Piece of Art!

Only one day into the rebuild and I found a piece of art under the bed! Not my style but hopefully its worth enough to pay for the restoration. Too bad its not a velvet painting of Elvis, I might consider holding on to it.

Finding and picking up the trailer

So I found the trailer on Craigslist, it was advertised as a “17’ 61 Winged Shasta.” Having no experience or clue, I bought the trailer. It turns out there is no such thing and the trailer is a 16’ 63 Shasta 16-SC (I think). The paper on the inside of the kitchen cabinets references two trailer types the Astrodome and 16-SC. Since there is no overhang I am assuming it is the 16-SC. The trip home was an adventure all by itself but I will not go into that for now.

Because of my inexperience, I might have paid more that it was worth but not by much. My current plan for the trailer is going to be a total interior restore. For the outside, because I want to use the trailer as quickly as possible, besides restoring the windows, I am only going to repair safety issues. As is always the case, I am sure once I dig in I will find surprises that require I get more involved with the restore than planned.

The Need

Everyone has unique reasons for needing a camper. My need developed as a result of my family’s emerging addiction over the last year to hiking California landmarks like Half-Dome and Whitney. We needed something small enough to get in and out of small campsites but big enough to house my wife and two kids. Originally, I wanted a teardrop but they are a little small for our needs, so we started looking for larger small trailers. I am also restoring a 60 Mercury Monterey, having found a couple of classic trailers, I thought that the lines of the Shastas complemented the Mercury. As such, I hope to convert that car into a matching tow car.
I have already learned a lot from fellow restores, thank you. Hopefully this blog will help others in their attempts to bring vintage trailers back to life.