Closer still...

Some details of the cupboard hardware...

Nice pinch catches...

Hinges...

... and wardrobe catches. All working & with some gentle buffing will do another 50 years.

Sadly the central lighting dome didn't survive the Atlantic. Any suggestions as to a source for replacements ?

But behind the stove was this packet of 'Ohio Blue Tip' matches... from the 60s possibly ?

Aluminium Idler

Close inspection...

We're all as keen as mustard to get our restoration hats on but before you get into destructive mode its well worth spending time looking in every nook & cranny and recording as much as possible. Its all very clear now but when you've gutted her & come to put it all back... those pictures will be invaluable.

Whether you're going to change the layout or not, its good to know what was originally where. 

No sign of a built-in dinette. She probably had a folding table & chairs. Double enamelled sinks, Sunray cooker...

... and a Marvel fridge, which we hope to restore.

Street side cabinets - drawers, medicine cabinet, toilet (missing), sink and oven.

Curbside cabinets - magazine rack (nice !), drawers, wardrobes and Marvel fridge. One plus is that she still has all her original vents & there's no sign she ever had a roof-top aircon fitted.

On the underside of the drawers is her serial number - 3069. I hear that in the early years of the Ohio plant, all the cabinet work was done at a workshop down the road. Hence the numbering, ensuring it would all stay together for the right trailer. We do have one drawer with 3070 ! So Airstream's legendary attention to detail (which, from all the other blogs, I know is something of a myth) is not quite what they'd have liked us to believe.

Nice lights over the double bed.

Odd patches of Zolatone survive behind cabinets. Sadly the rest has been painted over, but the plan may be to re-paint with Zolatone or a similar speckled finish.

She's arrived...

I'm the proud owner of a 1953 Airstream Flying Cloud. Serial number O 3069 - so she was the 69th built in 1953 at the Ohio plant. She arrived in April 2008 after being successfully imported by Maybricks - I did have a blog on their website (which some of you may have seen) but as they are undergoing some reorganization, I'll save a description of that process until the dust has settled there.

I've been a closet Airstream fan for many years but it was a trip to Shady Dell with my family in 2007 that got us hooked - Shady Dell's 1949 Liner (below)

I'm a great believer in doing your research before you take the plunge, so I bought all the books & read lots of blogs and threads before finally settling on a Flying Cloud, and particularly one from the early 50s. Personally I prefer the 21ft, pre-54 models. That swept rear-end doesn't do it for me !  We're a family of 4 (though the children prefer their own tents) so we wanted a double with the option for more. Our UK lanes are not quite the inter-states, so we didn't want anything too long or wide. But above all we love the 50s and 13 panel end-caps. So this complete but unloved 1953 FC was perfect - here are a few pix of her as she arrived.

Serial No o 3069 - A Main St, Los Angeles plate but built in Ohio. Looks like there was possibly a dealers plate next to it but that has gone.

Rear hatch & nice, small, rectangular Bargman tail-lights. No bumper.

Looking forward from the double bed. Magazine rack & medicine cabinet above the low drawers.