Personal and Recreational Owners
Vintage and Classic RV Enthusiasts
The short answer
Vintage units get turned away because the parts do not exist, so the work becomes fabrication rather than replacement. We form discontinued panels in house, rework riveted Airstream shells, and currently have a 1959 Flxible in the shop alongside current-year coaches. Vintage panel work is normal work here, not an exception.
01
What we see from this customer
The first thing the owner of a 1962 trailer or a 1970s coach hears is that nobody will touch it. The reason is sourcing. The panel is discontinued, the window frame has not been made in forty years, and the trim profile was extruded by a company that closed before most technicians were born. That is a fabrication problem rather than a repair problem. We form panels, roll trim, and fit glass into rebuilt frames, which is slower and more expensive than bolting on a part but it is the only path that exists.
On a riveted monocoque like an Airstream, the skin is the structure. Drilling out a panel without supporting the shell first lets the whole section move, and then nothing lines up again. We support before we remove, drill rather than shear the rivets, preserve holes where we can, and refasten to the original specification with isolation where dissimilar metals meet. That isolation matters most on coastal units. Steel fasteners in aluminum panels corrode galvanically in the Newport Beach and Oceanside marine layer, and rivet heads start weeping white powder.
Insurance on a vintage unit turns on one phrase in your policy. Agreed value means you and the carrier settled on a number when the policy was written, and that number governs. Actual cash value means an adjuster applies depreciation to a fifty year old coach and arrives at a figure that will not pay for fabrication labor. If your unit sits on an actual cash value policy, the repair estimate will frequently exceed the settlement. We write the documented number either way, so you know what you are deciding on.
Location: All work is performed at our Yorba Linda facility. We do not offer mobile, roadside, or fleet route service.
02
What you are worried about, and the answer
Concern 01
Three shops have already told me they will not work on a coach this old.
Age is not a disqualifier here. We work all years and all makes, and vintage restoration runs alongside current-year collision jobs in the same building. A 1959 Flxible is in the shop right now.
Concern 02
The panel I need has been discontinued since the 1970s and no supplier has one.
Then it gets formed. Panel fabrication, trim rolling and window frame rebuild are in-house work. It is more labor than a part swap, which is why the estimate is written in hours at $210 per hour rather than as a parts line with a markup on it.
Concern 03
My Airstream rivet heads are lifting and weeping a white powder.
That is galvanic corrosion between steel fasteners and aluminum skin, accelerated by salt air on the coast. The fastener is losing section, the surrounding aluminum is being consumed, and the seal at that point is already gone. It needs replacement with proper isolation, not cleaning and a dab of sealant.
Concern 04
My carrier depreciated the coach and the settlement will not cover the repair.
Ask your agent whether the policy is agreed value or actual cash value before you file. Agreed value settles at the number written into the policy. Actual cash value depreciates a fifty year old unit to a figure that rarely covers fabrication labor. We supply the documented repair cost so the comparison happens on real numbers.
Concern 05
I am worried a repair will destroy the originality of the unit.
Tell us what you want preserved at intake and we scope to it. There is a real difference between saving original skin and replacing it, and the two paths price very differently. On finish work we can match original schemes or reproduce discontinued graphics in paint, which holds up better in California sun than any decal.
Concern 06
The floor is soft and I have no idea how much of the frame under it is gone.
A soft floor on an older unit usually means the steel underneath has been wet for years. We pull flooring and underbelly, meter the decking, and inspect crossmembers and outriggers for section loss. Rusted structure gets cut back to sound metal, welded, treated and coated before any new decking goes down.
03
Services you need most
Service
Aluminum Skin and Sidewall Replacement
Aluminum skin and sidewall replacement covers panel replacement on stick-and-tin trailers and riveted monocoque trailers including
Service
Structural Welding and Fabrication
Certified in-shop welding and fabrication on steel and aluminum structure. Covers frame repair, custom bumpers and racks, reinforc
Service
Rust Treatment and Anti-Corrosion Coating
Rust treatment mechanically removes active corrosion, converts or encapsulates the sound pitted metal that remains, and applies pr
Service
Water Damage and Subfloor Replacement
Water damage restoration covers soft floors, rotted subfloor, failed wall substrate, and the seal failure that caused it. Work run
Service
Window Reseal and Replacement
Window service covers resealing leaking frames, replacing failed butyl, reglazing fogged dual pane units, and full window replacem
Service
Flooring Replacement, LVT Vinyl Carpet and Tile
Flooring replacement covers removal of failed vinyl, carpet, or tile and installation of new LVT, sheet goods, carpet, or tile wit
Service
Full Interior Remodel
A full interior remodel replaces flooring, cabinetry, countertops, seating, wall panel, and trim as one coordinated job rather tha
Service
Paint and Refinish
Full paint and refinish strips, corrects, primes, and resprays the exterior of an RV, van, trailer, or fleet vehicle in single-sta
04
Vehicles you run
Vehicle
Vintage and Classic RVs
Vintage coaches, from riveted aluminum Airstreams and Avions to GMC motorhomes and 1970s Class A units, use construction and parts
Vehicle
Travel Trailers
A travel trailer tows from a ball hitch behind the tow vehicle rear axle on an A-frame tongue, which makes it the most sway-prone
Vehicle
Bus Conversions, Prevost and Marathon
A Prevost, MCI, or Van Hool conversion is a commercial motorcoach shell finished by a second-stage builder such as Marathon, Feath
Vehicle
Class A Gas Motorhomes
A Class A gas motorhome is a flat-front coach built on a Ford F53 or Workhorse front-engine chassis, typically 28 to 38 feet. Rear
Vehicle
Teardrop Trailers
A teardrop is a small monocoque sleeping trailer, usually 4 to 6 feet wide, with a rear galley under a lifting hatch. The hatch se
05
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Do you work on Airstreams and other riveted trailers?
Yes. Riveted shell panel replacement, corroded fastener work, structural repair and polished aluminum restoration are all in-house. Because the shell is the structure on a monocoque trailer, we support the section before removing a load-bearing panel rather than treating it as a cosmetic swap. Rivets are drilled rather than sheared so the original holes survive wherever they can, and every lap seam gets fresh butyl on reassembly.
Can you make a part that does not exist anymore?
Usually. Panels are formed, trim is rolled, brackets and frame sections are fabricated, and window frames are rebuilt around new glass. On a unit from the 1950s or 1960s, fabrication is the normal path rather than the fallback. It prices in labor hours at $210 per hour plus material rather than as a parts line, which is why vintage estimates read differently than modern ones.
Is a vintage restoration worth it financially?
Sometimes not, and we will say so. A full restoration on a coach with a rusted frame and a failed floor can exceed what the finished unit sells for. What we can do is give you the documented number before you commit, split into structural work that has to happen and cosmetic work that can wait. Owners who want that specific unit decide differently than owners who want any unit.
Will my classic insurance policy cover this?
It depends on whether the policy is agreed value or actual cash value. Agreed value pays the figure you and the carrier set when the policy was written. Actual cash value applies depreciation and typically lands well under what fabrication labor costs. Check which one you hold before a loss rather than after. We supply the documented repair estimate the determination gets made on.
How long does vintage work take?
Longer than modern work, and the reason is sourcing and forming rather than bay time. A single fabricated panel with finish can run several weeks. A shell-off restoration with frame repair, floor replacement and interior work runs months. We give you a schedule after teardown, because on a sixty year old unit what is behind the panel is genuinely unknown until it is open.
Tell us what you run and what happened to it.