A few fellow DDK'ers suggested I post some pics on my Motorhome, a 1979 (build date late 1978) Airstream Excella 28. It runs a large block 454 Chevy V8 - a piddling 7.4L - not going to run on LPG due to the cost of conversion and low efficiency of a single point "pancake" injection system. It does manage 9mpg on unleaded petrol and as the saying goes I don't mind as long as they don't stop making it!
I've been into motorhome camping for several years and also use it for travelling to race meetings here I Ireland and in the UK. I've always wanted and Airstream MH and after looking at a few found this on ebay in Aug 2011.
Pics below show the Airstream when my wife and I took the short flight from Belfast to Liverpool to meet the owner at a shopping centre beside the airport. When I showed my (then) 4 year old granddaughter the first pic she asked me "why has the camper got a chimney granda?"
I was very pleased with the exterior as it had virtually no dents - dents as you know are the downfall of aluminium trailers/MH's as it's nearly impossible to get them out and replacing panels is just not easy. My wife wasn't just as keen, you've got to understand we had a perfectly good tag axle'd Hobby 6-berth, that she loved and we had bought it new - and I was selling it to by this! - so she wasn't happy on the Airstream due to its age, questionable reliabllity and when you see the pics below the rather "dated" interior.
That's my "not looking very happy wife on the left" So I bought her a few bottles of wine over that weekend I talked her into it
I then got it home and decided that this would have to be a rolling restoration so brought it into work and had my joiners strip out the interior with a view to updating the interior in a retro modern look as I wanted to keep the original 70's vibe but wanted modern appliances - this also meant replacing all the electrical appliances from 110v to 230v. I must (still?) have been mad - but hey WTF!
So we start with striping out the sofa bed and overhead lockers. All going well so far!
Then out with the kitchen and larder on the other side of the van
It was at this stage we noticed that the floor under the fridge was a little "soft" further examination revealed that the original plywood floor was rotten due to blocked overflow outlet for the fridge, worse was to come when we found that 3 of the steel chassis outriggers were rotten so more of the floor had to come up and new steel outriggers welded in place before patching the floor with new marine plywood and sealing all up.
While we were doing all this I decided on fitting a new Dometic air-con unit and sat-dish - both jobs made much harder because both units were designed to fit on a flat roof - not a curved one.
So moving on then it was decided to fit along with the air-con and sat-dish a new fridge, new full size but still camper spec 4-ring hob and oven/grill I had my joiners made a new work top made to the same size as the original and kept the original tambour doors and other existing cabinetry which was still in remarkable condition considering the age of the 'van. You'll also see in the pic below that I chose a aluminium "look" laminate for the interior to compliment the exterior - the oringal interior wall covering was horrible.
At this time a friend of mine who is the MD of Whale Pumps in Bangor NI offered to supply and fit a new gas/electric water boiler, a new gas/electric warm air space heater for the main living area and a (then prototype) separate and independently controlled gas warm air space heater for the bedroom area. His very nice chaps installed everything and also re-plumbed the camper at the same time - big thanks to Whale Pumps.
Moving over to the larder side we fitted the new fridge and built a internal storage space with a tambour door, made a sliding door storage unit with back lit LED's and also fitted the obligatory TV/DVD player. We used an off white laminate and made a décor panel to match everything up. You'll also see more of the aluminium interior laminates the and block vinyl floor we used.
We then needed to recover the interior so picked a blue and dark brown fabric and had the existing sofa bed recovered and the curtain pelmets in brown.
The rest of the interior wall were covered in the aluminium lmainate as used elsewhere and the high level lockers repainted an off white - pretty close to Ivory White! and all refitted.
So the restoration of the cockpit has to be done - no hurry but it will feature shag pile carpet! Also we have to refurbish the bedroom area and the separate toilet and shower cubicles. All these areas are perfectly serviceable but need refreshed to the same standard as the rest of the camper - this year should see these areas being tackled - I've been a tad busy with the 65 race car.
Other things I've done include fitting a GearVendors over/under drive gearbox - super unit as it greatly helps with motorway cruising and fuel economy. Also fitted a set of exhaust headers, a for the sound and b, to help exhaust scavenging in a bid to keep engine temps a little lower.
Been to France and Spain the last two summers in CLM and looking forwards to meeting up with DDK'ers this year. See you there!!!
That's also my looking much happier wife with a glass of wine in her hand - somewhere in France!!
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