Hidden Vintage Gems
One of the best parts of anything vintage or antique is that it has a history. Oftentimes these vintage goodies come to us via a road where things have been lost along the way. However, it’s those moments when you find those old gems that allow you to imagine a past you weren’t part of, or in my case, weren’t even alive for. We’ve been lucky enough to have a few of these moments over the past two weeks.
The discovery of some of the original paperwork complete with notes handwritten on them that might be from the original owner.
Lighting the original propane light and realizing it still works! (sorry, this photo is not while it’s lit, but I’ll get one to add later)
Opening a panel to discover the inside is a blue/green color which must be original.
Taking the license plate off and scraping off the old registrations and finding the 1969 registration sticker perfectly intact at the bottom.
Finding this large canvas piece rolled up and unrolling it to discover that it is a huge sunshade that was probably put in the trailer by the original owner. All of the poles and stakes are there too. We’ll have to set this up and get a photo of it.
These are just a few of the things we’ve come to love about exploring our vintage Aristocrat. She’s full of surprises each day.
You recently left a message on my Aristocrat blog asking about the Sun Lite gas lamp. Unfortunately the glass is impossible to locate, and almost every Aristocrat trailer I have seen in person and or on line is missing the glass globe.
I looked long and hard to locate a replacement and there are NONE to be found, after more than 6 month of looking for a replacement lamp, I went so far as to buy a Springlite gas lamp so at least the trailer would have a gas lamp.
Then out of the blue a couple popped up on ebay, and I bid on both just to loose, due to low bid, once I decided that I needed to restore the trailer with as many original parts as possible, I bought 2 complete lamps regardless of their cost so that I would have them.
I reviewed the photo of your lamp on your website and it seems as if there is an additional part that is not the same as all others I have seen, is that a ceramic nose? It doe look as if it was made my Sunbeam, and is a Sun-Lite lamp, but it looks as if it is slightly different. Did you add the ceramic nose or was it there when you bought it? I also see that your on and off valve is a knob instead of a lever, the main problem with this lamp is if it sits a long time it get insects and spider eggs etc. in the gas lines and chamber, beyond that and the not being able to locate the glass globe, it is a pretty standard gas lamp.
This is the very first trailer I have restored that has a gas light so I am really a novice in regard to these lamps, that is another reason I posted the information on my site so it is now available to all.
Again the globe can be found if you look hard enough and are willing to pay through the nose, but you will have to buy the complete lamp, I have never seen them come up alone.
Good luck and please feel free to contact me if I can aid you in any way. I am in no way an expert, I merely restore vintage trailers as a hobby, eith drop me a line on my blog or via email
My email address is vintagetraveltrailer@gmail.com
Thank you so much for the help. Yeah, it seems to be slightly different than what everyone else has. I think I found a glass piece that will work in a thrift store. It’s not the original, but it will probably work for now until we find something. Thanks so much for the eBay suggestion. I’ve set an alert in case one gets posted. I hate to buy the whole light but we’ll do what we have to!
Thanks again, and sorry for the late reply. Busy week! I’ll post photos of the substitute glass I found soon.