“Towing Vintage” “One Thing Leads to Another”
What’s the old saying, “One Thing Leads to Another” which can be a good/bad thing depending on the behavior of which we are speaking about. As the vintage trailer journey continues, we as vintage trailer owners often find ourselves the owner of not one trailer, but many vintage trailers. Again “One Thing Leads to Another”, or maybe better said “One Vintage Airstream Leads to Another”. Starting out with the 1970’s Special Safari (write-up last month) one thing led to another.
Every day on the journey to work, looking over into the backyard of a house, sat a 1966 Overlander International. After a year of drive-by’s, the courage was had to finally stop and knock on a stranger’s door to ask about the trailer. It was easy to see the trailer had been sitting there for some time, since it was down to the axles in the dirt. A lovely lady “Mrs. Jackson” was nice enough to let me walk back, look over the trailer. The trailer had been parked twenty-three years prior, by her now deceased husband. After stopping by Mrs. Jackson’s house about once a month, for almost two years, I finally said to her “Mrs. Jackson, we need to either fish or cut bait on this trailer, I’m sure you’re getting tired of me stopping by”. Her response “I don’t mind you stopping by, in fact, I look forward to you doing so”. What happened for both of us was not just a buyer/seller relationship over the past two years, but one of also friendship which lasted until she passed some years later at the age of 85. To this day when passing her home, I think about how one thing led to another. We called the trailer “Mrs. Jackson” in honor of her.
After agreeing on price, it came time to tow the trailer home. Mrs. Jackson said, “Here’s a picture of when we brought it home in 1966, I want you to have it” (picture at top of article) . My response “So, you towed the trailer home with a 1962 Ford Galaxie?” she said, “How do you know that?” Response: “I own a 1962 Ford Galaxie Convertible and that’s the rear fender of one in front of that trailer”. She then pulls out two more pictures saying, “This is what we use when towing it to Florida, I think my husband said it was a Travelall”. Needless to say, “One Thing Leads to Another”. After getting the trailer home, that night the search began for an International Travelall. After a few months of searching, a little luck and the horse trading of a 1959 Galaxie and a 1960 MGA, a Travelall was found in the same color here in Virginia and was sitting in front of the 1966 Overlander. The question still to this day, “Who got the better deal on the trade?”. Rarity (I did), overall value (he did), since both of us got what we wanted, but also lost something, it was a fair deal for both.
Like any trailer that has sat for 23+ years, the trailer was a time-capsule. Everything was still 100% original including the curtains, cushion covers, flooring, etc… In fact, when hooking the city water up to the trailer “no leaks” were found in the plumbing. Her husband did the best job of winterizing the trailer that lasted 23+ years. Sadly, the curtains had some staining and needed to be replaced. Understand, the original curtains were of a certain color, texture of fabric, pleated with “silver lining backs”. Searching for about six months, the same color/texture of fabric was found for the face. But, even after months of looking, the original “silver lining back” just couldn’t be found. (Here is where you are going to learn something few know about in the Vintage Airstream Club) With the original curtains in hand, they were taken to “Ms. Dot”. Now understand, “Ms. Dot” knows fabric, and had been sewing for 50+ years and frankly, she was my last hope. After showing her the curtains, telling her about the six-month search looking for this silver drapery backing material, and no one in the club knew what it was, etc… but even worse, no one could figure out what material was used for the curtain “silver lining backs” in a 1966 Airstream Overlander International trailer. In less than “two-seconds” she looks at me and say’s “Paul, that’s just old ironing board fabric, it’s nothing special, how many yards you want?” As hard as it is to believe, Airstream used nothing more than standard old ironing board fabric on the backs of their curtains in the 1960’s. Possibly, at that time, the cheapest fabric known to man since people still ironed their own clothes and were always putting new fabric on their ironing boards in the 1960’s. The fabric helps reflect the sun, blackout the trailer and last forever. The pictures below are of curtains made over 20+ years ago and still look new to this day.
Also, the curtains are attached at the top via standard “drapery pins” and held in place at the bottom with “curtain clip rings” that is pulled tight against the wall with a piece of stretch-cord, with electrical connectors at each end. It’s about as inexpensive as you can get. Again, “One Thing Leads to Another” with a vintage trailer if you’re trying to stay as original as possible.
Owning a vintage Airstream trailer has led to many things, from meeting Mrs. Jackson, owning more vintage Airstreams than can be remembered, Old International Travelall’s, visiting places that would never been otherwise, meeting folks from all walks of life and locations, people who are now friends for 25+ years, dragging old trailers all over America and parts of Canada, raising a child around a group of wonderful people that influenced her greatly, to now in our 60’s growing older with a group of people whom are considered “family”. Who would have guess that “One Thing could Lead to so many Another’s” when “Towing Vintage”, but it has and continues to do so every day. Next time you hook up your vintage Airstream, think about all the things that have come because of it. When you do, you’ll agree “One Thing Leads to Another”
Until Next Time,
Paul Waddell
Region-2 VAC Guy