Art & Inspiration It's Trailer Time...

Anyone know where to get reasonably priced jalousie windows for these trailers? I am thinking of building a trailer slightly larger than mine, I hate the look of modern sliding windows.

 

Richard,have you looked at these on ebay? HRP

 

Actually I found a number of the windows at junk yards.. Even in the land of Pick-a-Part we have a few 'normal' yards. I got them from old trailer and motorhomes. Depending on where you live, a little bit of shit-cruzin might bring up an abandon travel trailer in a back yard.

 

We've got two. 72 Shasta and a 69 Avion

 

Hmm...not too shabby. I got lucky, all the glass was broken on my trailer, but all but one jalousie was still good, just needed $200 of glass to fix them. I figure I'll put a removable window unit where the ruined jalousie was, up front next to the door. I don't want a modern looking roof air on my trailer.

 

I do see old canned ham trailers on occasion, but not very often. I saw mine for sale at a gas station. Called the guy and three other people rolled up wanting it before he could get there to get my money! Lucky for me I hit the ATM before he got there.

 

OH GREAT ANOTHER THREAD TO OBSESS OVER

 

Sorry for the picture quality, I snapped this off a tv . Don.t know anything bout it except it's very cool.

 

I love vintage travel trailers! Someday, I hope to own a Spartan Manor

 

That top picture I recognize, that New Moon belongs to my brother and signifiant. They have it in their RV park in Colorado, rent it out by the night along with several other restored vintage trailers. We stayed a weekend in it, kinda cool as they had a DVD of the movie we watched while there, fun to see it in the movie while being in one just like it. Theirs was originally yellow like the movie, too bad someone had to paint it maroon.

 

Not mine!

 

Great..... so now I want/need to add a vintage travel trailer to my endless list of projects. Cool images, thanks for posting.

 

On display at the Airstream Plant in Jackson Center, Ohio.

 

Kool Thread ! Have had the idea of a teardrop project for a while now, nothing happens very fast anymore. The Long trailer is a classic, have watched it several times, towed race trailers for many years, miles, can relate to all the fun and stupid things that I did or that happens.

 

Don't know, it is probably just a funny camera angle or shadow effect. The thing under the hitch is a Slimp dolly. There were various brands of tow dollies to keep the back bumper from dragging the ground. They were a necessity for towing a large trailer with a car. The movie was made before the spring bar, load leveling hitch was invented.

Most of the time trailers like that were delivered and moved by a special tow vehicle made from a 1 ton or 1 1/2 ton truck. They did not need the dolly.

If you watch the movie you will see the salesman recommend having the trailer delivered, then when they insist on towing it themselves, advise them to get a heavier car. In the scene of installing the trailer hitch they sell them a Slimp dolly along with other accessories you needed to tow a trailer in those days.

Here is how they work.


The small wheels weren't good for fast travel but there were no interstates and towing speed was about 35 MPH.

 

Original Slimp ad. Note that the video above is not a genuine Slimp.

 

Here is the teardrop that my dad and I restored 30+ years ago after saving it from being thrown on a burn pile. We took a family vacation to the East coast and back with it when I was about 17. It now resides in my garage waiting to be freshened up. I also have plans to copy it and sell them. In my opinion it has the best lines of any teardrop I have ever seen., I think it comes from the fact that it is made from 4'x10' sheets of 5/8" marine grade plywood.

The pics were taken about a year and a half ago and it was being towed behind fastrnu TT truck. I lived in it in his car port for over 6 months while my wife and I were on the outs. It was cool for a while but am glad to live in my house now. The windows were out for repair at the time.

 

My parents purchased a new Dalton trailer in 1955, five years before I was born. I have dreamed of finding a trailer like it, so just for kicks I set up a ebay search a while back. A few months ago I got a hit and saw that there was one for sale and not too far away either! When I was looking at the pictures I realized it IS my parents trailer. Yes, the very same one! There were tears in my eyes when I recognized it. It is like seeing a long lost family member.

My parents and I traveled all over in the 60's and 70's in the Dalton, but mostly in Mexico. My earliest memories are of it and I have many old photos. My father died in 1977 and as a foolish 20 year old, I sold our old trailer in about 1980. Something I grew to regret. I never saw it after 1980 but the details of it are etched in my mind. When I told this story to the folks that had it for sale, they graciously let me come see it one more time. Unfortunately, I just didn't have the money at the time to buy it back and it went to someone else.

All the original paint is missing (it was originally red and white) and the new owners painted the wood work in the interior, but even so, I would have recognized it anywhere. It still says "The Flanders" on the back. My Dad put our family name on there using red reflective tape sometime before I was born, perhaps when it was a new trailer. I'm glad I got to see her one more time. So much of my childhood was around this trailer. Here are some pics of how it looks now: