Crazy build practices of the manufacturers

Resurrecting an old thread, since there were quite a few in my Silver Dome. It's a bread loaf style and all of the seams in the skin have a decent amount of overlap. Enough so that the screws all go through both pieces of metal and into the frame. All except one that is. The rear panel fully overlaps with the curb side corner, but the street side has just enough so that the panel overlaps but the screws only go through the top skin. The bottom is just clamped down by the top add frame.

Alsi it seems like the just had a random bin of screws and nails and used whatever they happened to grab. There are at least 5 different types of screws including some with a bow tie shaped head that were an incredible pain in the rear to remove. I ended up having to basically fabricate a but to remove them with any measure of reliability. And of course the majority of that type were used on the roof where it was the most difficult to reach them and get any leverage on them. By far the most frustrating thing I have done on her so far.

Also a lot of the exterior trim pieces have no backing in the frame and are just screwed the into bare skin, most notably the awning rail. Scratching my head on that one.

This was my favorite. On the right side at the wheel well there was a gap between two pieces of aluminum, with no overlap. Behind the gap was a piece cut from a coffee can and flattened.

Just found a funny one yesterday. Half of the lower screws in my side rear window didn't hit any wood at all. I guess the window was held in by the skin and staples. I have a little extra overlap at the top, so I might try to lower the skin just enough to get some wood there.

Waste not,Want not.
Not a great pic,but this has always been one of my favorites discoveries. A sampling of the available or discontinued counter tops of the day in the roof arcs of this 51 Prairie Schooner.

<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd106/amctogo/IMAG0245.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMAG0245.jpg"/></a>

On the inside, you might consider larger trim, either aluminum or picture frame in wood. Hope this makes sense. The window has to have good wood for the screws to seat, so adding the sticks is important. Most metal shops can bend you trim the size you want/need.

It's not a Spartan.  It's a Coastbilt, which as far as I can tell nobody but me and the previous owner ever heard of. I disassembled and rebuilt all that, and it really really looks original. I'd be VERY surprised if anyone but me ever saw that area once it left the factory. The framing and everything except that aluminum joint was the same left and right. Hard to believe somebody would do that repair and reproduce the exact same worksmanship. Even things like using the identical nails.