Everytime I’m in the northeast I have to drop in on Colin’s restoration shop to see what’s up. We have several things going on over there. Our last project trailer, “Vintage Thunder”, is there. It is now owned by our friends Don and Amanda. They’ve asked Colin to do a few tweaks on it. Both Colin and I were impressed at how well the paint job is holding up. The trailer still looks like new.

Another trailer we used to own is there as well. I’m talking about Matthew McConaughey’s trailer “Vintage Lightning” (a 1952 Cruiser). It’s still being restored but already it looks great. I’m writing up an article about the progress of that project for the Spring 2007 issue of Airstream Life.

There are a few trailers that we still own, sitting there: a 1968 Caravel, a 1963 Serro Scotty, and the newest member of the family, the 1953 Flying Cloud we found in Virginia. So of the 33 vintage trailers on Colin’s lot at the moment, five of them either belonged to us formerly or still do!

Colin and I cleaned out the 53 Flying Cloud today. The previous owner was a packrat, so we had a couple of cubic yards of various “treasures” to toss into the dumpster. We also cleaned out the usual mouse nests, fossilized mice, dust and tattered curtains.

In the process we discovered some paperwork that helped establish the history of this trailer. It was owned by a man named Dell, who registered it in Florida in the 1960s. He was a WBCCI member and his number was on some of the old folding chairs in the trailer. It was sold to another person in New York, and later to Jack in New Jersey, who parked it a decade ago and finally sold it to us. All of this was determined by slips of paper we found: an old Florida title, some sales receipts, and correspondence.

Now that we can actually see the interior, it’s clear the potential this trailer has to be a very nice restored unit (with the application of appropriate $$). All the vintage appliances are there, the cabinetry is in good shape, and the body will look very cool when cleaned up and polished. If someone comes by Colin’s shop and wants to have him restore it, I’ll sell it, but otherwise I’ll hold onto it for “someday”.