When you begin your descent into the abyss of searching for a vintage trailer, nothing else seems to matter and it becomes obsessive. And all the sage owners of trailers would tell you on the boards, "Young Grasshopper. Be patient. It will find you." But I was starting to really doubt that. And seriously wanted to just quit.
So in my efforts to aid the hunt, I made this Craigslist Want Ad and chose to use a graphic to make it stand out so it wouldn't get drowned in the ocean of trailer pics. It annoyed me when I would see a cute picture of a trailer on Craigslist and I'd think "Oooooo that is cute!". Click on it, and it was someone else who was also searching for a vintage trailer, and they just used that picture as an example of what they were wanting to buy. Grrrrr. I posted it in the cities that I would be willing to travel to, or willing to have it U-Shipped out here to Southern California. Annnnnnd then someone would flag them as Spam and have them deleted, especially in the Northwest area. Bitch. Don't mess with my ad, you trailer flipper, I know who you are. So after months of renewing the ad in the cities that were not saturated by trailer flippers, it WORKED!
One day I received an email from a gentleman: "1958 Shasta, complete. New tires/rims/hitch. All original, 2nd owner. Much more. $X,XXX obo. Orange, Calif." Hmmmm. This is only 25 minutes away from me! I asked for photos. The seller did not own a computer. It was his friend who is on Craigslist a lot that saw my ad and told the seller about my Want Ad. He asked for my cell number and he could send photos that way it was easier for the seller, but sometimes I am hesitant about giving out my cell phone number to a stranger. Especially from Craigslist. But I was so curious to see what this trailer looked like, I gave it to him. The photos starting dinging in my iPhone texts and I was STOKED. I called the seller and we chatted for a bit about the trailer and planned for us to check it out the next day.
I posted that I was excited to finally get to inspect a trailer and uploaded a photo of it on the Tin Can Tourist's Facebook page. Now I am by no means a Shasta aficionado or expert, (we just seem to like that style out of all the others) and I was pleasantly surprised by the Comments from the other members:
"I want it. I'm serious, that is the make & model I want!"
"Camp out in their drive ...send them a deposit."
"I hope you get it, looks like a pretty nice trailer to start with."
"I'll give U your money back if you have doubts ....I'll be waiting & waiting & waiting.... lol"
"Looks like someone has done a pretty good job of body/bondo work... and the interior isn't bad looking either! I'd say you got yourself a winner!"
"Very original. Right down to the ironing board and floor tiles. Glad you were able to rescue it."
And then I received a private message "If you don't end up buying the trailer let me know!"
So the next day we drove up to Orange to check it out, and I knew she was the one! So believe what the sage owners have said all along...be patient, and it will happen. She fell into my lap, and I didn't have to fight off the Shasta Sharks to get her either!
