A few weeks ago we bought a 1948 Spartan Royal Mansion camper. We will be slowly restoring it over time. This is our second camper restoration, our first being a 1969 Airstream Sovereign. We sold it this past spring and really miss it.
This is the 15th Royal Mansion ever built. Spartan Manors (25') were first built in 1946, in 1948 the Mansions (30') and Royal Mansions (33') were introduced. ours was the 15th one off the line in '48.
The Spartan will be beautiful once restored but at the present it is in horrible condition. It sat in the woods of north Georgia for about 30 years. It looks like it was being used as a moonshine still at one point judging from an older picture of it that I saw.
The floor is completely shot, as is the birchwood interior panels. The skin is in decent condition with a few dings and small holes. The frame appears sound. Most of the windows are broken or missing.
On the plus side most of the original details appear to be present and restorable including light fixtures, exterior lighting, switches, outlets, and door and cabinet hardware. Most of the cabinets appear sound but I'm not sure that I'll be able to use them. Squirrels made nests in the cabinets for years so there is a lot of squirrel pee and poop in them. Not sure if they will retain any smell or not. It's not too big a deal if I have to rebuild them though, they are fairly simple in design.
We intend to restore it with the original floorplan but we will be using some new things as well. One thing will probably be the windows, they originally were slid back into the wall by hand, similar to a pocket door. I plan on converting these to electric.
The trailer came with the original stove and fridge but I may not use these, we may go with stainless appliances. We're not sure on this yet.
Here are a few pictures of it in it's current state:
Exterior:
Interior:
Ok, now that you've seen the sorry shape that it's in i'm going to show you some pictures I found on the internet of what we are planning for our camper:
Beautiful, isn't it? I found these pics on E-bay. Yes it's going to take a lot of time and effort but I hope ours will be just as nice once done.
4 comments:
Wow! That is going to look awesome!
I don't know if I could get past the "disgusting factor" part of cleaning it out, but I can see a LOT of potential in that classic design.
I hope you can save her - she'll be a great lookin' new/old gal when you finish. I'm looking to do the same thing if my offer is accepted on a '55 Spartan mansion.
I'd love to do the same thing. What should I pay for one of these old dears? I've got so many questions. Good luck!
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