Shasta Compact

Well according to the Sisters on the Fly (of which I am a member), I've got the fever! I just purchased a second vintage camper to renovate! This one, however, was dirt cheap and is going to be a project camper for me to renovate from the inside out.

Back tracking a bit, I have a camper (see my blog Little Camper on the Prairie). It's a perfectly good 1967 Shasta LoFlyte. However, since it's basically camping ready and cost a bit more, I was hesitant to do anything other than cosmetic touches.

Enter craigslist. That enabler of all enablers. I love stalking craigslist and ebay and I've had a desire to get a small Shasta compact (ideally a canned ham which this isn't but oh well). I found this one south in Iowa, it was very cheap so I packed the family in the SUV and we road tripped yesterday. The inside was actually better than I had expected (that's to say intact for the most part) but it was a mess ... still, I wanted a project camper and for $150 (yes that's what we ended up paying) we figured worst case scenario (meaning it's a total destructive loss which I don't anticipate), we part out the parts and hubby uses the bed to make a new lawn trailer.

We paid the very nice people, hooked her up and the passenger side wheel locked up. Reversed it and it did fine. Went forward and it locked up again. Lucky for us, the guy had a fully equipped shop so he and hubby took the wheel off, removed the brak shoe which was broken in half, replaced the wheel and the tire and we towed her home. She was jacked up as a hunting cabin so the wind resistance was horrible (we were towing into the wind all the way home) and we went through 3 tanks of gas getting there and back but all is good.

My vision for her is to do her up in a French bistro/cafe theme, totally "bastardize her" (as the purists on the vintage trailer boards call it when you fancy them up with themes and don't keep the original look) and just have fun.

I'm not sure how old she is, I'm thinking late 60s/early 70s since she has avocado green appliances and the same white washed paneling as my 67 does. I have to scrape some paint on the tongue to find a VIN # so I'll know for sure.

I've set off a bug bomb and the first step is to reflip the axel so she sits at a normal height and let the restoration begin. I present you with "La Petite Retreat". Oooh la la!