Skip to main content

1973 Argosy "The Twinkie"

By Pamela
A few years ago my brother called me. He told me that a cousin of mine had an old camper for sale. "One of those silver bullets" he said.

My heart skipped a beat. I have a passion for vintage and I have long dreamed of owning a "silver bullet" aka Airstream camper.

I called my cousin, he did have a camper he was interested in selling. As I soon learned it was just sitting on the back of his property being used as storage, we headed his way.

He charged me $150.00 for the camper that turned out to be a 1973 Argosy '20.



I remember driving home with the camper. We had borrowed a truck and we were pulling this old beat up camper, with a sprung door that did not even latch shut and I had the biggest smile on my face. Like I had a secret and could not wait to tell the whole world!


                                                 


We have owned the 1973 Argosy since 2006. We used it a lot the first summer we had it but we have not used it much at all since 2007. When we brought it home in 2006, the door was severely sprung. Lucky for us back then my sister-in-law was married to an airplane mechanic. He remade us a new door.  The photo below is of the old door. We camped the entire first year with a broken door!


Restoring "The Twinkie" as we call it, is our new project. 



This past weekend, with the help of a friend, we made an assessment of what we needed to work on.
  • There is currently a water leak although we have it isolated to the kitchen sink.
  • There is a leak around the toilet; we think just a new gasket.
  • There is a soft spot in the bathroom floor which might indicate a need for a new floor.
  • The shower does not work.
  • The furnace does not work.
  • The hot water heater does not work.
  • The strike-bolt on the door is broken.
  • The lights are hit or miss.
  • There are many missing light covers on the outside.
  • The propane tanks are old and no longer meet current safety standards.
  • New curtains.
  • New upholstery.
  • It is missing the removable bunk bed. 
  • No awning. 
  • Exterior Paint


 It only feels fair to list the things that do work:

  • The floor feels solid throughout the rest of the camper.
  • There are no leaks, other than the toilet and kitchen sink.
  • The air conditioner works.
  • All the windows are intact.
  • Most of the screens are intact.
  • The current seat cushions do not look horrible.
  • The stove works.
  • The refrigerator {original} still works. 
  • Good tires
We can never fix everything at once, so we prioritized our projects for this year. If we accomplish this list, I think "The Twinkie" will be useable. 
  1. Fix the door's strike-bolt.
  2. Fix the water leak with the sink. Which may be as simple as changing the faucet.
  3. Fixing the toilet.
  4. Replacing the hot water heater.
  5. I am also exploring the re-upholstery on the seats. 
I have already ordered the parts to fix the door. Thank goodness it was just the strike-bolt and not the entire handle as they have been discontinued and currently cost a fortune!

Let the rehabilitation begin!



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Weekend Project: A PVC Camping Lamp Post and Flag Holder

By Pamela
I have seen a few of these around campsites and I knew I would like to have one. The only problem that I had is The Husband. He already thinks we drag too much stuff with us when we go camping and if I had told him my desire to have a PVC Camping Light Pole he would have shut it down quickly! So, that leaves a girl with only one choice: Figure out how to do it by herself. I did some internet searching and found a few road maps on RV forums. They seemed easy enough! I visited the local hardware store for the supplies: An exterior post lantern light 2 inch PVC pipe (I used 5 feet but had to purchase a 10 foot piece) A 3 inch toilet flange A 3 inch to 2 inch Reducer PVC Glue A 12 foot electric cord kit 2 - 3/4 inch PVC Caps I also used a few supplies we already had on hand: White Spray Paint 3 1/2 foot - 3/4 inch PVC Pipe Drill Bits (1 inch and 1/2 inch) Tent Stakes The first step was preparing the lantern light. I could only find black i
20 comments
Read more

Liver Cheese: A Family Tradition

By Pamela
Today is an anniversary date. One of those dates you wish you did not have to remember but there is no way you can forget.  Fifteen years ago today,two days after his birthday, my father died of lung cancer. He was a lifelong smoker and his cancer was aggressive. His battle was short. He fought for six short months after his diagnosis. He knew the chemo was not working and that his time was limited. When he came to this realization he became the best dad in the world.                                                In the days before my father's passing, my family shared some memorable moments. One of those moments centers around the deli meat: Liver Cheese.I would not be surprised if you have never heard of it, or even never tasted it. But I was raised on it as it was one of my Dad's favorite things.  What is it? Well, it is a German food that is actually called Leberkase. It is bacon, corned beef, pork, and onion that is ground together and baked. It comes with a
17 comments
Read more

Tonsillectomy (Warning Photos!)

By Pamela
The Short Chic came down with a pretty nasty case of strep throat back in April. So, when The Boy started complaining about his throat hurting about 12 days later, I was pretty confident that he had inherited his sister's strep. Instead, The Boy was diagnosed with a peritonsillar abscess growing on his right tonsil.  We had to immediately see an ENT  Physician who took a needle and drained the abscess. He removed about 5.5 cc of puss from The Boys throat.and then told us that once you have a peritonsillar abscess you were high risk to keep getting them. The Boy's tonsils were now compromised and needed to be removed.  We were told to plan for a two week recovery so we worked a surgery into our summer plans. Between family vacations, summer sports, and the beginning of school The Boy had his second surgery. A tonsillectomy.  Pre-surgery prepping went well. It must be nice to be young and have healthy veins for an IV! The Boy had lots of pre-surgery visitors. My
1 comment
Read more