1955 Benroy - Rebuild (08/20/2013 - Painted! Now reassembly)

[TRP]

HA! What a small funny world. I'll keep the offer in mind. Im not sure i have the space for allyou grain.

Stoked to hear you are building a Benroy. Were are you located? I still have my original skins/sides/hatch skins. If you are in California, i'll offer them up.


Let me know how I can help.
Ted

[TRP]

Ohhhh yeah!

I'm off work from now until the 3rd of January. Maybe... juuust maybe I'll get back out into the garage and knock out some work on the '55.

Today I had to pull the door handle off one side so we could hide the kids Christmas presents in the Benroy. This got me thinking about doing some more work. Looking forward to doing more on this baby.

Oh, Lonnie - I brewed a brown and a pale in the past 14 days. I may brew a Pliny clone on New Years. Is 15 gallons on tap too much?

Hope all is well,
Ted

Oh, I almost forgot to ask - Polish? or natural?

[TRP]

Hello Intrepid and Faithful followers!

With the nice weather we've been having I've started thinking about camping! I had to drag the Benroy out of the garage and see where we had left off.

In November or December I asked if I should polish the benroy or leave it natural. I decided to try my hand a polishing the ole girl.

I picked up a Dewalt Buffer (variable speed, 0-3krpm) and a used cyclo polisher off of e-bay (120.00! not too bad really). I also picked up 3 grades of polish from the good folks at Vintage Trailer. Following their instructions, I achieved the following in just one afternoons worth of effort. One thing I noticed during the polishing process; - the trailer actually looks worse before it looks better. About half way through I was seriously regretting my decision.

This is where we started:


Here are some shots of the work in progress:





This is about as good of a progressive set as I could find:


Not too shabby. I wish it were a bit more 'mirror like', but I didn't start with some 600 grid as recommended. I figured, with the aluminum being brand new, it wasn't necessary. I later learned that if you look really close the finish isn't perfectly flat, It's actually a bunch of peaks and valleys. I imagine if I'd had started with 400, then 600, and then the cutting grade polish - I'd have a better finish. No worries. I really need to address the trim. It has a lot of oxidation on it.

Now to start thinking it to the paint shop. (I wanted the lower sides polished before sending it out for paint, so the exposed metal would be shiny and I wouldn't have to try to polish between the paint lines. )

Thanks
Ted

[dano]

Ted, looks great.
I bet it was a lot of work. Come do mine???
Hey Mindy and I are going to a tear gathering March 21-24 in southern Ca. if your intrested.

Dano

[Lonnie Mac]

Man that just makes my mouth water to get started on mine!

[S. Heisley]

It looks terrific!

[real550A]

Looks fantastic, Ted! You have set the bar high!

[SuperShady1]

Hello that is a beauty!!

Love the look of that polished finish. I am sure the trim pieces will be a bear if you do not have a polishing wheel. But I am sure there are a couple of shops down in SJ that can do that for yah.

Like I said in our texts back and forth I am going to put together a small gathering up on Mt Diablo probably late april. If you have not been up their the views from the camp site are incredible!!

When we went down to LA for chirstmas I had my builder do a little upgrades and fixes. Need to post them up.



Dave

[stevegsmith]

Nice job Ted. Looks amazing.

[TRP]

Ted, looks great.
I bet it was a lot of work. Come do mine???
Hey Mindy and I are going to a tear gathering March 21-24 in southern Ca. if your intrested.

Dano

Ha! I'd love to do yours. Just after I finish mine. It's not all that hard.

Sorry I missed you guys in so cal. I hear there was quite the turn out.

I've been pretty busy lately. Back in November my car was damaged pretty heavily when a tool box fell off a construction truck on 101. Then in March I it was totaled in *ANOTHER* car accident on 101. Just now back in my own car and new tow vehicle! Aside from dealing with the car issues, work has been gangbusters. I'm taking some classes to stay 'fresh' at work, and my kids sporting events have really been eating up my time.

On a camping note, my wife is really interested in taking the teardrop out soon. I need to get 'er done!

Did you end up selling those smoothies?

Steve/Dave - Hey guys!? What's new? Who's going to the Damn next month?

Ted

[TRP]

It looks terrific!

Thanks Sharron!

Mike, how's that ole trailer of yours working out? You make any headway on it yet??

T

[Lurediver]

Hey guys, its Been awhile since I've logged on. I've just spent all of yesterday rebuilding the kitchen of my 55 Benroy, I need to post up some pictures of the progress as I go. There isn't much to look at right now, I've been trying to keep the trailer as original as an can be. A lot off the wood has been replaced, I had a brand new aluminum counter top fabricated at a shop down the road. Luckily I have all the original hardware and equipment that came with the trailer so I don't need to replace anything.

Question, the trailer had been painted a primer color 20 years ago and after scraping it off the skins I found that the original color was black. I've read that they were mainly produced as orange and red, anyone know of black ones being made?

[real550A]

Hi Ted-
Haven't worked on the King Richard's lately, mostly occupied with snow removal, and that pesky job thing. I hope to get a few chances at it
this summer, in between construction projects around the ranch.
Your Benroy looks spectacular! Excellent workmanship throughout. Love it! Mike

[Ned B]

just read through most of your re-build thread (the past day or so... not all in one sitting...)


keep on keepin on!

[Lurediver]

This thread has inspired me to start fixing up my original Benroy, thanks guys!



Here's a photo I tracked down of a Benroy back in 1955, hope you enjoy.