Airstream Restoration of Scott and Kathy's 1955 Flying Cloud Whale Tail - Our California Vintage Airstream.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Coveted Door-in-a-Door


The exterior door handle is broken, fixed with a steel plate. Perhaps caused by lifting the handle and not turning it.  It is not uncommon.  But as it would make me sad that such an ugly fix was the final solution, so I prefer to think it was a temporary .
So we are looking for a new handle and a new bezel aka escutcheon plate that is less pitted.
Looks like during use, the door-in-a-door was not completely closed, and the repaired handle dented the door itself.

Our door hinges are stainless steel, which won't rust and stain the aluminum trailer.  But the pins are plain and rust-prone steel. Time to pretty this up!  We love our whale tail Airstream, sometimes called a Dutchmans Cap, which was a California factory design.  Unfortunately, the California factory used the steel pins, but the Ohio factory used stainless steel pins from the start!

Another previous owner solution to keep the door closed in travel is this hasp lock. The aluminum panel is already damaged, so the lock-stile will be replaced and returned to beautiful.  And the extra bonus will be that then we can't be "accidentally" locked into the trailer by our friends!

Below the bottom hinge the door-in-a-door is damaged, another area to fix.

2 comments:

  1. You might try calling in your parts needs to the hotline of this new airstream podcast. Good luck!

    http://airstreamlife.com/swapshop

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  2. Great idea!
    I am hoping the podcast is available on the no-new-VAP Fridays! For a dose of Aluminum every week!

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