On the road again!
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| Old Glory in all her glory! Glorious!!! |
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| This is what I looked like in my old driveway. It is the photo that made my new people come get me! |
Hello. My name is Old Glory, at least that is what they started calling me. A few months ago I was lonely and bored and unattached. I hadn't had any company for a looooong time. I think it was since the 70's. Until one day these people came over with a weird looking dog they refer to as Ghandi the Dingo. Next thing I knew I was being hooked up and riding down the road.First stop was about 5 minutes later where I was hooked up to a hose and my tires got a lift. Felt like being injected with botox! WOW was it cool going down the road again! I had really gotten my hopes up and thought I was going to the campground and I ended up in yet another driveway! Sheesh! Here are some pictures of me in my new driveway.
Yep, that's me!
So anyway, like I said I thought I was finally going camping but ended up on just another piece of pavement. My hopes were dashed. The people who brought me here just kept going on and on and on about all my faults and shortcomings while they walked around and inspected every visible inch of me. Now I know I am no spring chicken and yes I have seen better days but come on! And all I could do was sit and listen.
Then it happened! I heard them say they were going to shine up my wings, paint my body, get me some new teardrop lights...they even said they were going to have my eyebrows done! But that is not even the best of it! They said they were going to do all this so that someone would someday be able to take me out camping and I would be the talk of the whole campground! Ha! Hey all you ritzy, high faluting, rv's, campers, and travel trailers who have laughed at me while I sat in my old driveway and you were being towed on your way by with your happy families.....I am getting a facelift and you are going to wish you were me.
I know it's true cause I heard them tell that dog they call Ghandi and for some reason I don't get the feeling they would lie to her!
So, here is how my tale is told...
One of the first things I remember is when these new driveway people started tearing me apart. I admit, I had let myself go and it felt good to get rid of some of that stuff that really wasn't doing me any good anyway. Like my door. What a mess it was! Someone had lost my keys on my Bargman 66 lock and tried to pry me open. Well, the end result wasn't pretty. I heard the driveway people (who I will refer to as dwp's from now on) talk about how hard it would be to get another door. Here is a visual for you:
Next thing I knew they took my door right off, hinges and all. There was a fine looking gentleman of a travel trailer next to me and I just felt so naked!
The dwp's ripped open my door to my bones, which they referred to as the framing.
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| Finally that buzzing in my ears is gone. They removed all my bee's nests! From my door the skin was removed and I got some new bones and reinforcements. |
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| Those are the man dwp's hands. He is giving me a massage I think. |
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My aluminum door frame was corroded and that was polished up as well! And since the chances of getting a door replacement were not good the dwp's worked hard to make the one I already had look better. Here I am today:
Looks better than it did! I heard the dwp's talk about painting it with chrome but since they are planning on adopting me out they decided this was best left up to the future owner. Something about hating it when you get something someone else had and they painted over chrome. It is what it is...
Another thing they did was give me an inner butt lift. Check this out!
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| This was me when I arrived. |
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| Yep, I got the vintage camper disease called leakatosis of the windows. |
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| My dwp's were glad that any major damage was only in the back window and front side windows. Heard them say I was lucky! |
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| See my old light fixture just a hanging there in the right corner? More on that later! |
They ripped me apart and put in new bones where needed. Said they got lucky that most of the framing was still so solid!
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| Here it comes!!! |
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| He is massaging me again! |
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| Wow this feels good! |
Now don't tell the dwp's I told you this, but they had to put up my lower back birch twice. And it is not easy fitting the birch in my intricate little spaces from the inside ya know! Why did they do it twice you ask? Because as soon as they got done the first time they said "Wait...we have to put in insulation! I guess they got ahead of themselves. I don't blame em. It was pretty exciting. Good thing they didn't pound any nails yet!
My lady dwp sanded the walls down and gave me nice new shiny shellac. It took more coats on my new inner skin to make it match. On my old skin she was able to sand out most of those old scratches and boy oh boy do I look good now!
I heard the lady dwp admiring me and then all she could focus on was the negative again. I guess the crack in my scalloped shelf was a bit of an eyesore but still, I hadn't felt this good in years!
Just so happened she had another scalloped shelf face. So she took the old one off and...
She fitted me with a freshly sanded new one. You should have heard her complain about fitting in the welting though! I am beginning to think these dwp's will never be satisfied. (Note the light just a hanging in the above picture)
Here I am with my new scalloped shelf! All done! Oh, and that ceiling light. The man dwp took it down when I came here. It was a mess as you can imagine. He cleaned it all up and it sure do look nice! It is original and he loved the fact that the lens is glass. Something about everything is from China nowadays and is plastic and how I am so much better than any new trailer on the market cause I am built right! . Here are close ups of my two new lights:
The lady dwp sanded down my bed board that pulls out and shellaced that too.
I was missing the other board so the man dwp went and got some wood, cut it down to fit and it too was shellaced to match.
Perfect fit!! Good thing too cause I remember one time when something didn't fit and the dpw's saying something like "measure twice cut once".
There is lot's more to tell...but Old Glory has to get her beauty rest! Until next time, pleasant dreams of beautiful Shastas!
Hello again! Boy oh boy it is a sad day in this driveway. Not only because it is wet & rainy but I heard my dwp's talking about the home stretch. I was pulled up and they took pictures of me. Something about how it is getting to be winter and I need to get ready to leave. Anyway, I got an exterior makeover. Not quite done but it is rainy and painting without a garage in rain is supposedly impossible. I still need my hitch and bumper painted but I sure do look like I could turn some heads the way I am! Heard the dwp's talk about how if they don't get to it before I find a family it would be something the new fam could do. Also heard 'em say how there is always something to do and you have to prioritize your time and efforts. They sure are hard to satisfy!
Anyway, here is my transformation from an ugly duckling into a beautiful winged beauty queen. First they took everything off of me, lights, license plate holder, windows, vents, wings, you name it and it was gone. And I thought I felt naked before! Then when the dwp's started I ended up looking worse than when I came. I sure was worried and a lil embarrased especially with that cute boy trailer sitting next to me the whole time.
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| Here is my streetside and front! |
Those wings sure did cause quite a stir with my dwp's. My man dwp spent lots of time on my first one and then the lady dwp told him about mother's polish. He went out and bought something similar called Diamond Bright Truck Box Polish and boy did that make life a whole lot easier when it came to shining my aluminum. Someday, my windows should be done but the eyebrows are shiny and so are those glorious wings! Right about now....I believe I can fly!!!
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| Here is a before and after photo of my original wings! |
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| Here is the finished curbside! |
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| And the finished streetside.When the lady dwp looked at this pic she said "we need to fix our garage". She sure does know how to ruin a moment! |
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I also have new teardrop lights but my dwp's still need to get my rear lights.That boy trailer that sits next to me is really starting to notice me! When the dwp's are inside at night, he whisper's oh so sweet nothing's in my ear! Boy oh boy this new driveway sure is making me feel like a whole new woman! On to my insides cause even though they say so beauty is not skin deep!
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| Here is my ceiling vent. Yep, I also had ceilingventitis when I arrived! |
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| Dwp's were surprised that the supports were in okay condition! |
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| And they also scored an original hehr replacement for me! |
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| My man dwp decided to double up the support going along the width of the camper. Something about us Shasta's always sagging here. I told him to give it a few more years and he would be sagging too! Don't think he heard me though! |
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| He used red oak for the ceiling joists cause it is strong and will last. Oh, I think I am going to be around to pass vintage and become an antique! |
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| This is before he put the short lengthwise supports up to frame the vent. The lady forgot to get a picture of that! |
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| Now I have a new ceiling and new vent. |
The lady replaced the screen for my vent. Apparently not such an easy thing to do. They sure did make things hard to do back then!
Okay, would you like to see my gorgeous completed inner rear end? I knew you would!
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| Here is my bed all pulled out. The lady dwp used a futon mattress. |
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| Here I am with the bed turned into a couch. |
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| The lady dwp made me some nice yellow polka dotted curtains. |
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| Here I am with my hammock pulled out. |
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| I sure do hope that someday two lil one's will be up there just a laughing and a giggling and driving their parents nuts! |
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| The canvas isn't perfect but it is original and that has to count for something! |
My old floor was in pretty bad shape as far as the tiles go. You know, old, dirty and coming up. My floor underneath was really quite beautiful in condition. The process of getting to the floor underneath is a whole other story.
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| Here is my man dwp hard at work scraping up tile. |
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| My lady had already begun sanding the cupboards as you can see from this picture. |
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| This stuff made a mess and once again I thought I looked worse than when they started. |
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| The lady found some vintage looking tiles to match me and the man went to get them. |
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| The lady put them down on the floor to make me feel better about how awful I looked. Once again, sans tiles...I felt naked. At least that boy trailer next to me couldn't sneak an inside glance! |
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| Look at me look at me look at me now! |
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| It's fun to have fun you just have to know how! |
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| It wasn't fun until the dwp's got to this point. |
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| But it sure was fun seeing them smile when they finished laying tile! |
My dwp's still have to put down the trim along the floor edge and I heard talk about waxing and buffing to bring out the shine. I remember when my old floor shined. Sure was long ago. Can't wait to get there again!
That is all for now. Next time I hope to show you my dinette and the kitchen and the curbside closet area! For now I think I will get some rest. All this change sure is tiring! Until next time pleasant dreams of beautiful Shasta's!
Invaders of the Kitchen!
Now if you have been paying attention and have read my posts from the beginning you will remember when I said that I had been lonely and without company from probably the 70's? Well I lied. I had a few friends stay with me. The small furry kind with tails. In fact they turned my cabinet over the sink into a mouse condominium of sorts. Only they forgot to install proper plumbing and even though it appears they didn't stay around too long and inhabit the entire trailer, they left behind evidence of their once happy existance.Above is a picture that was sent to my new dwp's and they still came to get me! Can you believe it?
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| This is the mouse condominiom. My new dwp's decided this cabinet needed to go! It was actually one of the first things they did. |
Here are a bunch more photos, nothing I am too proud of just an example of what my new dwp's were dealing with.
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| It looked like someone had tried to paint over the yucky mess at one point. |
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| Pretty bad, huh? Well you should have seen the man dwp. What a baby. Never heard anyone whine so much when it was time to touch this mess to remove it. |
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| Here it is removed. The lady dwp was much better about removing my cab. I'll bet the man dwp never changed a diaper either judging from his attitude! I mean the lady didn't enjoy it, but she was much more mature about it! |
Everything was sprayed and cleaned and treated and then the new wall was put up over new insulation and framing..
The lady dwp put on her carpenter hat and with some help from the man dwp she built me a new cabinet. It's not done yet, still needs shelves installed but it sure makes me look better!
At one time I was well loved. Ahhh....the cooking that went on in this little getaway! My dwp's knew this was true by the mess that was left on the aluminum splash guards. Covered with grease from all those egg and bacon breakfasts! And my old owners were too busy having fun camping to clean up properly.
See....
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| Just look at the side splash guard! The one against the back wall was also covered but the dwp's forgot to get a picture of that. |
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Well, with a bunch of good old fashioned elbow grease my splash guards were all cleaned up and a new side splash guard wall was even built from scratch. My stove area looks much better now. The stove still needs a thorough going over but it's all there and it's original!
This is the sink before it was cleaned up.
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| Before the sink was cleaned and polished. |
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| rusty nails removed and replaced with shiny new ones |
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| These need a good shining too! |
The cabinet over the stove was removed because a new ceiling section had to be put up. Well it was cleaned, sanded and shellaced. New "vintage style" welting was added and it was put back in place. Curtains were made for the little window in between the cabinets. The cupboards and drawers were sanded down and shellaced and the aluminum trim and chrome covered drawer pulls and hinges were cleaned and shined. None of this took place without an event here or there but overall it is coming along quite nicely! Here are some pictures of what I looked like throughout the process...
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| You can see that the ceiling panel has not yet been replaced. |
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| This hanging light bothers me. Feels like I have a hernia inside here! And the lady dwp, she just had to hang those curtains just to see what they would look like when I am not even ready for them yet! |
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| The dwp's say it is hard working in a small space but they are making fine progress/ |
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| above the top drawer is a really cool pull out cutting board! |
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| I still have my original light over the counter! It matches the one over the dinette, which I will show you later. |
As they say...some of us clean up quite nicely! Hopefully tomorrow will be a much nicer day because I just can't wait to see what they are going to do to me next. If it isn't and I have some free time for blogging I will show you the dinette and closet space on the curbside wall. Well, time for a break and time for a lil more of old Glory's beauty rest. Until next time, pleasant dreams of beautiful Shastas!
Curbside
There is not much to show of my curbside wall. That was probably the part that was most intact when I arrived. Of course all my doors and hardware were removed. The hardware polished up and made to shine again and the doors all sanded down and shellaced. Here is a before and after picture. You can see a difference. My mirror is original and has the infamous date stamp on it. March 21st, 1963. So that is the birthday my dwp's gave to me. The lady looked it up and it ends up being a Thursday. So I am a Thursday's child and as the saying goes Thursday's child has far to go. I hope that when my camping family finds me they will take me far!
The other cool thing that I have is my original ironing board. Can you imagine bringing an iron on a camping trip? Yep, things were a lil bit different back in the 60"s! It stores in the tall closet. To use it you fit it in the slot where the cutting board goes. Kind of neat that it didn't get lost over time. My dwp's can't imagine anyone using it but you should have heard them giggle when they found it still there. Like finding a toy in a Cracker Jack Box!
I also have lots of storage space and neat little shelf on my right side door. When they found me I had a portapotty stored on the top right shelf and it fit perfectly there. I also have my original fridge. That still needs to be monkeyed with and tested but I am sure the man dwp will get to it! Oh, and on the back side of these cupboards I still have my metal hanger thingy as the lady calls it. It's got to be original cause when the lady dwp removed it to sand and shellac, it looked like it had been there forever! Here it is....
Okay, so I promised I would show you the dinette. Here is what I looked like when I was found
And here I am now!
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| In this photo the globe is not yet on for my gas light. All the aluminum window trim has been shined up except for the front window. Hey, the new owners will have to have something left to do! Unless these obsessed with me dwp's I have now get to it first! |
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| See how shiny?! Oh yeah, we have had lots of rain in this driveway and guess what...my leakatosis has been cured!!! I was given new birch walls under the windows but I will show you more on that later! For now let's keep looking at the pretty stuff. |
I have yellow countertops and a yellow table. They have seen better days but the dwp's decided to leave it original. They know that Shasta lovers in my future will either leave it as well or they will want to choose thier own replacement style. Here is a shot of what my overhead cupboards used to look like compared to what they look like now.
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| Someone took out my original Hehr gas light and put in this ugly electric thing! Lucky though the dwp's found the original gas light in the overhead cupboard! |
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| The doors are pretty far gone so the lady dwp cut some birch, shellaced it and replaced them. |
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| My gas light was removed and polished and cleaned by the man dwp. The globe may or may not be original. It has a crack in it but it doesn't show when turned to the back. Something someone may want to replace someday but for now I think it looks great! |
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| That metal heat shield is something the dwp's have never seen on another Shasta. But it had left a mark when they removed it and had been there forever! Maybe it was an extra option? Just one more neat detail I have that makes the dwp's go giddy! |
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| And here is the light under the overhead over the table with the original globe. This is a twin to the one over the sink area. |
The lady dwp made those polka dotted curtains and because I came cushionless she found some thick dense foam and covered it in heavy black fabric. It's a lil shiny so it kind of gives the impression of vinyl. I must share a secret trick with you! You know how hard it is to stuff foam into a covering? Well, the lady dwp outwitted that foam and here is how...
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| First she covered it with plastic, she use lawn and leaf garbage bags, then she hooked it up to a sucking machine (vacuum). |
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| The beer bottle does a great job of showing you just how much air comes out of that foam! |
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| Then she stuffed the foam in the cover and pulled out the plastic. All the air goes back in and there is no struggling! Neat trick, huh? |
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| In this pic the globe on the gas light is off. Why? The man dwp is known to hit his head on things and he felt it would be safer tucked away in case he is working on something in that area. He says because he has no hair he has no feelers to warn him when he is about to hit something. Oh yeah, I have seen him in action and it isn't pretty when it happens! I think it hurts him more than it hurts me! |
My dinette table turns into a bed. In these old Shasta's they had you remove the table, store it in the space on the floor between the seats and then put slats up to hold the cushions. When they got me the slats were gone. Now the future family can return to original slats if they choose to make me a showroom piece and original cushions for that matter, but for now the dwp's put down board and layed me out like that. The lady decided to try it out as is and she told the man dwp it was firm and comfortable. The boards fit back under the bottom cushions when not in use. Oh it felt good to have someone enjoy my front space again!
Remember I was telling you I had leakatosis of the windows? Well, lot's of work went into curing me! The front side windows were removed and all that old yucky sticky stuff was cleaned! Man dwp bought some butyl tape and went to work on resealing me. Those dwp's....they should have been surgeons! Glad they decided to try their hands at being vintage trailer surgeons! I will show you more about the resealing of the windows and replacing of the birch later.Going back to that time in my life is not easy and today I am just going to enjoy the end result of my surgery at this point! Oh yes, there is much more to do but those dwp's have worked hard at getting me this far. I feel like a whole new trailer! I am so glad that that there are people out there who appreciate the oldies! Can you imagine me being pulled with a souped up yellow '63 Chevy Truck? Oh it gives me shivers just thinking about it! But I would be glad to be towed with anything that will haul me right about now. I just want to go camping!!!
That is it for today folks. Old Glory needs to get back to getting her beauty rest (it seems to be working). Until next time, pleasant dreams of beautiful Shasta's!
Now if you have been paying attention and have read my posts from the beginning you will remember when I said that I had been lonely and without company from probably the 70's? Well I lied. I had a few friends stay with me. The small furry kind with tails. In fact they turned my cabinet over the sink into a mouse condominium of sorts. Only they forgot to install proper plumbing and even though it appears they didn't stay around too long and inhabit the entire trailer, they left behind evidence of their once happy existance.Above is a picture that was sent to my new dwp's and they still came to get me! Can you believe it?
Well, with a bunch of good old fashioned elbow grease my splash guards were all cleaned up and a new side splash guard wall was even built from scratch. My stove area looks much better now. The stove still needs a thorough going over but it's all there and it's original!
My dinette table turns into a bed. In these old Shasta's they had you remove the table, store it in the space on the floor between the seats and then put slats up to hold the cushions. When they got me the slats were gone. Now the future family can return to original slats if they choose to make me a showroom piece and original cushions for that matter, but for now the dwp's put down board and layed me out like that. The lady decided to try it out as is and she told the man dwp it was firm and comfortable. The boards fit back under the bottom cushions when not in use. Oh it felt good to have someone enjoy my front space again!
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