Triangle East

Our redesigned, refurbished 1971 Airstream "Silver Bullet" was featured in Triangle East Magazine. The scanned article appears here with plain text below:

Rolling In Style

Written by Nancy Pardue

You've never seen anything like this at an RV show: A redesigned, refurbished 1971 Airstream "Silver Bullet." 

But this weekend you'll see just that, as former race car driver Dan Matthews of Raleigh shows off his work at the 20th annual North Carolina RV & Camping Show.

"I learned fabrication the hard way," joked Matthews, who spent 22 years in auto racing, five of them in NASCAR, traveling the country in a motor home.

When he bought a older-model camper for family fun and set out to upgrade it, his years of race-car fabrication experience kicked in.

"We gutted it, and completely redid everything," Matthews said. He was hooked.

His next buy was the '71 Airstream, found on e-Bay.

Parts were hard to find, says Matthews, so he made what wasn't available.

"The only thing original is the outside shell," he said.

Inside, Matthews rearranged the camper's layout, added tongue-and-groove hardwood floors, solid maple cabinets, stainless steel appliances, hanging bunks (which were actually available from Airstream in the1960s), and Corian countertops.

That created a challenge: In most campers the dinette tabletop lifts to create a bed, but the Corian is heavy. So, Matthews created a system that allows the table to lower into the camper floor with the push of a button.

Easy-clean milled aluminum forms the Airstream's interior, and it's insulated with sheep's wool bought from an Amish farmer.

"It's only $1 more per bat than fiberglass, without all the itching," Matthews said with a smile.

The Airstream also has a 3,000-watt inverter, gas furnace and 30-gallon-each fresh, grey and black water holding tanks.

"It's completely self-sufficient, more like a motor home," Matthews said.

Throughout the year-long redesign project, he consulted with staff at Out-of-Doors Mart in Winston-Salem, a longtime Airstream dealer. Upon seeing the finished project, they urged Matthews to turn his hobby into a new career – and Capital City Customs Inc. was born. The company now offers custom restorations not only of vintage RVs, but also tractors and cars.

Come out to see Matthews' Airstream at the North Carolina RV & Camping Show, this Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the State Fairgrounds in Raleigh. Tickets are $8 for adults, and $1 for children ages 7 to 12.

"It makes it unique," Matthews said of his RV work. "The advantage is that it's vintage, but gives you quality better than new. It's the best of both worlds."

For more information on Capital City Customs, call Matthews at (919) 868-7128, or visit www.capitalcitycustomsinc.com.

For more information about the RV show, visit www.agievents.com.