Monday 29 March 2010

Woosh!

Last Thursday, we took a trip over to Salisbury to visit the guys at Silver Rocketeer.

I found their website a couple of weeks ago and was more than keen to see their Spartan trailer. We exchanged a few emails and arranged the visit.

It was a miserably wet day (we could have made most of the journey by boat, or even submarine!) and the sat-nav took us on a delightful tour of the country lanes, but we eventually got there.

Silver Rocketeer are two guys who are well equipped for the vintage restoration trade. Their website will tell you all about them, but (in a nutshell) Jonathan is a sculptor and Christopher is an engineer. They have two projects on the go, the first of which is a beautifully shiny, late 40's Airstream Liner...

At the moment, it comes with an unusual "original feature" - two bullet holes in the roof!

They have done a lovely job restoring the trailer, replacing where necessary whilst trying to keep as much of the original as possible. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished item - if we win the lottery and start collecting vintage Airstreams this model is at the top of Tracey's wish list.

The second trailer is in the early stages of restoration, but it's going to be a beaut...

They are going to turn this Spartan Mansion into an Art Deco cocktail lounge. I can't wait. It's just an empty shell at the moment, but what a shell!

We were very kindly treated to lunch in their third trailer - a late 70's Airstream which doubles as their office. It was a real pleasure spending time with some people who, for want of a better word, "get" Airstreaming. We're hopeful that the Spartan Cocktail Lounge will be ready in time to make an appearance at the September Gathering...

It's looking increasingly likely that the UKAirstreamers Spring Gathering is going to become an Early Summer affair, but the Autumn dates are set. Make a note in your diaries for the weekend of 10th/12th of September, near Ludlow, Shropshire. There will be more details on the UKAirstreamers Website soon, or email me if you're interested.

Finally, a quick plug for a new book...

My Cool Caravan is a lovely little book, full of photos of all kinds of caravans and trailers, ancient and modern, including a handful of Airstreams. It's only a few quid - treat yourselves.

P

4 comments:

Andrew said...

Oh wow, could you imagine the Spartan Cocktail Lounge being the centrepiece of the Evening 'Do' at the Autumn meet? That's cooler than cool. Shake me an Airstream Martini barman...

Unknown said...

Ahh - cocktail lounge : a whole new experience for us northern hicks. Hope they do a good meat & potato pie!!!

Does this mean we have to hire appropriate apparel?

Pete said...

I'm not sure anyone's invented meat 'n' potato canapes yet.

You can come as you are, but you'll be expected to wash behind your ears.

Carl said...

Hi Pete and Tracey, I commented on one of your great blogs some time ago, and I've been following your travel. Well we've just placed an order on a new Airstream so will, can't wait. Won't get it till later this year though so I will have to just keep looking at your airstream photos to keep me going !