Chiclet's real identity!

The first thing I set out to accomplish this week was to try and find out what type of trailer the Chiclet is. I posted photos to several of my Yahoo vintage trailer groups. Fellow trailerites seem to love a good challenge - the message boards lit up like a Christmas tree! Tim from Florida thought it might be an early 50's Shasta. Donna of "72 Shasta Fin and Feather Inn" fame wasn't so sure. Then Juergen Eichermueller said he would check his archives and get back to me. Juergen is like the Pope of vintage trailer archivists. The guy has files on just about anything concerning trailers that you could ever imagine. My fellow groupies and I waited patiently for his response. ........ Finally, he came back with 95% certainty that the Chiclet is a '52 Honorbuilt Romer. I now had a starting place to begin researching the history of my new canned ham. I was able to find out that the Honorbuilt Trailer Manufacturing Company sold plans and kits for building your own travel trailer. This makes complete sense in that the Chiclet has several indicators that it might have been home made. I have ordered a CD of Juergen's trailer archives including his file on Honorbuilt Romers. I can't wait to learn more and see pictures of other Romers.

Now to roll up my sleeves and get to the real work! One thing I learned from the RR's restoration was that I should have stripped the exterior paint prior to removing any of the trim and windows. This seemed like a daunting task - I could tell there were MANY layers of paint on the old aluminum. I did a "test strip" in a few spots with a product called "Citristrip Stripping Gel". The old paint peeled away fairly easily. Friday after work, I slathered a bunch of the gel on the front and rear ends of the Chiclet and left it to sit overnight. The next morning, armed with chemical resistant gloves, goggles, a plastic putty knife and some steel wool, I began working on removing the old paint. In some areas, the paint peeled off in big sheets that reminded me of the fruit roll-ups my kids used to eat when they were little. Other areas weren't going to give up without a fight. I found a total of 5 layers of paint -- white, off-white, golden yellow, aqua and finally a rusty red. After a few hours of scraping and scrubbing, my shoulder and wrist began to ache. Gosh, this is so familiar ...... I needed to take a break. The best thing about this restoration project is that I have no timeline. With the RR, I had to get it done before the Pismo rally. The Chiclet and I have all the time in the world. I'll get it done, do it right and hopefully enjoy the entire process.

So I took a look inside to see what I might tackle first. An easy task was to pull the icebox. Only 4 large nails held it in place. Once out on the lawn, I carefully removed the 57 year old insulation wrapped around the icebox. One more bag of hazardous material to throw on the dump pile. Now I was on a roll. I went ahead and removed the counter top and sink. It was obviously not the original Formica. It is an ugly, dark brown wood grain pattern. I removed the tiny screws holding the edge trim on, preyed under the lip of the wood slab and up it came ... almost. I had forgotten to cut the 2 copper water lines connecting the faucets to the water tank and outside hook-up. Seems I always forget the small details! Next to go was the stove / oven. First, I cut the propane line. I already knew all the lines would need to be replaced - I could see several places where the supply line from the propane tank was severely crimped.. Not gonna take any chances! With the line cut, the oven came right out. Not a single screw held it in place.

I placed the appliances and counter top on my workbench to be dealt with on another day.

I had 2 friends stop by to take a look at the Chiclet. Paul the welder showed up and gave it the once over. He thinks it is a solid little trailer and can see the potential. Then Shasta Stacy dropped by and shared some of her ideas with me. Once again, I couldn't do it without the help and advice of my trailer buddies. Its nice to know that I'm not the only nut case out there with this thing for old aluminum!