I got a call from Colin Hyde on Tuesday. He runs GSM Vehicles, an Airstream restoration shop in Plattsburgh NY. He was running down to the Boston area to pick up his latest eBay purchase -- a 1962 Tradewind in "project trailer" condition -- and invited me to join him at Vintage Trailer Supply in Montpelier VT on his way back.

Steve Hingtgen is the owner of Vintage Trailer Supply, and he and Colin are both good friends. The three of us have worked together for years in various ways. We're all customers of each other and suppliers to each other. Both Steve and Colin advertise in Airstream Life magazine, and I have bought vintage parts from Steve for our 1968 Airstream Caravel, and Colin has done the restoration work. Likewise, Steve has a trailer at Colin's shop undergoing restoration, and Colin fabricates certain parts for the Vintage Trailer Supply catalog. So we interact quite a bit, but we only seem to get together as a group about once a year.

The shop is a fascinating place for vintage trailer nuts. Steve has been relentless in his search for obsolete parts, "New Old Stock" parts, and fabricators to make parts that simply wouldn't exist otherwise. He's got an incredible assortment of goodies there -- enough to make a vintage trailer nut salivate. I scored a couple of original-style hubcaps for the Caravel, and Colin came out with a pile of stuff for the trailers currently undergoing restoration in his shop.

Colin's latest trailer is above (like he needs another project). This diamond-in-the-rough will sit on his lot in Plattsburgh until a customer comes through who wants a 1960s 24-foot trailer. It's a good floorplan and will be a nice trailer after a total makeover, just like my 1953 Flying Cloud that's still sitting up there. (Someday I might even get around to refurbishing that trailer, if somebody doesn't buy it first.)