Post by CorvettCrzy on Feb 6, 2014 6:31:02 GMT -8
First a big thanks to Vikx for suggesting this site. I was lucky enough to find Vikx after many an internet search for Corvette Campers.
We didn't actually set out to restore a vintage trailer. We went looking for an old camper to make into a playhouse for our daughter. We've been long time cottage campers (40' Jayco with a lake view) and thought it'd be fun to set up a campsite at home. My husband saw a playhouse camper in This old house mag and the wheels were turning. We spent about a year and a half scoping out old campers hidden in fields and behind houses, let me tell you there are a ton of these in Northern Michigan. Seems everyone up north has an old camper in their back yard for the relative popping up for a visit/vacay.
I found some interesting campers but Jim had a canned ham in mind, yes I hear those gasps! He's the type that likes to pretend he's too overworked and tired to start ANY project, but then spent the last 3 days off, out in the barn (10 degrees, by the way) taking apart the old girl, and shaking his head every time he took a piece off and found a new surprise. Oh I'm getting ahead of myself.
Back to the beginning,
Last May he finally admitted he'd seen a camper he was interested in just down the road a piece, that was my little nudge to take action. We stopped by one afternoon and inquired about it. Turns out the owner was very attached to this camper, grew up camping in it with his parents. Said he's had a lot of people stop by and inquire about parting it out, etc. It was when we told him we wanted to make it into a playhouse that they became interested, go figure. They talked about it and called us a few days later to tell us they'd decided to sell it to us, on a condition that they could see it when we were done. Note: they were using it as a changing room out by their pond, it had been sitting there for a lot of years.
So I started hunting up info on Corvette's. After finding Larry's sight and checking out some of his video's and some of the vintage trailer sites and mags, I realized what we had. We finally had time to take a hard look at it this fall and had a dilemma on our hands. Seal and paint a playhouse or Restore a camper? What I think we've decided to do (we revisit this choice every time we make a new discovery) is to Restore the Shell Now, set it up for a playhouse (while working on the interior pieces). In a nutshell We want to SAVE her! Besides once we start a project, it's really hard for us to cut corners and slap on paint, and we love to learn about old things and how things are made. So here we go.
Vikx suggested from the beginning to take a lot of pictures, which I like to do anyway. So I will start a thread about our renovation with lots of pics (since I love to look at others' pics as well). We have so so many questions, we really appreciate all the help that everyone seems so willing to give. Thanks for having us and sharing your experiences with us.