Day 1, Today I bought a 1950 Traveleze trailer

After reading the book "Dead North" with my good friend Amy, I got the idea, and I'm not sure why, that I needed a vintage travel trailer.  Then I got the idea that I needed to restore a trailer and bring it back to life, why I'm really not sure.  I'm pretty handy, and I can take most things apart and usually get them back together again, but I have never owned a trailer, let alone restored one.

Tim Heintz's 1950 Spartanette of Panama, FL

I started searching online and checking on Craigslist.  Then my work took me to Louisville, KY to an RV Rally, where on display were 10 to 15 vintage trailers and cars.  My first and foremost love is old cars, so to put a trailer behind them was addicting.  Needless to say after touring a 30' 1950 Spartanette in the Kentucky heat, I was hooked and now I had to have one.

Friday night, August 30, 2010 after going to the county fair with friends, that little voice in my head said go check Craigslist, so at 11:45pm I did.  To my shock here in Central Oregon was a new Craigslist posting, saying "Vintage 16' Traveleze Trailer For Sale" and it had just been posted at 6:22pm.  I immediately texted my friend Amy, who was online checking emails.  She is my cohort in this obsession to find the perfect travel trailer.  We both wanted to call that night, but realized the late hour and the chance of making someone really cranky with a late night phone call was just too great.

The next morning Amy texted me at 6:45am, jolting me from a sound sleep.  I had been up into the wee hours of the morning trying to find information on Traveleze trailers and I was a little short on sleep when the phone went off.  Amy, was quite the opposite and was ready to go look at the trailer.  She placed a call at 7am and got an answering machine.  By 8am, we still hadn't heard a thing, so again Amy called.  This time she found out that she had dialed the wrong number, but in a weird twist the lady she had called had also sold a trailer on Craigslist a few weeks earlier.  So with the correct number, Amy called again and once again got a voice mail.  The morning dragged and with a prayer to be granted patience, Amy finally called me, saying we were the first to call and we could be the first to look at it, but not until Monday after they returned from a camping trip.  Ohhhh, never pray for patience, now I had to wait two more days.

Monday August 2, 2010 at 1pm was the set time to go view the trailer, and after a quick trip to the bank I had the needed funds in  hand, should I chose to purchase the trailer.  The trailer was located just North in the small town of Terrebonne and with friends, Doug and Amy we were off to view the trailer.

The 1950 Traveleze Trailer

The shape was unmistakable from the road and the tired old trailer looked a little worse for the wear, but still the retro shape and size seemed perfect and I had that strong feeling that this was the trailer I had been looking for. 

The roof has been coated with some form of roofing tar and the sides were completely hand painted with a brush, windows all seemed to be intact and the door and screen door opened with ease.  Immediately, we could see that work needed to be done, but we all liked what we saw and we couldn't wait to see the inside. 

Is it a Dinette or is it a bed?

Inside had that old trailer smell, but the trailers vintage charm peaked out from behind the water damaged birch paneling, saggy kitchen drawers and original dinette cushions. 

After mentally tallying up the growing list of issues, Doug, Amy and I all agreed it was still a great trailer and would be an interesting project.

So, after a brief conversation the deal was made, money was exchanged for the title and I became the owner of a 1950 Traveleze trailer, which is 15 years older than I am.

I scheduled a time to come pick the trailer up after work.  I was told I would need a 6" drop stinger for the truck ($22) and I figured a trip permit from the DMV.

I stopped by the DMV and picked up the permit ($30) for 10 days and by 5:30pm Doug and I were heading to get the trailer.

The trailer hooked right up and we were on the short drive home to Redmond.

I parked the trailer in the yard in front of the shop, where we could take a better look at it and start to figure out what needed to be done first.  We all agreed that anything that was not original, would be the first to go, so Doug and I took off the fiberglass cover over the front windows.

It was also clear that we are going to have to do research to see what's original and what's not.  Like the funky bumper and spare tire holder, original or not? It's just bolted on so for now it will stay until we can do some research.

Washing the Traveleze Trailer

By just removing the widow cover she already looks better.  As we started to scrub, the green color gave way to blue and the silver paint started to shine after a light scrubbing as well.

Hmm, how are we going to get the tar off the roof, should we soda blast the trailer, question after questions are starting to arise and again we decided that more research is going to have to be done.  Wheels, bearings, wiring, windows, stove, paneling, leaky joints are all going to have to be addressed.  So the fun begins.

Well that is Day 1, with the 1950 Traveleze.  I hope to keep you all posted as the progress moves forward.