1963 Santa Fe Cub: Let's see what we have under that skin....?

Well, out in the driveway sits this pile of metal and wood. Just what it really is is still an unanswered question. So, I grab a couple brews and head out to open her up. (Figured that after a brew or two it wouldn't matter if it was a real pile on junk. At least I'd be feelin' happy!!) The first thing we did was have a "look see" at why the ass end was dragging so low. As expected the wood that was suppose to be there as the bodies basic framing was something akin to corrigate cardboard. The inner back wood paneling was collapsed at the lower 18in. or so. A look at the right side shows signs of a large outward bulge!! When the rear end dropped the side just, sort of, stayed put but the wood bulged outward to accomodate for that shift downward. With it went the right wheel well. The 2X4 that was the door step had left the basic body and was sticking about 3in. away from the body. That left us with a large gap at the enterance.

It did, however, get better as we went along. The damage was just the rear half of the rig, from the door back, and about 10in. up from the bottom. Most of the real trouble was that back side. That would need a total rebuild.

Let's talk flooring. SInce that was something of a surprise. It was totally acceptable. Although, we would eventually add a little extra support to the floors underbody. (I hate a floor that has give to it and many of these trailers do have some give. It's just my preference.)

This was enough for me at this time. It had taken about 3 hours and the brews were wearing off by now and it was thought to be better to stop where we were and finish the inspection later in the week.

Let's start this thing out right, with a couple of these!!