Chock full o' Nuts

Nice to see things get a second life, New York Blend coffee.....

We've given  

 this Sovereign of the Road a good first cut with a coarse grade polish before lifting the body off -

 Getting various decals and sealants off the body safely required a few days patience -

It still had the original floor in the trailer which had been overlaid with another plywood floor . Even the new plywood (below) was badly rotted. The original plywood was very badly delimitated except for the mid sections of the trailer.

Frame off and the chassis gets exposed -

One of a number of issues which are pointing towards making up a new chassis -

Unused buck rivet in the inner skin -

Internal pop rivet from the 50's -

Then we started a floor and belly pan on this little bubble -

May the wind always be in my back yard......

With fall  well underway, I'm starting to plan for the cold winter that lies ahead.

This year we have all the heat we can handle as long as we have wind. But I will have a few 47kg bottles of gas ready to keep the productivity levels up just incase.



Initially the primary focus will on getting this young lady ready for life in the 21st century -

She is a 1956 Ohio Sovereign of the Road.

I bought her in Minnesota. My purchase hit the headlines -

She's a real lady and I will really enjoy my time with her.

I have researched and located her previous owners from the 1950's and already heard some interesting stories about her. I looking forward to hearing and hopefully seeing more of her history.


So keep warm and stay tuned this winter and my first off grid restoration!

Sir Bobs

Early Saturday we headed to Sir Bob Geldofs 60th and daughter Pixies 21st birthday party with three Airstreams.

The party was New Orleans themed fancy dress and my wife Hazel kindly  had me setup to be "the mild mannered janior from the vintage airstream trailer park" 

We took one of our interns with us Ian -

Plenty of photo opportunities for a Janitor and his lady -

Next morning, time for a quick swing 

 A hug and thank you to and from Bob

Then time to hit the road

The 'Vacuum Cap' invented by Edward J Artis

I've had a number of Airstreams with these caps installed. Some have been rusty tin, others like this one made from Aluminium Alloy.

Once I get a clue then it's pretty simple to find a bit of the history. In this case the Pat. number was all I needed.

I considered this to look art deco, and indeed it is

 

More of his inventions can be found by clicking here.

Nigel Mansell eat your heart out.........

For about half an hour last Friday I was let loose on the Grand Prix circuit at Brands Hatch, with an Airstream of course.

Was a real thrill as my escort dropped back and let me lose to put the pedal to the metal.

I then  parked up and waited for the crew to arrive for the shoot.




All good fun......

Then early this week it my was turn to take the role of an escort for a delivery down to London Town -

Selection of Airstream dealer tags

there's a big ship in town......

When I lived in the West Village every so often I'd see the QE2 arrive into town on the Hudson river, whilst out jogging (gosh, did i say jogging!). This was always a site worth stopping for!

The QM2 might be a tad newer but still it brings the same feeling of excitement, this is the second time I've seen her docked in Southampton -

Never one to miss an opportunity and got a bit of video footage -

And finally another hard to find trailer, tandem axle ohio overlander which is my tow for tomorrow morning -