I always suspected my Bambi had a shelf above the front window because there was a strange piece of wood over it. The pictures show what it looked like before I did my exploring. Keep reading below to see the result.
When I removed the wood, there was evidence of riveted holes where the shelf anchor was which meant I had to build a shelf!
And so … There it is! It was not easy to build because of all the curves, but now the Bambi is even more original!
The Bambi is small, so counter space is at a premium. A while back, I bought an old table that had my trailer’s laminate pattern. This weekend I made a sink cover out of a piece of it.
The Bambi has two “curtain doors” for the closet and the bathroom. The originals are made by Mausland Duran (see tag on curtain). You can also pick up non-originals from vintagetrailer.com. Anyway … The door/curtain has vertical rods that give it strength but the glue had given way after 60 years, so the rods were falling out. I tried to sew these in at first but it looked terrible and fell apart. I ended up laying the rod in the crease and hot gluing it. They came out great and I still have all my fingers!
The aqua cushion was the only thing left from the prior curtains, so I used the last piece of fabric to make a cushion back. Now everything matches!
Each of these screens for the overhead Vents are $250 to replace. Mine were really dingy and rusty (top vent). I just bought new metal screen and 5/8″ (sorry European measurement friends) grommets and they were new for next to nothing.
So my IKEA modified curtains just weren’t cutting it. I found some 60’s geometric patterned valences on Ebay and bought them. My good friend Brenda Janssen sewed on the backing and wallah! These curtains really change the look of the trailer and make it look more authentic. To be really authentic I would have to install orange curtains and cushions, but who wants to do that? On a side note, somehow, I have a lot of visitors from England – welcome!!
Airstreams have a unique axle. Starting in 1961, the durtorque axle became standard on all airstreams. Instead of springs, the axle is surrounded by large rubber bands inside a tube. Unfortunately, every 50 years or so, the rubber breaks down. With the help of Harps RV in Lincoln, Ca, the axle was replaced. New axle, brakes, and drums! Ready for another 50 years!
I wanted to have a true vintage plate that came with the trailer when it was new. In California, the plate on the 1961 was the 1956 plate with a 1961 sticker. I got a trailer plate off of ebay (above) and cleaned it up. I then repainted it with Old Caterpillar Yellow paint. I used sharpie for the black letters. I took the plate to our DMV and registered it in the Year of Manufacture (YOM) program. After it was approved, I put the plate on the back of the trailer!
My tongue jack was very hard to turn so I thought about replacing it. Unfortunately, the replacements on the market are shorter (don’t extend as far) as the original. I toved the jack, turned it upside down, and used PB buster on it. It works so much better now!
I needed to paint the tongue and bumper. I foolishly tried all kinds of silver-like colors to find a match. There even is paint available from airstream that is $38 a can but I didn’t use that because of the excessive cost. In the end I read somewhere that the vintage airstream color was simply “silver.” I got regular silver metallic paint from my local hardware store and it looks great!
