Fast & Furious............TRIP!!

I just got back from picking up the 1941 Chevy COE (cabover engine) and it was one looooonng, faaast trip. I left Monday morning and drove to Lincoln, Ne which was 792 miles for that day.

Going through the Oklahoma panhandle I passed through Hooker, Ok. Here's their gift shop

Special gift shop for Hooker's residents

Tyrone was the next town down the road....Hmmmm???

Tuesday I drove from Lincoln, to Plattsmouth, Ne to pick the truck up at Jake's (the guy I bought the truck from) house. Jake had to work and he couldn't meet me so I was on my own. I guess he trusted me after talking to me on the phone because he asked me to leave the money in the glove box of a black Honda that was next to the truck. He had left the title in the glove box so the paper work was done.

Preparing to load the truck. 

Truck loaded but not tied down.

Someone had added a wooden deck bed on the back but the boards were only nailed down, so I thought it would be best if I removed all the boards that weren't really secure and tie them to the trailer with straps. I think it was about 9:30am when I got everything tied down, the money in the glove box and the Honda locked. Nice doing business with a trusting person. I didn't even get to meet him (he had to be at work), I only got to talk with him on the phone.

Headed south on Hwy 75 toward Topeka, Ks. While enroute I called Mike Collins in Edmond, Ok. I thought I'd stop by and visit with him briefly since it was on the way. Mike was home and was going to be around when I would be going through Edmond. I got there about 4:30 pm and we visited for about an hour and a half. We could have visited of hours but I had to get back on the road. I had made a reservation at the La Quinta in Amarillo so I needed to be there before midnight. I did make it before midnight and got a pretty good nights rest. 

I was up by 5 am. Ate breakfats at Denny's which was right next to the motel and got on the road by 6:15 am. Stopped in Lubbock to get diesel at Sam's. Made it home by 9 am. 

I finished stripping all the wood off the bed and unloaded the truck. 

Now I'm gonna rest..........

Until next time

Overthehump

It's all about balance.....

Patsi and I did a bit of gardening yesterday and today.  We planted about a dozen mums, about 25 tulips and 20 daffodils. It wouldn't have been too bad except for all the grass we had to dig out prior to planting anything. Bermuda grass is the pits. But once we got through it looked really nice.

Daffodils planted behind the mums and tulips planted in the front.

Should look really nice in the spring.

This is the hill I built this summer.

How it looked with all the sunflowers.

Had some really huge sunflowers!

Actually did some work to the trailer today. Started cleaning out the channels where the floor fits between the upper shell and the frame. It had numerous (as you can see in the picture) staples that stapled the shell to the floor with the carpet in between.

Practiced on my cabinet building skill by trying to build a box for the composting toilet I'm putting in the shop. Let's just say my cabinet building skills will have to improve substantially if I want the cabinets in the trailer to look really nice. lol I've got a few more things I can practice on before I have to build anything for the New Mexi-can.

I don't think I've mentioned my other project in this blog. Last year I bought a 1996 Ford Powerstroke flatbed truck with the intention of putting the cab from the 1946 International truck that Patsi got from the farm on the Powerstroke frame. 

But Patsi would like to restore the old IH back to the original, like it was used on the farm. 

So, we've been looking for a Cabover Engine truck to replace the cab on the Powerstroke. The 1950 Chevy pictured below is one we found in Albuquerque. 

But Patsi liked a 47 GMC that I found on the internet, plus I liked the look a lot also. The 47 GMC is pictured below:

This one was located in Kansas, but after talking to the guy it had quite a few of rusted out places. He said he had a 46 Chevy which looks basically the same except the bottom part of the grill is vertical instead of horizontal and the lights set on top of the fender instead of being built into the front of the fender. Like this one that we just bought tonight.

This one is supposed to even run. But it doesn't really matter since I won't be using the drive train from this truck. The only thing I'll use is the cab. I'm sure there will be lots of fabricating once I get started on this project. So, I've got a very full plate. It'll be a lot of fun building the vintage atv hauler to pull our vintage camper and it will be a lot of fun going places once we get finished with the projects. Wish me luck. I'll most likely need it. LOL

So, we have all these projects we're working on and we just balance our time to devote some to one project and then move on to another, then to another. Not really getting burned out of working on one all the time but having plenty to do and never getting bored.

Until next time.....

Overthehump

No Work But Still Inspired

I'm pretty amazed at people wanting to read my blog. Don't get me wrong, I'm very flattered and thank you for reading. It just amazes me that people would be interested in me working on an old camper trailer. Not too long after I started this blog, Jon Carter (whom I've never met), happened onto my blog emailed me asking me questions about the Streamline. It turned out he'd just acquired a '66 Streamline. He was interested in what problems he might run into. I guess you could say, just tons of work. LOL He just sent me some pics of his trailer and it is a really cool looking.

1966 Streamline

I really like the curved windows. It's a '66 model, so if he wants to buff and polish it to a mirror finish, he can. Jon hasn't started on his project yet. He said something about having to do some work on his barn before he can get it inside to start work. Hmmmm...I think I can relate.

Streamline started anodozing the outside aluminum in 1967, which means they chemically treated the outside to create a super hard exterior that would keep it's luster for quite a while. So, on 1967 models and later you can't buff and polish them.  Well, you can but it is really a hassle because you have to use oven cleaner or some sort of acid wash to get the outer layer of anodized aluminum off before it can be buffed and polished. I don't think I want to go to that much trouble. Plus when you polish an aluminum trailer it takes about 20+ hours per foot of trailer, so a 20' trailer will take somewhere near 400 hours to polish. Then you have to clearcoat it. Then in 3 to 4 years you have to go  through the whole process again. So to get a mirror shine on my trailer it would take me somewhere in the neighborhood of 700 to 900 hours of work. That would really be a lot of work. I'm not quite that inspired. LOL

I thought I'd show you some of the sites I've looked at to get my ideas and how to do things. One of the best sites that you can (IMHO) read to get ideas on how to do things is http://www.airforums.com/forums/. This website is dedicated to airstreams, but the process to build a Streamline, Silver Streak is basically the same. I've read a lot of the threads on how to fix the floor, repair the frame, and lots of other miscellaneous threads just because they were interesting. Tons of information here.

Craig Dorsey built some custom airstreams and has a website called Vintage Vacations http://www.vintage-vacations.com/home.html. He built the 'Adirondack' which happens to be my most favorite design in an airstream. There are a ton of really nice trailers out there but his is the one I like the best.

I used this pic on my blog for awhile. I just hope mine comes out looking half as nice.

Really nice kitchen!

 Even the living room is super nice!!

And the outside. Very nice lines!

Paul Lacitinola, the guy I bought my trailer from has a site - Vintage Camper Trailers - http://www.vintage-vacations.com/home.html. Paul has a place just outside of Sacaramento, Ca where he feeds his passion of restoring vintage 'canned ham' trailers. Here are some of his trailers - 

1954 Aljoa Sportsman

1962 Shasta Atrodome

1959 Shasta Deluxe

1962 Deville

Paul and his wife Caroline have several other trailers that they are working on. The above trailer is the first one Paul restored and polished. He told me he'd never polish another one. Polished trailers look really good when they are clean and spotless, but it is very labor intensive to keep them looking great!

There are lots of sites and lots of different groups that promote the restoration and rebuilding of vintage trailers. I'll use these for filler until I can get all my other little projects (ducks in a row) done and get back to work on the trailer. I've been thinking I need to get everything in the shop set up so I'll be able to put the trailer inside and it will be warm enough this winter to work on it while it is inside. Yeah, that's a good idea! 

I fixed Patsi's whirly gig this morning that I broke while weed eating earlier this week. This afternoon we worked on getting some power to the green house so we'll be able to keep all our plants warm this winter. 

Until next time....

Overthehump

Whittlin' the list down....

I Haven't really worked on the trailer directly but have knocked out a couple of other things I needed to get done. Patsi had bought a work table from one of the Chevron auctions a couple of years ago but it was too short to be of much use. So, yesterday I welded an extension frame together to raise the table up and make it more useful.

I also got some more of the shop moved around and rearranged so I'll have a welding area, woodworking area, and a place to work on the vehicles. Lots of stuff and lots of organizing, which I'm not the best at. lol

Today I used my new Kreg Pocket jig tool to build a container box to get some practice for building cabinets for the camper.

I was really impressed by the ease of using the tool. It made the joints really strong. Now I just need a little practice on following plans for the cabinets. lol 

Until next time.....

Overthehump

Hodge Podge

It's been about 3 weeks since I've done any work on the trailer. Even though I haven't been working on the trailer, I have been pretty busy. We have made a couple of trips for pleasure camping, 4 wheeling and generally just racking up the miles on the highway. In addition to the that I've added a bathroom to my shop, welded up the side on my 4 wheeler trailer, cleaned up the shop a little and have been trouble shooting the 5th wheel for some electrical problems (which I hate to do).  I don't really know what the trouble was but it hasn't tripped a breaker at all in the last 4-5 days. Go Figure!!

I've even done a few projects in the yard. Dug up a spot to plant tulips and daisies. Still have to work it before we plant anything though. I think we have close to 200 tulip bulbs and about the same amount of daisy bulbs. We also have a bunch of iris's to plant that Patsi dug up at a friends. I finally got one section of wall for the compost pile installed.

The past couple of days (turned into several days) I've had to rearrange my shop to accommodate my new welder.


I definitely need an area for welding, so some things have had to be assimilated into other areas. My what we do to have a good time. LOL

Yesterday I went on a one day road trip with, Tommy Herring, a friend of mine. I sponsor Herring Racing (Tommy & Toby) with Amsoil for their modified flat track race car. We left for Santa Fe about 7:30 am to meet a guy that rebuilt the engine for Toby's (Tommy's son) race car, which I sponsor with Amsoil. We met Angelo of Geddes Race Engines just outside of Santa Fe, transferred the engine from his pickup to Tommy's pickup and then headed for Albuquerque to go by another engine shop to give them some parts for their other engine they are getting rebuilt. Lots of engines!! Only 13 hours on the road and back home that evening.

Gosh, living just gets in the way of projects. I'm headed to Abilene tomorrow to attend The Southern Challenge at Abilene Speedway. I'll be back Sunday and resume work on the shop, yard, trailer, and several other projects that I have started. Maybe I'll finish a few along the way while I'm finishing up the Streamline.

I've got the welder in place and most everything moved around in the shop so I can start welding on the frame next week.

Until next time.....

Overthehump