1954 Air Float Landyacht Barn Find

First, I cannot view your photos, due to Google access.

$8,000 is a relative number for a "premium brand" vintage trailer in most any condition. You might not want to consider the trailer if the purchase price seems high to you, because it's going to cost you three or four times that much to rebuild it, not counting any sublet labor cost.

You do not mention trailer length?  Long 35' trailers are harder to sell.  Airfloats came in at least three lengths.

Nicely restored/rebuilt Airfloats/Spartans/Airstreams/Airflites/etc are selling in the $100,000 plus range today.

The Airfloats I have seen have very weak frames, and would likely require a new frame to be fabricated like "BMXovich" did to his Airfloat rebuild.

John

Oops.  Here are the new links that should work. The trailer is 28 feet long.


Curbside view


Street side view


Front view


Inside view



Slimp wheel


Wheel


Top view


Rear view

Thanks for the photos.

It has Woodlin brand windows which are tough to rebuild. Parts are hard to find, glass has rounded corners $$$, and original style seals are not available. Some vendors sell generic seals that will adapt. These same windows are common on early Vagabonds for reference. Two of my local neighbors are currently doing two early Vagabond rebuilds with these same windows and both are cussing them.

Looks like some of the appliances are still in place. That's a Dixie stove. And it has the glass in the oven door, so it likely has the deluxe top with the light and clock. That's a "high dollar" accessory. My re-porcelain guy, just saw one of those sell (it was ivory) for $2800.

The front support bars are iconic to the Airfloat's. They are a Bandaid fix for the very weak trailer frames. Every Airfloat I've seen, has dents in the front aluminum metal from those support bars because of the frame flex. I'd suggest a new (much stronger) frame, then fabricate the same style support bars, but make them telescopic, and only cosmetic not supporting the front of the trailer.

Notice how the trailer is supported on the cement cinder blocks in the wheel photo. I wonder what will happen when the trailer weight is supported by the axle/tires/slimp wheel? My bet is it sits almost on the ground. You really need to look up the many posts on this site that Bmxovich did four or five years ago on his Airfloat. He did a great job on the rebuild, and has many photos showing a Airfloat taken apart for rebuilding. It's a great resource. The original trailers had a very unique axle and suspension system.

There's a active vintage trailer guy by the name of Bob Gallagher (sp?) located in Idaho that knows a lot about Airfloats, he'd be a good resource. Another friend of mine in Arizona has, or maybe had a couple of Airfloats, before he found his dream trailer a early Airflite.

Good luck with your project.

John

Hello and welcome.

NCcamper asks some really good questions.

I believe that this trailer will be a lot of work. It's not exactly a barn find. Yes it's been in a barn for 25 years , but it probably wasn't for the other 40 years. I see some pretty serious rust on those rims. I see what looks like pitting. I imagine the frame is similarly rusted and John already posted about the weak frames, so I don't see this as a good thing for this trailer.

It will be important that you look at this trailer carefully especially underneath. I see wallpaper on the rear wall. Might be to make it pretty or cover up water damage. My first thought on seeing the interior is that it appears to be painted. I was surprised that it wasn't birch or Japanese maple. Paint usually is used to cover up water damage. Then there is that yucky brown coating in the kitchen that could be years of greasy cooking or Nicotine. If it's nicotine, then that smell will be hard to get rid of.

I am not feeling good about this trailer at $8k. I just think it's going to be a tremendous amount of work as others have stated. The length appears to be at least 25 feet maybe more. That means more cost and more TIME and energy.

For Joe blow who wants a project to restore, this isn't one of them. A shorter candidate would be preferred IMHO to start with. If you got some mad skills, a large workshop and a ton of tools and experience, this would be a good project.

As NCCamper stated, we need to know what your end goal is with the trailer. For me, it doesn't matter if the motivation is profit or just to keep for yourself. I just don't want to see someone take on more than they can chew. Then the trailer ends up going nowhere instead of to someone who is ready and capable of the project.

I look forward to seeing what you decide. And if you decide to get it, I really want to know the back story on this trailer.

Cheers.

Rod