lights - camera - AIRSTREAM

itv needed something a little special to add more glam in their morning makeovers. something that could be used as a walk in closet......

they fell for 'ruby tuesday' a seven panel overlander from the west coast that i had available for hire



i had to report for duty the night before so the trailer could be dressed ready for the surprise.....



early morning wakeup call and a 5am start outside itv studios, even the daybreak crew had not arrived -


the surprise makeover was on a narrow dead end road on a steep hill with no area to turn except a little area used for garbage bins. to be honest i felt a little faint at the thought of pulling this stunt off but lucky for me with a bit of help we unhitched and swung her round by hand, not that easy with a beast of a twin axle.

with trailer nicely in position the clouds started gathering -



in the middle of running about getting things ready, someone asked me, brown or white? i looked down and saw a bag of bacon butties! what a lovely sight after missing breakfast. then someone handed me a cup of tea, it really was a very well planned and executed shoot.

things quickly came together -




the makeover nominee was informed -



then after a manic makeover out pops the transformed lady -





with job nearly complete, i headed back to itv to unload and head home. with london underground on strike the roads were a little busier than normal.....



one down, next one is same time next week....

stay tuned...

Early dawning, Sunday morning........

It's just the wasted years so close behind you......

Early morning start, outside our home in Gloucestershire -

Early morning arrival, central London -

I spent the best part of my late teens waking up on Sunday m

ornings in London with a hangover, red eyes and the urge to blast a bit of Lou

Reed and wake up my long suffering next

door neighbours.

Some things change, but then again some things don't, I found myself driving into London last Sunday morning, with hangover, red eyes and you guessed the same urge to play Lou Reed at a reasonable level.

This time it was work, I was delivering a vintage trailer converted to a

coffee shop to the Oxo Tower SW1.

With the kids in the back I decided we had time to do a little sightseeing. 10 Downing Street above, then onto Trafalgar Sq and Nelson's column.

A quick drive by Harrods -

Never one to miss an opportunity I pulled over on the mall and started serving a few Aussie tourists......

Quick stop in Covent Garden, I worked nightshift in the Gardening Club/Rock Garden on the Plaza. It's been taken over

by apple.

It really turned out a 'Perfect Day'. With the Trailer delivered on time and on budget and with very impressed clients we headed to Belgo for

some hair of the dog...

excape

it's in the name......

This was very amusing little find. I was alerted about this little girl, an extremely rare mid 50's whale tail bubble.

When I got the pictures I really did think it was a wind up considering my surname is Harkness

Making ribs in the hot weather

It's been a hectic few months with Airstreams to say the least.





With our workshop running a little behind schedule weekends and weekdays have merged into one just for the moment.


Hopefully things will adjust back to normal in time for the kids breaking up for summer so we can do a little exploring ourselves.


We managed to make time to meet some of our fellow airstream bloggers. Tracy and Pete who are currently full time airstreamers popped by and we spoke about the possibility of bringing over aa founding member of the WBCCI at a future meet. We also had Chris who is doing up his flying cloud drop by and pick up some left over goodies from the 50's. It was great meeting everyone and wish I had more time to hangout.

We decided to move over a bit more inventory from the states and among the newcomers are two whaletails, little and large. It's a paradise for whale watchers -



The task of making ribs for a 50's trailer resulted in a few failed attempts before hitting the right formula -


This particular project is due to be delivered into central London early next month and could well be on the way to becoming a central London landmark. More to come on the delivery in the next few weeks.

My dear wife Hazel has been kind enough to knit us an office tea cosy, I think if weather continues we will be asking for knitted drinks coolers -

exploration works begin on wally and stellas little bubble

I've started to get under the covers of Wally and Stellas little bubble to see what makes her tick.

Time just disappears so quickly.



When I first started working on these trailers I started to notice a little red mark under the rivet heads. I quickly realized that this was just mark for drilling the rivet holes. The workers at airstream seem to use it for marking out the interior fixings also.
Byam Hooks are dotted all around the inside of this trailer and are very handy. I have a small collection of them already, so I may even add a few more.

The front plate is aluminum not steel. The four steel bolts had all snapped along with the weld on the front cross member which was why she had front movement.

At some stage there had been a small fire under the front near side floor



Overall the chassis is solid but there are a couple of broken weld seems. I'm going to send a sample off to a lab and have the alloy identified


Here's a quick video to give you idea of the condition of the chassis -




Another rainy day in Gloucestershire. I have a number of parts that I need to replace including this roof vent. Someone has rigged up a very crude clear cover with is letting in a good bit of rain.


The original floor was screwed to the chassis and outriggers, not bolted like normal. Around the C channel the floor had blots all around and no screws.

55 years on from 1955 the #1 trailer is back safe and sound

Many thanks to all that helped bring this little beauty back for me. I've got a very nice historic potting shed for the moment but at some stage we will hopefully have a very nice vintage camper also.

Having acquired the #1 Airstream I also seem to have acquired the #0 if there was such a thing. I've been advised there was a #00 owned by the Andy Anderson family, personal friends of the Byams and the Schwamborns but can't find anything on a single zero. The number was very old and clearly there was just one digit front and back. They had been covered over by a few layers of other stickers.