Day 3, Title and Registration

Today I went to the DMV to get the title transferred into my name.  For some reason the DMV in Redmond is no big deal, as apposed to the waiting the hours you hear about in most cities.  I walked in and took a number, perused the wall of forms until I found the form I believed I needed, sat down and before I could finish, my number was called.  To get a new title was $77, to register and get new tags will be $120, OUCH! Since the trailer is not really on the road, I opted to wait until it was a little closer to being road worthy.  Also, the original trailer plate is an October plate, so I would maximize the tags if I wait until October.  So, within 5 minutes I was in and out with a temporary title in hand.  I kind of felt weird putting the title in my name after this trailer had been owned by the same family for so long.  I hope whatever restoration work I do will make the former owners pleased.

Vintage Trailer Tire

Road worthy, what exactly does that mean and where does one start to do that?  I popped off one of the wheel caps to look at the bearings and I was excited to see a fair amount of fresh grease.  The tires looked to be actual 1950's vintage with the tires size reading 6 70 15LT.  It reminded me of when I bought vintage tires for my 51 Buick Super in high school (1984), which took L78's.  I haven't a clue of how that translates into today's tires, but it will be a piece of cake for the guys down at the Les Schwab tire store on the North end of town.  What I do know, is they are very old, sill hold air and look to be in descent shape.  I think they made rubber a hole lot better in the old days.  To make this trailer road worthy my first thought is to take the wheels off and have the tires removed, then take the rims to a shop and have them sand blasted and repainted red.  Then I can buy new tires have them mounted on fresh rims and get the bearings repacked while I'm at it.  This at least sounds like a logical place to start.

My other thought is to take the trailer to a professional restoration shop and get their expert advice.  I did receive a call from a shop in Bend today who specializes in restorations and updates of vintage trailers.   I think Thursday or Friday might be a good day to take the trailer on a small road trip.  I only have 10 days on the trip permit I bought on day one to haul this thing around before I am grounded and have to cough up the money to register and get tags.  

Gas refrigerator control by Formost Commidities

I feel a vacation day coming on, and after fore-fitting over 396 hours last year, I think I should redeem some of my accrued time, before losing it again and besides what could be more worthy cause?

I did spend a little more time poking around the refrigerator and found that it was made by Formost Commodities MFG. Co., Inc of New York, NY.  I'm not sure if they made the refrigerator or just the gas control unit.  Maybe someone out there knows more about it...?  For now I'll just put it on my list of more things to investigate.

There's also large blocked off areas in the bottom of the closets and under one side of the dinette.  I think they are the water holding tanks.  They are definitely not original, but I don't know when they were put in or what they actually are, but again, this sounds like a good call for a trailer restoration shop. I would like to have the wiring, plumbing and gas all gone over and have everything updated, so that when the trailer is done everything will function properly and last for years to come.

One other thing for the research file is there is no heating source for the trailer, yet there was a roof pipe vent on top.  Did this trailer have a propane heater at one time?  This is something I will have to find out.