Vintage Camper Update & A "Before Tour" of a 1963 Friendship Vacationaire

Remember long ago when I posted about our vintage Shasta compact travel trailer? 

Well, I figured I should give you an update...

Actually, a few followers reminded me I just kind of left y'all hangin'... Sorry!

If you need a refresher on what the "Before Shasta" looked like, click HERE.

So... the Shasta was in such bad shape that it ended up having to be rebuilt completely.

My husband got pretty far on it, and then was having a difficult time "wrapping" it. 

Getting the wood to curve around in that nifty canned ham shape isn't easy. So, we actually hired some vintage camper restorers to do the frame and wrap it in the wood. (It is an extremely weird feeling as a DIYer to pay someone else to do the work, but my goodness it was nice!!) So, it is beautifully wrapped in new wood now and... sitting in a friends pole building just waiting for love! 

There are two reasons for that.

1.) You see, we began to realize that it would need new siding. Even though I spend hours and hours striping 9,000 layers of paint off of the original siding, it was splitting and had random holes and horrible patch jobs all over. We realized with everything else being completely new, it would be silly to put that rough looking stuff back on. Unfortunately, the price of new siding for vintage camper is thousands of dollars. We own a fixer upper home and were getting ready to have a baby, and the poor little Shasta just wasn't a priority for our money. So in the pole building it sits. We have thought about selling it, but I was so dang excited about getting it in the first place, so that seems crazy.

 I'm still trying to convince my mom that it needs to be turned into a cute little food stand she can run. It already needs a new window on the side, so it would be perfect for that. Gourmet strawberry shortcake out of a vintage camper? I think yes. What do you think? It's wings are already painted red!

2.) In the mean time of our beloved little Shasta waiting patiently for attention, we ended up getting a NEW vintage camper! This one is also a fixer upper camper, but is in quite a bit better shape than the Shasta. Like... actually usable. So we ended up putting a bit of time into it so that we could actually go. out. camping. We have gotten a good amount of use out of it in the last year (I think 4 trips now, which isn't bad for camping with a new baby), and we LOVE it! It is just the right size, toasty warm, hauls like a champ, well made, and will be cute-as-can-be when we are finished. 

So, let me introduce you to the...

1963 Friendship Vacationaire

Maybe not a big name "Shasta" or anything, but still so cute and so vintage.

My husband just giving a good scrub to the exterior and making it that much more beautiful.

Look at the difference even soap and water can make!

The front window had a crack from a rock hitting. 

That was one of the first things we replaced, and we just used Plexiglas, which saved money and was easier to work with.

From what I have seen in other's pictures the original color of the Vacationaires was white.

 This one just has a bit of chalky white paint barely hanging on. My husband scrubbed the front side so well that he was able to get it back to the silver. The silver is nice, but since he couldn't get all the original paint off (no matter what we do or use) it will most likely get a paint job. I think white again, but with some sort of pop of color. 

My Pinterest board:

I'm a Happy Camper

will give me some inspiration I'm sure! Lot's of cute colors and styles.

Now, what you're all truly waiting for: the inside!

It's amazing what just a good cleaning job can do to really snazz a place up! ;)

One thing we had already bought for the Shasta, which ended up in this camper, was a very comfortable memory foam mattress. It took the place of this foam bed, which made me so happy. 

It has always been my dream to have a tiny vintage camper (a hard sided tent as I like to say) with the bed all ready to go. We just pull in, level the camper, and wah-lah! Good to go. I don't like to spend a lot of time setting up, because I like to be out swimming and exploring, so not even having to set up a bed is fantastic. 

A few things have already been done to brighten up the inside, and I will try not to make you wait years to see it! ;) We still have a lot left to do, but I'm thinking I could manage doing a "Middle Tour" type of post. 

This tiny "kitchen" is one of my favorite parts!

This picture looks confusing because there is a tall cabinet on the left that has a long mirror on it. It is right in between the bed and the entry door.

This is inside that cabinet. It came with a brand new Coleman port-a-potty, which was probably worth about half of what we paid for this camper! 

We got a good deal on this camper because it belonged to my Mother-in-law's boyfriend's parents. 

The good price helped justify the fact that we would own TWO fixer upper vintage campers! :) 

We weren't sure if we should actually get it at the time, but I have no regrets now. I'm so glad it came our way.

The other side of the camper has a table and benches that converts to a bed. When the bed is down we put the pack-and-play right on top of it, and that is where my son sleeps! He has become a champion camper for only be a year old. 

This camper has tons of storage, which I love! I am a bit of a minimalist, so there are just dishes and things I know we will actually use in here, and it has been perfectly enough. I add a few little things here and there, but we still have some storage space left unused, which is a great feeling!

I paint and come up with the decor game plan... this is the man behind all the actual hard work (like flooring and shelving and new paneling, etc.) He makes me a happy camper!

It just occurred to me that some people may have looked through these pictures and been a little repulsed! Well, that doesn't offend me, because people with the mentality that something old and dirty is no good are usually people that are just scared of a little hard work! 

Work doesn't scare me, and trust me, this tiny little camper already looks a million times better than these pictures. With just a little bit of love, we are making sure that a piece of history stays out and about adventuring. This camper was built to last, and I would much rather have something old and well built that can be used for years to come rather than a new, light weight camper that looks the same as everybody else's in the campground. Also, it is really fun to "make something your own". This gives us the opportunity to get just what we want. 

I'm so thankful we found this little GEM! I'm excited to slowly keep putting little shabby-chic, glamping touches on it, and I promise I'll keep you updated as we get more things done. 

Thank you for following along and taking the tour!

Have a blessed week and lovely rest of the camping season,

~Olivia