New blue paint

We painted the interior of the cupboards, drawers and closet a bright blue. With the dark brown it looks really good and will make searching for things easier.

Book resource

This book is a resource for Myrtle's 318 poly motor as well as the general dodge chassis information.

A resources for stereos/speakers

We plan on going with this company, Retro Sound, to replace Myrtle's broken stereo and speakers. They are affordable and have good style!

More pictures

These show where her bumpers have been removed (for chroming) and her newly varnished walls.

Varnish, varnish & more varnish

Today I varnished nearly every piece of wood panelling in Myrtle. All that is left is one wall in the back corner by the bed, one wall in the living room area and the kitchen lower cabinets/drawers. It really brought out the texture of the wood. Of course later I will be doing the walls I did not get to and then all over again with a light sand and a 2nd coat of varnish.... The stove is pulled out to allow better access to paint the interior of the lower cabinet. For a bit of fun and to more easily find stuff we are painting the interior of the cabinets, drawers and closet a blue color to match Myrtle's exterior. Speaking of closets, we are scrapping the existing doors and shelves and building new. We've kept the closet walls. The new build will allow for more functionality and storage.

We also pulled off the front and rear bumpers to get chromed (if it is a reasonable price), as well as the back "Dodge Motorhome" lettering. We painted the metal floor board under the driver and passenger seats with black rust paint. Additional metal floor boards were made for extra reinforcement and will be welded on top.

There is a rear exterior storage cabinet that now has a fresh coat of 'recreational white' rust paint to brighten it up. It previously held an old generator, and is sadly missing its' door. I imagine it will be impossible to find a replacement door so we will likely have one made. We lucked out and found some weather stripping at Home Depot for the front and back doors and that fits well. Myrtle is one of the few Travcos I have seen with a back door.

My better half is currently drawing up plans for a replacement muffler and exhaust system. We have also made a decision on the interior layout. Myrtle did not come with a dinette or couch (although she still had her original couch cushions which we have hung onto). After much deliberation and discussion we have decided to have two couches, one on either side of main living area, and use vintage TV trays as tables, when required. This gives us more usable space for entertaining. As noted in a previous post, we have the kick ass orange, vintage, vinyl couch that folds down into a bed. That will have a box built under it for storage. On the other side we will have a bench with storage and couch cushions on top.

Myrtle is actually really coming along. There is a light at the end of the tunnel and it does not appear to be a train.... well let's wait and see what happens when we start her up after a year of sitting!

Walnut brown...

After much sanding, we've succeeded in staining Myrtle's interior wood veneer walls a light walnut brown. She has a lot of character and life long scars. The original walls came out a little lighter than the new ones that had to be replaced due to water damage. We may try another coat on the old walls but it actually looks quite good. We still need to stain the kitchen drawers and lower cabinets, as well as the wood panels on the inside of exterior doors and up by the front seats. We also need to make new closet doors and of course then stain them!

We also did an overall assessment of assets and liabilities. Thankfully she does not have the infamous widowmaker wheels (split ring/multi part), which are when the rims are made by pieces that can blow apart. The tires also have lots of good rubber left. This is a great time and money saver. We are still looking for a spare 6 bolt rim for the spare tire. However if we get a front flat we can temporarily swap it out from the dually in the back. On the online travco sites Ricksons Tire is listed as a resource for new replacement rims and I am looking into that now.

After consultation at a glass shop, we have also determined that the remaining leaking windows can be fixed by being pulled apart and applying new caulk (no special trim needed). New front signal lights were also installed. We used Blazer C465A turn signal light, purchased at Parts Source.

Mopar Trucks & Motorhomes Forum

I thought I would pass along this resource, the Mopar Trucks and Stuff Forum

In the parking lot section of the forums they have a forum specific to Mopar Motorhomes