RV #1: 1970 Fan Lee Liner

You know how hindsight is 20/20? We might have seen some issues and blessings on bringing this 38 year old beauty home from Michigan. This was our first travel trailer and we thought we were livin’ the high life. So much so that we didn’t think about the issues of driving it home from Jackson, Michigan, with NO chains, brakes, or breakaway switch and maybe no brake lights.

The blessing was that we no longer had to pack up four kids, dogs, food, gear, and everything but the kitchen sink into our Suburban, drive 2.5 hours to pick up my parents’ 1974 Class C, then drive to the closest campground and unload (all.of.it). Seriously, never underestimate the amount of food and all the gear alone you need for 4 children. There is never enough space unless you pull your whole house behind you.

We found this gem on Craigslist where a retired gentleman had lost his wife the year prior and decided he was done with camping. The Fan had been left at a local camping spot for most of the season. We paid less than $1K and drove it home on a wing and a prayer. If you ever want to know the inner workings of an RV, buy an old one. It’s the best crash course out there. Ha-ha!

The Fan had great bones and most of it was all original! However, original and working don’t always go together like peanut butter and jelly. Yet, the refrigerator worked! Did you know that almost 40 year old plastic linings on cushions and light fixtures can pretty doggone brittle? Or that maybe we should have asked if everything work and tried it out? Nope, neither did we. The kids thought it was awesome though!

Here’s a list of all the things we did to it (you might want to grab a snack now that we’ve mentioned PB & J–this could be a while!):

• Sand/Paint/Seal Exterior–Don’t let that short phrase give false illusions of little time involved. I think I spent 4 hours alone sanding the rock shield on the front and and another 2-3 hours meticulously repainting the Fan graphics on the front using the faint lines left.
• Replace fresh water tank and all the plumbing except for the black tank–Now Jon knows how it all works
• Remove water-damaged ledge in the back and replace with the addition of outlets to charge our phones–plugs were few and far between in 1970
• Fixed the wiring and replaced the lights for the rear cap that were either damaged by water or where critters got in
• Replaced the non-working electric brakes and changed to newer tires
• Removed the propane only light–thought it was a safety issue for our kids
• Removed the propane furnace that no longer worked and replaced with a room air conditioner since we camped in the summer for the most part at this time
• Replaced the door at some point because someone backed into it while in storage (not sure why the subdivision didn’t want to look at this beauty and made us find storage for it elsewhere)
• Fixed several of the handles on the jalousie windows
• Removed dry-rotted cushion covers and curtains and sewed vinyl covers (remember–4 kids) and fresh curtains that could also give some privacy (those covers might have been had a final sew session on the way to our first campsite in the backseat of the Suburban)
• Oh yes–we bought some safety chains

What better way to figure out the inner workings of an RV than to get your hands dirty while making it work? While I had grand plans for a red and white striped awning, the pictures show few decorations because we were just plain tired by the time we were done and came to the realization that it was just too small for us. It had a full-sized bed with a bunk above and a dinette that made into a twin size bed at best. The bathroom had a toilet and mirror but that was about it. While the woodwork was fantastic and original, there was just little storage for 6 of us. This floorplan would be great for a couple or a couple with an occasional child or grandchild!

After all that work and many compliments at campgrounds where we stayed, we decided we needed something bigger. So I took more pics and listed it on Tin Can Classifieds. https://tincantourists.com/classified-ads/browse-ads/. We ended up with ladies from Texas and Seattle duking it out over who could show us the money first and sold it to Seattle for more than 3 times what we bought it for. Looking back we should have priced it higher, but we aren’t always blessed with that 20/20 vision up front. Are you? We delivered to Illinois where the lady from Seattle had relatives and our little Sasquatch eventually made the trip from Illinois to Washington later that summer.

We had several people say we should redo tin can travel trailers for a living but we just didn’t have the time. Maybe it could be a good retirement gig? Anyway if you have any questions about anything we did to it, please leave a comment or send us a message. We’d be happy to share more pics or what we might have used on it. Hope to hear from you soon!

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Check out the transformation video on Instagram (set to “Spirit in the Sky” recorded by Norman Greenbaum in 1969 and stayed on the charts for 1970). Take notice of some of those original sticker club emblems found on the bathroom door. If you really want to see more pics–just ask–we’ve got them.