The Shastah Disastah! 1961 "canned ham" camper

Y'all did a great job on the camper! Those cushions look wayyy better than ours that we had an upholstery shop make.

In reply to NermalSnert (Forum Supporter) :

Thank you! I know where the mistakes are, of course, but they look pretty good in there:

if you look closely, you can see that I had to piece the cover for that last cushion in the back, which was added to the original plan. Out of 10 yards of fabric, I ended up with some strips less than 3 inches wide and a singe 12x14-inch square. 
 

Here's the view looking toward the front of the Shasta.

I still have tiebacks and pillows to do, but we're nearly there. And here's a better shot of what we did to the front of that bland modern fridge (thank you spray paint and old Chevy trim piece) as well as the groovy fold-down tables this model has instead of a dinette:

Are those shelves with sliding doors above the rear bench? I think I see knobs.

The Chevy piece on the fridge mirrors the drawer pulls on the kitchen really well. This is more of a restoration with hidden upgrades than a restomod, I like it.

Sewing is one of those things where you find your niche. My mom is a quilter and can do clothing, my wife cannot do a shirt without sewing at least one sleeve shut but loves free motion quilting. I'd hate to see what would happen with upholstery - the math would defeat her.

Yes, those are sliding doors above the bench--that's actually the front of the camper. And I like your description of this project, Keith. We've worked hard to hide the modernization; all of the switches and panels for the modern camper systems are under the counter extension you see folded down at side of the counter to the right of the fridge in the shot above. Here's a shot of what's under it:

I wanted to stick all of this in a cabinet, but Tim had a point: Who wants to have to stick their head in a dark closet every time they need to check status of anything in the ship? The countertop extension is not only a handy chef's resource when raised, it provides a natural cover for all of this when lowered.

While I still sewed (and sewed), Tim put the roof on and sent the Shasta for paint.

With the inside done, it was time to button her up. The old roof had layers and layers of "waterprooofing" applied by owners that did not understand where and why these things leak; rather than try to chip that off the original aluminum, then deal with the resulting stretching, Tim just bought a sheet of aluminum and put a new lid on. Then we left our Shasta in the capable hands of our friends at The Body Werks, where it was prepped and painted.

This would likely have been an expense that put the Disastah out of the realm of a logical budget, but a) it's not perfect--people dig scars, right? and b) Tim maintains a Byzantine network of favors, trades and deferred collections on car and parts sales  that allows him to justify nearly anything. Every time he tries to explain one of these to me, I lose interest as I flash back to that time when I was 10 and decided the next book I should read was the Bible: They lost me somewhere in the begats in Genesis. (Turns out I didn't care who came from whom.) For once I was glad to be able to see Tim exercise his system on one of my projects.

The exterior colors were chosen to match the Edsel, not only because it will perform some towing duties but also because it's representative of an authentic midcentury palette.

And see that stripe? It's painted, because the abomination that is tape stripes would not have appeared on a 1961 Shasta. This color is a 2006 Toyota Polaris Silver, chosen because Tim Heintz of Heintz Restorations, a vintage trailer restorer in Panama City, Florida who knows his stuff, said he used it to refresh old aluminum trailer windows. Ours needed that.

Tim broke down all the windows into their component pieces, and the aluminum went off to our good friends Steve Sanguinetti and Debby Winters at Blastmasters to be powder coated in the same Toyota silver.

Wow! I love it! 

Tom Suddard said:

In reply to Keith Tanner :

They chose the fridge 5+ years ago, before the solar system was planned. Otherwise yeah, a compressor fridge probably would have made more sense and been easier to package. 

It's not really a bad idea to have as little running off of the batteries as possible, propane is a good option

Beauty!

I think financially "upside down" restorations are justifiable in that you are keeping an old, quality built something out of a land fill, and perhaps avoiding buying a new lower quality something that won't last as well. 

Either way, the Shasta looks great.

Antihero (Forum Supporter) said:

Tom Suddard said:

In reply to Keith Tanner :

They chose the fridge 5+ years ago, before the solar system was planned. Otherwise yeah, a compressor fridge probably would have made more sense and been easier to package. 

It's not really a bad idea to have as little running off of the batteries as possible, propane is a good option

Definitely true without solar, but solar is the magic sauce. The batteries magically refill themselves :) The increase in solar efficiency and the development of LED lighting has been a wonderful thing for RVs. Even with a 12v fridge, we don't carry a generator. I know that my use case is not the same as everyone's, of course.

I don't think 12v compressor fridges are new tech - we've had ours since before this project started off and it wasn't cutting edge at the time - but I know that big RVs still use three-way fridges for various reasons. I don't think Margie and co. made the wrong choice, I was interested in the reasoning in a different application than mine. 

I'm really digging this. 

Looks incredible!

I've  just started restoration on my 1960 El Camino. I hope to give it the same kind of respect  you are giving this camper!  
 

Oh... and how perfect your camper would look being towed by my Elky! Haha!

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Solar is great, I've lived off it for decades now with a small system.

Panels are getting cheaper and more efficient too but there are still times where you don't get a lot of solar. I personally use a propane fridge ( and all other appliances really) and think it's a good idea to have the option.

YMMV since I'm in a set location up North with trees and winters

Love the fridge with the Boomerang trim!

Thanks for the updates.  This is such a great project.

Have you seen these yet?

In reply to Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) :

Yes. The good/bad news about having a vintage trailer is that once you do, just about every gift, trinket and tchotchke you get from that point forward follows that theme. I'm going to need another one just to store all the stuff  :D

You also have to dress the part. Camping becomes cosplay.

Marjorie Suddard said:

In reply to Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) :

Yes. The good/bad news about having a vintage trailer is that once you do, just about every gift, trinket and tchotchke you get from that point forward follows that theme. I'm going to need another one just to store all the stuff  :D

I just wish I could find anything for old Dodge Class C's like mine. It's like the old Shastas are the cool thing to have now. I must have seen a million of those Shasta trailers on the road when I was a kid. 

Wow incredible work guys!! 

Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) said:

Marjorie Suddard said:

In reply to Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) :

Yes. The good/bad news about having a vintage trailer is that once you do, just about every gift, trinket and tchotchke you get from that point forward follows that theme. I'm going to need another one just to store all the stuff  :D

I just wish I could find anything for old Dodge Class C's like mine. It's like the old Shastas are the cool thing to have now. I must have seen a million of those Shasta trailers on the road when I was a kid. 

A friend just bought a GMC RV. It's a really fun community to watch from afar, as something about the platform lends itself to really imaginative reworks. A little late for the mid-century design of the Shasta but they came from the factory with some very bold interiors, especially in the early days. They tend to get more restomods than the "hidden upgrade" style here.

Old GMCs are, indeed, groovy. They have some drawbacks--squat for storage and towing capacity--but I get the appeal.
However, after the Travco, I will never again own a vintage motorhome. Never. Ever. Again.

I don't want to say the Travco was bad, but one of our guys wouldn't travel in it without his full paramedic kit. This same guy used the kick-out emergency exit window on more than one occasion when the thing was on fire. Replacing that gasket started to be sort of routine after a trip.

Margie

In reply to Marjorie Suddard :

Yeah, " not on fire" is pretty high on my list of wants in an RV

I'm pretty sure that after the second time I had to egress emergency-style from a specific flaming RV, I would be looking for hotels or at least bringing my own tent.

Zandr's ultimate plan for the GMC is to electrify it, which should make fires less frequent and far more exciting.

Thanks for posting all the details - this thing is SO COOL. It's also giving me conflicting urges when it comes to campers - it looks like so much work, but the end result is so worth it.