We bought our Airstream sight unseen on eBay from another continent…based on the photos and the ad that said “just a spring clean and you’ll be ready to park on the beach this summer”….

The ad showed it “might” be a little more work than that – two of the windows looked like they were broken, but overall the outside didn’t look too bad, and the price was so cheap we figured it was worth the risk.

We arranged to meet the buyer up in the Sierra Nevadas and lined up a tow truck to pick it up and take it to the nearest repair yard we could find. The day after we were flying to Arizona for work and wanted the brakes and gas lines checked over before we came back and towed it home.

Finally – we got to meet our Airstream in person…exterior, very impressive, a few dents (expected), missing windows – yep was prepared for that. It was the interior that was a bit of a shock….

At least we can say it was all original but it was clear that mice, rats and squirrels had made a happy home there for several years. The seller was somewhat sheepish and said he’d paid someone to clean it. We just looked at him, hooked her up and drove away.

It’s fair to say the repair yard wasn’t too excited about having it on their lot, but they did take it, agreed to do the work, and we then flew off to work for a week, before returning and hiring the biggest U-Haul truck we could find to tow her home.

On our way we stopped at an Airstream restoration specialist to pick up a new window, vent covers and hardware we knew we’d need from our first inspection.

Then it was several days of cleaning out live and dead rates and mice, squirrel acorn hordes, destroyed upholstery and cabinetry to get something that was at least clean and liveable.

The broken windows were repaired with perspex, the old carpet ripped up, and a floating timber floor laid down.

Then it was back home to Australia. The Airstream spent the next 10 years in Megan’s parents’ driveway as our tiny home when we visited. Over those years we tinkered, and did minor repairs – but never enough time to do all that we needed. It was a lovely space to stay in and we dreamed of one day being able to give it the full attention it deserved.