[A/S] Newest of the Newbies

[dotcom@xxxxxxx]

Hello Streamers:

What a great group of folks and what great resources all of you are. 
I'm very glad to have found you.

My wife and I are brand-spanking-new to the world of trailering and 
to the world of Airstreams. Just a week ago, we drove from Los 
Angeles to Salt Lake City in my new Chevy Avalanche Z71 (350c.i.) to 
purchase our very first trailer...a '75 Overlander from a lovely 
older couple whose health has forced them to give it up. 

So, after a test run of 750 miles back to LA, we're settling in for 
the big "fix-up." We want to get this silver beauty back to some of 
its original glory. I have visited nearly all of the websites that 
are dedicated to vintage Airstreams and the one thing I don't see 
(and its no surprise since I have also restored automobiles in the 
past) is a distinct lack of places to acquire various and sundry NOS 
or Repro parts. In particular, I'm interested in finding such 
esoterica as the blue plastic decorative trim stripes that run along 
the body, new letters - not the name plaque but the newer 3-D letters 
(kids apparently stole some of the letters from the previous owners 
leaving us with the humourous new trailer name of "A   T  EAM." 
etc.). If these aren't available, we have access to first-rate 
molding and casting services and will make our own replacements, if 
need be. If we do, is there any market from any of your for your own 
sets of replacement letters? I know the replacement name plaques have 
been quite a hit. Not trying to be profiteers. Just wanting to offset 
our costs for molding and casting.

Are there folks who operate salvage/graveyards for old Airstreams or 
are there dealers who for some strange reason have lots of old stock 
or even more unlikely does the factory still make available any 
inventory for trailers as old as ours?

And, a final question that I'm sure many of you have dealt with 
before. We got all the way home only to discover that our 27 footer 
would not back up our drive way. Our drive has a short initial flat 
area and then a decent slope. Our rear-end scrapes the drive and thus 
we can't get it into the drive. We have discussed so transition ramps 
to even out the disparity between the flat and the slope. However, 
since the Overlander's axles are pretty far back, we're talking some 
pretty sizeable ramps that have to be stored and hauled out for every 
move. Ugh. We've also been advised about a special caster kit that 
gets affixed to the frame (at the rear) and serves as a set of 
rollers until the axles get back on the ground. While this sounds 
like a great idea, I'm concerned about several things...one, is 
having a 26 year frame support the entire weight of the trailer on 
the rear. Two, is installing something that just isn't "proper" for a 
vintage re-do. I'd love to hear some solutions from you "pros."

Our first planned "big" trip is back to Salt lake City in February 
for the Olympics. We have some time to get everything in order and we 
love our platinum palace. I apologize for asking questions that have 
probably been answered a thousand times. My review of the archives 
didn't reveal and immediate answers (but there are tons of messages).

Jim Presnal
'75 Overlander 27'
dotcom@jps.net