So my wife and I have been going back and forth on getting a travel trailer but we never could agree on what to get. We had finally given up when this baby popped up on Craigslist in Crockett, TX. It's a 1966 Avion Tourist that spent most of its life in Michigan. The original owners sold it to Cory in 2014 and Cory parked it in the woods and didn't touch it for 6 years.

After a couple hours of fighting mud, trees, and a trailer hitch lock we finally had it off the property and rolling down the road.



Got home after dark and tried out the lights, all but one worked!




Floor has some buckling so I'll get into that this weekend to see how bad it is. That will determine the scope of the restoration. Can't wait to get off work tomorrow to really spend some time on it to see what I have.

Washed half of it today. Cleans up great!

That is a really cool find. Looking forward to seeing the progress!

I'm just here to see it after you polish the outside.

That really seems like a lot of trailer on only one axel. Is that safe?

That interior looks remarkably clean and in good shape for the age and apparent neglect.

Congratulations and welcome to the world of vintage trailers! The single axle will be perfectly fine. Back in the 40's and 50's, single axles were very common under ridiculously long trailers.

Polishing that trailer will require a dreadful amount of time and labor. It looks great like it is!

Milwaukees Best Light said:

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That really seems like a lot of trailer on only one axel. Is that safe?

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It weighs about 3500 lbs and pulls like a dream. I prefer 2 axels but this will work.

I'm waiting to see this going down the road pulled by the Chevelle.

Into the the drive way of the bardominium.

Here are a few more interior shots.

Front of the trailer bed converts to a couch. Best I can tell is that this was original.



Kitchen area. The green thing on the right is a gas lamp. Inside. Crazy.



Heater, refrigerator, and storage.



So now for the fun part. Started taking out the buckled floors and the subfloor has a pretty good amount of rot. I'm not surprised and honestly somewhat excited to have an excuse to do a full gut and rebuild. So here goes.

Front bed removed. There is a pressurized fresh water tank underneath.



Here is the inlet to the fresh water tank with a compressor fitting to pressure it up.



Ladybug nest hidden in the frame.



And finally the frame. Slight surface rust but nothing a little POR won't take care of. Really surprised to see that the entire underside has aluminum under it. I saw that when I bought it but just pointing that out to anyone wondering what is under the frame.



Planning to spend the next couple weekends gutting the trailer, then wires, frame paint, water lines, gas lines, and then the floor.

There is no doubt it's going to increase in value. I paid $3300 for it. Just by getting it on the road and washing it I increased the value.

Glad there weren't any 7-8yo boys with bb and pellet guns wandering around the woods where it was sitting.

Demo day continued. Got the heater out and one of the twin beds. The floor is pretty much trash around the whole perimeter. I think the issue is that the shell consists of insulation between two sheets of aluminum so any leak in the roof winds up running down the inner layer to the floor at the perimeter. Need to figure out a fix for that.



This all came up with just my hands. Literally smelled like fresh mulch.



This cool table hangs on the wall and then folds out and extends to go the length of the couch. Saving all the hardware on everything that comes out in case I want to try to put something similar back in.



The original screws on this trailer take a "clutch" head which unfortunately I didn't have. It's cool because it makes it easy to identify what is original and what is after market. I had to work around a lot of stuff that I couldn't remove without the bit which made today's demo a little tedious. Low and behold while I was cleaning up I found 3-4 packs of different size bits in a drawer. Wish I had those yesterday.

A lot of the original floor tile and the tile adhesive contained asbestos. Proceed worth caution. Tile or sheet goods were what was original on your floor.

I think those are asian beetles and not ladybugs.

Awesome find! Your nightmare has just begun. I'm a 6 year airstream renovation survivor. Lot off blood, sweat, tears and blood shed on that project. Yes I know I said blood twice.