Comment Re:Least effort (Score 1) 23
Least effort doesn't make sense if you want to restore it. Least effort would be to use it as is. The problem with any of these Airstream, Streamline, Elko et al airspace-grade aluminum trailers is that you have to drill out hundreds to thousands of rivets and then replace them again for any significant repair. Doing it correctly takes a truly painfully long amount of time. Also, while these might have been sealed with something more serious than butyl like most of these were, whatever it was has almost surely gone brittle by now. Therefore, if you do not want to be chasing leaks around for perpetuity, you will literally do a full down-to-the-bones restoration of any vintage aluminum travel trailer (or one of the rare motor homes like this.) Also, while you're at it, you're going to want to take the skeleton off of the frame and replace the plywood decking anyway.
Given all of that, instead of trying to remove paint from the original panels, you would replace it. These trailers are made out of war surplus Alclad. It's great because it's both strong and easy to polish, but it's essentially unrepairable. If you have dings in it, you can try heat/cold shrinking them, but even if it were practical to repair (which it ain't, too thin among other reasons) access is nonexistent. Since it's made out of really thin material, the material costs are a small part of the cost of the job.
I got five 5x20 rolled sheets of Alclad for a 1962 Streamline* "Duchess" TT for like five hundred bucks, maybe $550, shipped. No doubt it's gone up a bit since (this was over a decade ago) but you could probably get all of the skin material for around two grand if you shopped around. If you're going to do it, do it right. In the process you'd seal it with polyurethane sealant and it'd last longer than the buyer would live.
* Streamlines were a side project of Lockheed so they wouldn't have to lay everybody off after The War. This one had a little sticker inside above the doorway that said it was made by "Lockheed Missiles and Space Company". They were taller and straighter than Airstreams.