1963 Trotwood Lark 2

Welcome!

I agree with Rintin. This may be a plywood walled camper. If yes, I think it's much harder to work on. There is water damage in a few places. This means the skin must come off. As a rule, painted interiors always raise a red flag. It's the #1 trick for hiding water damage. 

Also, with this type of paint job I'd ask for "before" photos. A little bondo is one thing but covered with it is a problem with such thin skin.

If you want to see it bring an ice pick and crawl around underneath. Test the edge board where the skin on the walls wraps around underneath. If the pick slides in easily, it's rotten. Obviously ask permission before you poke around.

If this isn't the right camper, another will come along.

One last thing, for $2500 you will definitely have to do some work. How much is too much is up to you.

Have fun with the hunt!

I agree. I'm guessing that paint is covering up a lot more than you think...

This little Lark needs a full build, that means skin off, roof off repairs. Not for the faint of heart.

It is very hard to find a trailer more than 30 years old that is not going to need a good amount of work done. Most trailers of vintage age have a fair amount of framing that needs to be replaced and that means taking the metal skin off. For this reason be very careful when looking at trailers which have been painted inside. Also the  house paint on the outside is very hard to remove. I would say a good majority of the vintage trailers that I see advertised as Camp Ready are really in dire need of structure repair. They are not safe to tow really. Some day many of them are going to just drop right down off the frame after a good pot hole. We've already seen that happen. 

People are buying rolling pieces of junk and puttying and painting them all up and turning them over for a huge profit. This is happening way too much these days. It can be very dangerous. Besides it's just like the old trick of filling a junk transmission with sawdust in order to sell a car for more than it is really worth. So be very, very careful. Don't end up with a rolling piece of junk that's ready to fall down to the asphalt behind you on the free way.

I'm in the process of redoing a trotwood myself. My suggestion is avoid this camper unless you can get it for a steal. It is not worth $2500 in its current condition. From the pictures it doesn't look like its been repaired properly, someone just painted to cover up the damage. At the very least you will need to remove the exterior skin. You will easily spend a $1000 in parts, and alot of time. I bought my 1954 cub for $800, i thought it was a steal, we've since spent a year and thousands of dollars in parts.

I would buy that trailer for no more than $1200 if it has all the original furniture, appliances, and there are no big holes or dents in the skin. My trailer was so rotted I'm genuinely amazed it made it home without falling apart.

www.cannedhamtrailers.com

Lots of videos to show you what you are in for with just about any vintage trailer if you want to actually restore it properly. 

Yes read the book... I'm reading it now.