A star is born!

Hello Dahlings! Faith, the vintage Serro Scotty here to fill you in on some of the work that went into restoring me back into a beautiful creature! There was so much that needed to be done it is always hard to know where to start. I guess I will start with my tongue! My tongue was old, paint chipped and rusty. Here is my before picture...

The rust was cleaned using a wire brush on the drill. Rustoleum black was used to paint my tongue and now I look like new!

My table was "cute" in the words of my restorer, 99. But not very displayable. Someone did a nice job on the artwork at one time. 99 wanted to keep the original table, but wasn't sure what to do with it....here it is

This is the underside with the original foot.

 Who doesn't love Lucy?

 99 removed the hinged foot. She sanded the sides and painted them black.

 A visitor came by to supervise the work...

 The triangular effect on the foot was removed and a new one made using oak. It was polyurethaned and attached to what used to be the top of the table. 99 did not paint over Lucy. She likes Lucy and thought she would leave it for nostalgia's sake.

Next, a piece of birch was cut and shaped to fit the table. It was attached to what used to be the bottom of the table and then covered with poly.

 The grain is very pretty I think!

The wall bracket was cleaned and polished and I was eventually reattached to the trailer. Here is what my table looks like now...

All ready for my new family to play a game of cards and enjoy some camp cooking! I can't wait!

My trim rails on the outside were a royal pain in the patootie! They were so long, in the way, covered with old paint and tar and had tons of tiny twist nails in them! The tar was softened using a torch and then scraped. When enough of it was removed the remainder was wiped off with gasoline. Paint remover was put over the paint and removed as well, then they were polished up and now they shine!

 You can see the difference between the polished rail and the unpolished one. It was huge!

This is 99's best friend, Ghandi the Dingo. She is guarding the trim rails so no tar gets near them again!

The tires were removed. 99 says my tires are in great shape. When removed there was a little surprise, whitewalls had been turned to the inside. 99 said this is cool because if my new owners want them to show they can take them and have them changed around. Just one more option!

 Nice tread!

 After being wirebrushed and cleaned they were painted using rustoleaum black.

 The bearings were also greased and then the tires were reattached to my body...

99 says I would look great with some baby moons on me, but for now she added a little flair by painting my dust cap!

Scotty is known for having the drop down floor. 99 wanted to find a way to reinforce this. And she did. Using angle iron she put a frame around the box and up each corner. My floor isn't going anywhere for a looooong time!

There are lots of things that were done that I haven't mentioned.  If you think this went off without a hitch, it didn't. There were a few times a mad dash had to be made to push me in the garage or cover me with the tarp because of really hard rain. Times when 99's hands hurt so bad she ran them under hot water just for a moment of relief. Times when she just sat down next to me and cried either because she couldn't believe she was able to make something out of nothing or because she didn't know how on earth she was going to do just that. She broke two windows by accident making even more work, her light, good drill is toast because the batteries won't take a charge so she had to use the heavy one, her buffer is a piece of "crap" as she says so a lot of the polishing and shining was done by hand. She broke more jigsaw blades than I care mention and took a lot of slack from helpers who sometimes had an easier way but she would refuse because it was not the best way. She stuck with me though and worked on me diligently, sometimes from early morning and through the night. She learned a lot about friendship because people would cheer her on, provide graphic visuals, offer advice, send over tools she needed and supplies, bring over dinner and basically stick by her side and believe in her. I mean a lot to 99 and I think I came to mean a lot to lots of other people too. Like I said before, a lot of love went into restoring me. I am not yet totally complete, but I am up for sale. 99 will continue to work on me until my new family comes along to take over, but she has made sure the hard work is all done and that I am ready to be cherished and enjoyed for many years to come. This was a long hard road, but one worth traveling. And now it is time for her to let me go. She says someday she will be able to have one she can keep and love for herself. For now, knowing that she saved one more trailer from doom is good enough for her!  She kept the faith and so have I!

For now, dahlings, I leave you with this:

“A star falls from the sky and into your hands. Then it seeps through your veins and swims inside your blood and becomes every part of you. And then you have to put it back into the sky. And it's the most painful thing you'll ever have to do and that you've ever done. But what's yours is yours. Whether it’s up in the sky or here in your hands. And one day, it'll fall from the sky and hit you in the head real hard and that time, you won't have to put it back in the sky again.” 
― C. JoyBell C.

I think this is how 99 feels about these old trailers she rescues. She made me into a star and now it is time to let go. If you ever find yourself questioning whether or not you can do something, first decide if it is worth doing.  If it is, well, then hold on to faith and never ever let go!