We don't know about all of Maude's adventures - she WAS born in 1959 after all! But we do know quite a bit!
In 1973, Maude was purchased used by Alpenrose Dairy. For those of you who've been in Portland a long time, this should be a familiar name! I wonder what she did during the years they had her? Did she travel the country? Did she just hang out and serve as some sort of office? Did she take the Alpenrose family on road trips? That part we won't get to know. What we do know is that in 1986, Maude was gifted to another one of her previous owners as a retirement present! I wonder what sort of condition she was in at that point, already a spunky 27 year-old! Then when that gentleman passed, his son inherited her. She lived in his field for many years, and when it was clear he was going to be unable to bring her back to her glory, she was purchased by a friend of mine who had dreams of making her shine again! But you know how life goes, life changes, dreams shift and Maude sat in her field for several years - Until the day I mentioned that I was looking for an Airstream to turn into my new acupuncture practice space! Then Maude came home to live with us :)
In the meantime, Maude's title hadn't been transferred since 1973! I called DMV to see what the process would be to correct the situation - turns out that since she was so old they had purged her record from the system in what the guy told me on the phone was "The Great Purge of 1999." Luckily, he was able to go into the old system and he found her! So he rebuilt her record. Then it was a matter of bringing all of the documentation I had on her (which wasn't much!) so that they can create and issue a new title for her :)
It'll be a little while until it's all OFFICIAL official, but it's official! It's a girl! ;)
In 1973, Maude was purchased used by Alpenrose Dairy. For those of you who've been in Portland a long time, this should be a familiar name! I wonder what she did during the years they had her? Did she travel the country? Did she just hang out and serve as some sort of office? Did she take the Alpenrose family on road trips? That part we won't get to know. What we do know is that in 1986, Maude was gifted to another one of her previous owners as a retirement present! I wonder what sort of condition she was in at that point, already a spunky 27 year-old! Then when that gentleman passed, his son inherited her. She lived in his field for many years, and when it was clear he was going to be unable to bring her back to her glory, she was purchased by a friend of mine who had dreams of making her shine again! But you know how life goes, life changes, dreams shift and Maude sat in her field for several years - Until the day I mentioned that I was looking for an Airstream to turn into my new acupuncture practice space! Then Maude came home to live with us :)
In the meantime, Maude's title hadn't been transferred since 1973! I called DMV to see what the process would be to correct the situation - turns out that since she was so old they had purged her record from the system in what the guy told me on the phone was "The Great Purge of 1999." Luckily, he was able to go into the old system and he found her! So he rebuilt her record. Then it was a matter of bringing all of the documentation I had on her (which wasn't much!) so that they can create and issue a new title for her :)
It'll be a little while until it's all OFFICIAL official, but it's official! It's a girl! ;)
When I first got to the DMV, they were on number 40. My number was 89. Believe it or not, I only spent an hour there! Nice work, Powell DMV!
Our next step in Maude's renovation is to get her waterproof to protect all of the future steps. She was missing 1 window completely - the frame and everything was missing; 2 windows had the frame, but were missing the pane; and one window had a piece of plexiglass that was "installed" in a way that wasn't working. Above is one of the windows that was missing the pane, but the frame was still in place.
We still have a ton more research to do on vintage Airstream windows. It turns out you can't just do a search for "1959 Airstream Overlander Window" and for sure find what you're looking for. In the early years of Airstream, there were no consistent model years - you couldn't guarantee that your 1959 would look like other 1959s. If they had a style of window leftover from a previous year, they would use up whatever inventory they had before making any changes. So once we figure out what parts we'll need and then find them, we'll fix the windows properly. But in the meantime, here is Mike measuring the plexiglass in order to cut it to size.
It's a bit hard to see here, but Mike is applying a black tacky strip that helps seal the window and hold the pane in place. Of COURSE it was pouring rain as we were trying to do this ;) It turns out it doesn't like to stick to wet, cold aluminum very well, but it LOOOOOVES nice warm hands. It was a pain the butt ;)
And here is what the windows look like now! We used duct tape to further waterproof and hold everything together. Not very pretty, but seems to be doing the trick! For the most part, anyways ;) We're still getting a few drops inside from the top of the window frame. The gutter (above the window) on all of the windows is bent and misshapen, so they're not directing the water away properly. But that's a project for another day ;)
All in all, this week was a mixed-bag. DMV went WAY smoother than I had expected, while the windows were much more frustrating than anticipated, so it all evens out!
Our next step is to patch holes in the aluminum. We've got aluminum ordered and it should arrive before the weekend!
Until next time! <3 Becca
All in all, this week was a mixed-bag. DMV went WAY smoother than I had expected, while the windows were much more frustrating than anticipated, so it all evens out!
Our next step is to patch holes in the aluminum. We've got aluminum ordered and it should arrive before the weekend!
Until next time! <3 Becca