One year of blood, sweat, and a few tears is being rewarded with what is turning out to be a FABULOUS weekend in Milford at the Tin Can Tourists fall rally. I’m reminded again that without our great friends, none of this would be possible. Many thanks to Mike and Cheryl O’Conner, Mike and Cortney Greene, Butch and Pam Starner, Jake and Tami Moomey , Kirk and Donnell Brown for assistance, and all our TCT friends for support and encouragement. Kim and I couldn’t have gotten so much done so fast without you.
Without further ado, behold, the ’47 Spartan Manor:
Finally, I got varnish on the interior of the Spartan! Two coats on the forward 1/3rd, and one coat everywhere else. The cabinet doors, drawers, and all the other little parts also have two coats. I got two coats on the part of the interior, shown above, because I put the second coat on while the first coat was still a bit “tacky”. You can see the break at the piece of trim over the counter top. Everything beyond that is just one coat, and is visibly duller than the forward panels. Now, sand everything with 220, then another two coats, and I can start putting this thing back together.
We’ve had two wonderful weekends camping with the Tin Can Tourist this spring. Last weekend in Muskegon MI at Hoffmaster State park on Lake Michigan, and the third weekend in May in Milford at Camp Dearborn. We’ve been using the little Tini-Home canned ham trailer, it’s cozy and comfortable, but I’m anxious to get the Spartan done so we can stretch out a bit.
I assembled and welded the new legs onto the new coupler before I welded anything on the trailer tongue, which was a bit of foresight I usually don’t have. The bottom has strips of 7 gauge steel strips welded to the new legs, which I welded (from above) to the inside of the original channel. The top is welded solidly, as well as the ends. I’m proud of the stick-welded job, it looks good, and the ancient coupler/jack is headed for the scrap pile.
I temporarily wired up the thermostat/control for the roof mounted A/C-heat pump, and like everything else, it fired right up and works AMAZINGLY well. The A/C is ice cold, the heat works, and it’s all controlled by the wall mounted ‘stat. Pretty high tech for me!
I had gotten the fridge vent stack installed as well, and wired up the 12V feed to it, and started it. It cools down as it should, and while I had no doubt it would, it’s nice to verify it works after all that effort, and trading a really nice vintage camper I bought last winter for it! The water heater is also vented, the cap is on the roof covering both vent stacks, all that remains to be done is to plumb the 3/8″ soft copper line to them both, and the kitchen stove.
It seems like a long time since I worked on the trailer, in reality, it’s only been a couple weeks. I’ve decided that the goal of making Camp Dearborn and the Tin Can Tourist Spring Rally isn’t going to happen, so I’ve slowed down a bit, but I’ve still gotten quite a bit done.
The new axle is under the trailer, and the Dodge 17″ 8 lug wheels and Michelon 24575R17 10 ply rated tires are on. The trailer now looks like ours, it looks good and feels good having that chore done. In addition, both waste tanks are under the trailer and the plumbing is 90% complete, so there are three things (almost) checked off the list. Most of the trim is done inside, I have to steam and bend a couple pieces of quarter round, and cut the hole in the roof for the fridge and hot water heater vent, finally get the interior varnished, and a thousand other little jobs that I haven’t even thought of yet.
I’ve taken advantage of the lack of a rush on the trailer, to finally start organizing and working on the ’34 Ford roadster project I bought last fall after selling the ’48 Pontiac convertible. I lifted the body off the frame, and made a (sort of) frame table/jig using two Stanley Work-Mates and some steel rectangular tubing. I have the frame leveled, squared, tacked together, the engine mounts are in, and the front axle is hanging from the crossmember. I’ve started welding the center section in, and will get the ’40 Ford rear crossmember flattened and in tomorrow. At least, that’s the plan…
My good friend Mike Greene (owner of Sierra Custom Interiors in Bristol IN) delivered the 1952 Frigidaire fridge I’d dropped off to him in September, which he sent to his RV fridge and AC repair guy for conversion to LP operation. It’s now LP or 110V, as the conversion called for the sacrifice of a “scratch and dent” RV fridge for the cooling unit, freezer compartment and controls. The job the guy did is first rate, one cannot tell, aside from the cooling coils inside the cabinet, that it wasn’t built that way originally.
The fridge has to be in a cabinet to seal the back for a flue, and I planned on raising the base about 8 or 10 inches to make roof for a storage drawer underneath. On top, there’d still be room for an overhead cabinet. I can’t simply move the fridge out towards the center of the trailer for room with out making the companionway to the bedroom and bath so narrow it’d look odd.
Cool McCool's Garage 