One of our guests at our Retro Rookie Roundup vintage trailer buying seminar decided she wanted a fully restored trailer built to her tastes so she picked this poor old Traveleze out of my boneyard of projects and commissioned me to build it for her.  This one was literally saved from a trip to the dump.  It had so much water damage it was literally trying to fall apart, I had to strap it together for the trip to the shop.   I’m glad she had the vision to see it’s potential as most folks would think this one was hopeless...her friends and family did!  It had everything I needed to restore it, I really don’t care how bad the wood work is, or how ugly the skin is as I’ll throw all that away anyway.  It had what I do need, things like all the windows, seat benches, etc.  It definitely was a glove and respirator clean up however.

Once we pulled the skin the whole back of the trailer fell apart... better here than on the Interstate like I had feared bringing it to the shop.  The floor was too far gone so once again it’s down to the bare frame.  Chassis was sandblasted and painted black, a new axle assembly was installed and then all new decking was put down.

While waiting on back ordered flooring to come in I built all new cabinetry to fit the modifications we were doing (fridge, AC & porta-potty).  Different than my usual wood finish this owner wanted a white painted interior.  I had all the parts painted and ready to assemble when the flooring finally showed up, which I laid down in our “Madison County” pattern.  Once the floor was done, it was just a couple of days before it was ready for new skin.  One change I made to the body... I just didn’t like the original position of the rear window, from inside it was just above the mattress and looked weird to me from the outside as well.  I raised it a few inches.  Modifications like this are easy when we build it from scratch.

As usual I worked closely with the owner to build exactly what she dreamed off, including the crystal chandelier.  It’s actually a plastic chandelier that stores away for travel, simply plugs in when parked.  We added one of our retro Frigidaires, painted to match the restored vintage Princess stove.  We used NOS vintage yellow plastic tiles for the backsplash and a green laminate on the counter & table.  Decorated in a “Please Don’t Eat the Daisy’s” theme, the white, yellow and green scheme follow throughout the camper.  Instead of the original canvas bunk we built a fixed shelf above the bed with decorated plastic bins for extra storage.

1956

The exterior paint scheme matches what would have been original to a 1956 Traveleze, really accenting the cool stepped back front window with the wrought iron trim.  Some of the details included painting the tongue, rear bumper, wheels and propane tank yellow.  Reproduction Traveleze decals were made, dubbed “Doris” by the owner I added the name to the back for fun.  Originally equipped with a now obsolete hydraulic brake system the owner liked the funky controller on the frame, so I gutted the inside and now the wiring for the electric brakes run through it.  Looks original, but now all modern.