Lern me Airstream Legacy

Looking at a project RV. 
 

Irs a '92 model. Runs, but the interior is gutted. 
 

Any particular input other than "Run away!!"?

Any particular things to watch out for?

Well there is the Airstream tax. As in you pay for the name, but on the other hand if you want a solid starting point and want to make the interior your own it could be worth it. Just be prepared for a massive outlay of cash, and if it is not in regular use (unlikely with no interior) the vehicular components could need a lot of deferred maintenance taken care of as well.

I knew I had mentioned P&S Trailer before on GRM and searching found me this thread.

In reply to SVreX (Forum Supporter) :

After buying our motorhome, I think I'd rather buy one complete that needs gutted, rather than one that already is. It gives you the opportunity to see where - and often why - the manufacturer did things a certain way, then decide if you can do it better yourself(I'm sure you can). 

Also, while I'd initially drawn up plans to convert our van, I realized that buying our RV wasn't that much more expensive than buying all the components to convert the van. Hopefully this rig still has most everything you'll need, but the little bits & pieces can add up. 

Never mind. It was a horror show. 

Having done a complete gut job on my Airstream (trailer), I'd rather someone else gutted it. It's not very complicated if you have done any residential work- that's the real lesson for me. I'd heard a hundred stories about specialized RV crap, and it really scared me. But what scared me worse was how much mouse E36 M3 and nest I had to pull out of this thing. It's clean enough to eat off of now, but next time I'd like to take advantage of someone else's abandoned project.

Smart decision.  The classifieds are full of RVs someone spent a fortune restoring but now are selling at a quarter per dollar spent.  Came close to falling in that hole myself with the old GMC but saw finished ones selling for less than the cost to redo mine.  Now we are in a newer travel trailer and pickup.  Never regretted that choice.  The GMC? parted it out and recycled the remains.  Took about 60 hours and 50 bucks of sawzall blades.

Friend of mine just bought a 1974 24 foot Airstream Motorhome. Chevy chassis with 454 CI engine. Interior had been restored by guy who owned it before (done other Airstream restorations) and is quite nice. He is working through changing belts, hoses, smog pump but has it running very well. Also working through some system problems like rooftop A/C. Outside has some surface corrosion but is very nice. His current dilemma is polish or paint. I'm urging him to polish as paint is forever but much easier to maintain. I suspect a wrap would be very expensive if it could even work. It has a very cool factor and draws a lot of attention.

In reply to pirate :

I met a guy that had a 1950s Airstream that was highly polished and I said that it must have taken weeks to do.  He said, "You know those huge aluminum semi tankers?  There are companies and all they do is polish them.  I dropped the Airstream off with a tank polisher and it came back great."

SVreX (Forum Supporter) said:

Never mind. It was a horror show. 

Pics? 

I understand the Airstream Company was started by Glenn Curtiss.  This is a 1930 model towed by a Packard, poor thing never went anywhere.  The owner wanted to buy a Packard but the salesman said they were a couple, gotta buy both.  Camper made it from the dealership in Albany to his barn, that's it.

My airstream is a 23', shell is 19'. I sucked it up and polished it. You could go crazy and seek perfection, but if you are satisfied with "pretty damn good", it's not too bad. The quote for a pro polish was $4k and I had to get all the clear coat off. I spent a couple hours a day over a couple weeks and it looks really good. I'll go back over it with a finer grit probably this fall. The initial polish is really hateful work, but oh so satisfying. I can't imagine paint will be less maintenance, nor add any value over the long term.

Beautiful house too!

We just got an as trailer and I'm going to be fixing little things as we go.   Starting with looking for awning legs as these were stolen at some point!

The awning legs may also have been damaged by wind. Apparently if you have a zip dee the legs are pretty fragile- always worth stowing if you aren't in a position to immediately retract it. Common problem and I'm sure you can easily get replacements. Good luck!!