The Pink Flamingo in Arizona

Apparently we didn’t have enough projects that were unfinished so we decided to take on yet another one.  While the 1958 Canned Ham has proved nice for camping for a weekend we both really liked all of the pictures and posts of older Airstream’s that have been remodeled with more modern interiors.  Since we have a perfect place for one along the side of the house we thought that it might be nice to get one and make use it for an office or a guest house.  Or we might just have fun fixing it up and flipping it.  Who knows.  Either way we searched around a bit on Craigslist and finally saw a Silver Streak in Congress, Arizona.  At first we were not interested in it because we didn’t think it had enough windows but then I saw a picture of one and what we thought were trim pieces in the front corners were actually rock guards that once removed  had beautiful curved windows on the sides.

The camper is a 1973 Silver Streak twin axle Atlas Continental.  NADA lists it as 27′-10″ long, 7′-10 wide, 5,160 pounds.

July 18, 2015 – We set off on the 2 hour trip to Congress, Arizona to take a look at it.  It was a very nice gentleman Ed who had it for sale at his Trading Post in town.  I think he has been there since 1985 or so and apparently the Trading Post used to host big Flea Markets back in the day.  Throughout the day every time I went up to the Trading Post there were always someone new sitting out on the front porch talking away and it seams like Ed is the mayor of the town.  We decided it was worth what he was asking but he didn’t have the proper title so he said he would hold onto the trailer for us until he got the title all resolved.  Apparently he had purchased it from a friend who was living in it but had to move to a nursing home.  Ont he way to the houseboat we ran into a big storm with lots of rain and apparently some areas by Wickenburg has some flooding that we just missed.

July 21, 2015 – The title is resolved and I’m having a bad day at work so I finally load up and head out around 12 to work on the camper.  We knew that 1 tire had to be changed for sure to move it to Wickenburg where Big O Tires could repack the bearings and check things out.  When I arrived Ed was not there but a couple other gentleman Bill and Chuck that help out at the Trading Post came over to help out.  While pulling off the tire that we knew was back I could see the ones on the other side had the radial wires showing also so I knew that we better change all of them before trying to move them.  I think they were a bit surprised that the city boy went to town on changing them out and Bill and Chuck were great helpers.  Chuck even had me take his truck to town instead of trying to fit the tires in the Murano which was extremely nice.  I tried to offer them some cash for helping out but they wouldn’t take it.  We didn’t want to risk trying to jack up both sides of the camper at once so I was only able to get 3 tires on Friday and picked up a new tongue jack and trailer wiring connector to get the lights working also.  Back to Congress I went and since I was mostly in the shade in the late afternoon and evening I kept working on the camper to get the lights working, trailer jack changed, and tires back on.  With the last 2 tires in the Murano I headed off the the houseboat for the night since it was an hour closer to the camper.

July 22, 2015 – Back to Big O Tires to drop off the other 2 tires and grab some more parts in Wickenburg before  heading off to Congress to try to get it road ready.  After some work I finally had the lights and electric brakes wire up correctly and for the most part the lights were good enough to tow with.  Something still wasn’t right on the left side but as long as the headlights were off the brakes and blinkers worked well enough on that side.  Chuck had offered to tow it to Wickenburg the day before so he showed up and helped out and we finally got it hitched up and ready to roll.  It looked like it was towing pretty well until he got above 50 mph then it started to sway and in a couple big cross winds I wasn’t sure if it was going to come back or not.  But Chuck took it nice and slow and we finally got it to Big O Tires for them to repack the bearings and check things out, repacked the bearings,  and fix some springs on the brakes.

July 29, 2015 – Big O Tires took great care of us and with the bearings packed and brakes checked out I still wasn’t sure about towing it so I checked the mileage and it looked like it was just under the 100 miles that our AAA RV Plus Roadside Assistance covers so we called them up to tow it home I thought on a flatbed.  Little did I know they sent out a regular truck to tow it but it was a big 1 ton dually truck and the driver didn’t think it would be a problem.  Off we went and somehow just missed all of the rush hour traffic and got the camper home without a problem.  But since he only had a 2 wheel drive truck he was unable to back it where we wanted it and had to drop it on the neighbors vacant lot which is up for sale.

July 31, 2015 – After posting up on our neighborhood site for some help a neighbor Jeff offered me the use of his 4×4 1 ton truck to move it.  I really wanted to get it off the neighbors lot and also the next neighbors had their house up for sale so I figured they would appreciate having it moved also.  The only problem was that Friday was one of those days where it decided to storm on us and it knocked out the power for 3 or 4 hours.  Luckily in between the rain I was able to borrow Jeff’s truck and get it backed into where we figure will be a good spot for it.  It was a tight fit but worked out and I think it will be very nice in it’s spot.

Of coarse we didn’t worry about the condition of the interior since we are planning on gutting it and maybe even moving the bathroom location around and such.  But here’s what the beast looks like now.   It has the bathroom in the back with two twin beds on the side which seams to be the standard setup in these trailers for that time period.  For us we may look at putting the bedroom in the back with the bathroom along one of the sides but until we get a few other projects done Tammy says it will have to wait.