee said...: I absolutely love it! It's amazing what we gals can achieve when we put our minds to it.
I am a SOTF as well. And I enjoy seeing the ladies trailers. Everone is so creative.
Thank you for showing us all your hard work.; 3/21/2008 1:34 PM
matchbox20girl said...: Hi! I'm another Shasta girl blogger..just wanted to let you know that your blog has been a source of inspiration for me...I've been discouraged time & time again during my Shasta project, but often times I'd pop in here to see that another gal did it, and you inspired me to keep on trying! I still have a long ways to go..but thanks for sharing your experience with us!

Kim; 6/12/2008 8:24 PM
Claire said...: Great Job. I went to a SOTF show at Tybee Island Ga and got the fever again. I has a Li'l Beaver Camper years ago, we use to take 2 of our grandsons camping in it. They are now 25 & 21. I decided to see if I could find the Beaver and after several months located it. I got it back and just started the restoration on it. I am also a Interior Decorator and am able to do the upholstery and sew all that is needed. I am leaving it Brown & white on the outside and it will be called "Nuttin but Monkey Business" and done in teal & brown decor to be monkeys,hibiscus flowers, banana palms & coconuts. I am very excited and will try to start a blog soon, I am not as good at that as the decorating so that may be a bigger challenge. I also have a 1963 Scotty that I got before I knew that I could get the Beaver back, needless to say it has taken a back seat to my "pet project"
Thanks for the inspiration and hope to see you at a rally.
Claire
Tybee Island Ga; 1/19/2009 6:15 AM
Q said...: WoW! You are my long lost twin... lots of stuff similar in my life also from your profile.
Anyhoo, Love your photos!! Show us more!!! I, Just today bought a 1972 Toyota GoTagALong, got it for $100. Can't wait to dig in...it is in similar but a little better condition than yours was. Hope mine will look as good as yours when finished! Show us more! Suz; 6/15/2010 5:14 PM
Savannahkoka said...: How did you get all the paint off the trailer???? We just got a 1955 Anderson and latex paint was also used on it and we have tried many different things but keep on striking out.. Please help!!!; 6/16/2013 6:45 AM

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Finding My Own Trailer

It took 2 months to find my trailer. I started telling everyone what I wanted and then drove neighborhoods looking over fences and leaving notes on parked trailers or front doors. The very first day I got a lead. A the son of a gal in my bunco group had a trailer left on land he bought. She said it was a Airstream. When I finally got to see it a month later, it was a Cardinal filled with coyote and pack rat droppings. I took 3 hours to clear it out of boxes of junk so I could actually see the inside. I wasn't finding a trailer so I almost bought this one for $200. Thank goodness I didn't. It was too far gone. The very day I was going to get the Cardinal I saw an ad in the paper at 5:15am. I went to curves and got back to call at 6:45...a more reasonable hour. I saw it at 7:15 and bought it at 7:30 for $450. It took a week to get the deal done and the trailer in the yard. The owner got 8 calls a day for a week on the ad and so I felt lucky to have gotten it. Months later and with more knowledge, I probably could have found a better trailer for the money. A guy bought his wife a $1350 Cardinal in good condition for Valentines Day. I was 5 minutes too late. I called on an ad for a$1500 trailer with an refinished yellow pine interior and it went to the first buyer at 5:30am: a fellow Sister on the Fly. He got calls for a week from people begging him to find another trailer to sell to them. I guess you need to act fast and know these are not being made anymore. You don't find charm and warmth in a new trailer.

Lots of Work Lies Ahead

As good as this trailer looked compared to the Cardinal, it wasn't in working order. It was missing the trailer wiring hook up and bench seats, the LP tank was obsolete, the leaf spring was boken, the electric lights didn't work, the mattress was original but smelled. Dirty, stinky carpet covered the original tile and the table was missing a leg and brackets to attach to the wall. The water tank was the old galvanized original and I just could not go there....yuk. The trailer had several small holes in the front, a smashed front corner, a hole in the ceiling and rot to the front side windows area, the lower front and back panels. The worst thing I had to deal with was the house paint on the outside....that was almost a deal killer. So what did I see in this trailer. The lights were original, good wood for most of the area and nothing was added to the original.

JUMP AHEAD 14 MONTHS...WHAT SHE LOOKS LIKE TODAY

As much as I love the cowgirl theme in the vintage trailers with blue and red against the wood, this trailer spoke....the 60's. It was advertised as a '66 Shasta. I discovered dates on the mattress and the back of the mirror that indicate this is a Shasta Airflyt from 1961. I researched the era and did not like much of the design. I love the music...rock and roll, sock hops, diners and the colors aqua, retro pink and yellow. It was difficult coming up with fabric...I visited every store in town. I went to e-quilter on line and came up with Michael Miller Retro Diner fabrics for the curtains, pillows and bedding. One year later and Hancock fabrics had its own line of Sock Hop fabric and I used that for a duvet cover and it will also appear in a future art quilt on the 60's and vintage trailers. ENJOY MY NEW TRAILER PICTURES