"Walter the Hippie" our '65 Aristocrat Lo-Liner

This is "Walter" our 1965 Aristocrat Lo-Liner. The Lo-Liner was designed to actually fit in a standard sized garage door (about 7 feet). There was an accessory, garage wheels, that an owner could get that in essence were wheels with no rubber on them. They did have a metal band across them so they wouldn't tear up the garage floor. It reduced the standing height to about 6'5" and the camper could easily be rolled right into the garage for storage.



Pick Up Day - Necedah, Wisconsin

 This is the spot that Walter had sat in for over 17 years. We were advised the owners wanted to sell it and were told $250 was too much by a local person that had looked at it. That person recommended scrapping the camper. That was when we were called and asked if we would be interested because the owners couldn't bring themselves to just having it hauled off for scrap. Hearing about the turquoise appliances we said yes, sight unseen.

 Although it had been sitting for an extended period we were told that it was in fairly good shape. What we found was a piece of history in what we considered great shape for a vintage trailer that was over 45 years old.



We name all of our cars and campers and "Walter" was our third vintage trailer/camper.









Bob the Burger

 Our first vintage camper is a 1958 Hiawatha, "Bob the Burger" and the plan was for the second camper, a 1973 Tag-A-Long, to be the hippie theme. The Tag-A-Long needed a LOT of work.

We had no intentions to "collect" vintage campers, but we had such fun with Bob that having two seemed OK. When we were told about Walter we were reluctant. We didn't want "projects" waiting in line. But we decided that $250 wasn't too bad to at least take a look. Then they told us about the appliances and that closed the deal.

The plan was for the trailer to have a Chicago Bears themed design, thus the name "Walter". That plan went out the window when we actually saw the camper. It was in such great shape that it immediately became the second camper that we would "redo" and bring back to life and the Tag-A-Long, that needs a full restoration would wait. So "Walter" became the hippie instead.

Re-doing is NOT restoring - 2009



The date is wrong - It was May 2009

 Once we got Walter home we decided that we wanted to "debut" him at a vintage trailer rally in Montello, Wisconsin in September so it was time to get to work. My lovely bride of over 30 years is the design talent behind our projects.

The interior needed a good cleaning and some new upholstry. We decided that new foam for the cushions would also be a good investment. What we hadn't planned on were the ants! Walter had become home to two colonies. We had found the larger, more destructive carpenter ants, when we removed the original canopy that had been stored in the rear compartment when we picked him up. Those we dealt with in Wisconsin where we got him.

The others we found when we got home. Pesky little buggers required that the camper be "bombed" twice before they gave it up.

I think the most amazing thing that we found inside Walter, besides the original gas lamp glass, was that the stove had spare parts ordered in 1969. We didn't need them, but it sure was a pleasant surprise.

Getting Walter to fit into our garage was going to be a challenge. There are NO vintage Aristocrat dealerships around that sell garage wheels. So we improvised and made our own.



It SNOWS in March in Northern IL

 After going to a local junk yard and buying extra wheels we welded some steal bands around the outside edge, making a set that when on the camper made it slide snuggly under our 7' garage door with ease.

Once we had the trailer in the garage it was time to tackle certain jobs that if left undone HAUNT vintage trailers, water leaks. We started by pulling all of the window frames out and the trim around the outer edges.

The bodywork was done by our son, who also did the work on Bob.

While he worked on that I got to do a whole lot of other things starting with a crash course in bringing dull, aged aluminum back to a luster.



Our son

The window frames were a mess. Our son told me that with a little TLC and a LOT of elbow grease they would sparkle better than new and would not have to be painted. One thing I did learn from my son during this project was to listen to someone with experience, age didn't matter! I messed up a few things only to have his words echo in my ears. His 10 years in the automotive bodywork business gave him 10 years more experience than I had!

The next step was replacing the copper tubing for the stove and water lines. After installing new gas lines be sure to pressure test them to verify that there are no leaks!

A new skin for the rear door, a couple of widow clips later and some electrical rewiring  and we were ready for paint. 

Our daughter, who had thought of the hippie theme, got to pick the color. She said green.

It was a LOT brighter AFTER it was on the camper than we thought it would be.

Once it was green, it was time to transform it into a hippie.

 

After the paint was finished the camper was put back together, starting with the newly polished windows. Butyl tape was used to insure leaks were a thing of the past.

We missed our target date for the debut by a few weeks. But Walter did make his first camping rally in October 2009.

Walter (on garage wheels) & Bob




Regular Wheels



Walter made his first rally with orange wheels.

We didn't like the way the orange looked so for 2010 Walter had purple wheels.

A newly decorated interior included cushions, curtains and a lot of classic 60's paraphernalia. Yes, the curtains are different on the outside from the inside. The outside squigly pattern was too much to have on the inside.

The stove was virtually untouched. New gas lines and it worked great, including the oven. The vent above it and the fridge door were repainted. The paint was obtained by taking the stove top to an auto supply place and the color was "scanned" allowing them to mix a dead on match. 

 



Walter's first vintage trailer rally was in Southern Illinois.



South Bend, IN 2010 - Purple wheels



Hope to see you in the campgrounds or at a rally. If you see us, stop by and say hello.