My dads life long buddy gave me this trailer over the weekend. I believe it had to have been built in the 40s. It came from the Wichita area and is built like an aircraft. Wichita has a big aircraft industry and I’m thinking it was built by a sub contractor that supplied parts to say Boing, Beechcraft, Cessna. My dads buddy has three of these (this being the best one) so I know it wasn’t a one off build, the taillight look to be wingtip marker lights. It originally had a frame made from pipe with a single wheel with suspension and clamped to the bumper of the tow vehicle. I will eventually build a square tube frame and make it a conventional tow behind trailer.
Very nice. Have seen old ads with the one wheel trailer as this was. Don't recall manufacturer, though.
I don’t believe it’s a Spartan, it does have a circle with a wing coming off it but it almost looks like it might have a pheasant or maybe a roadrunner. Who knows?
Whatever it is, it's cool. You can buy a trailer frame and axles at Tractor Supply probably as cheap as you could build one.
That is a very cool, little teardrop, fully, castering, mono-wheel trailer. They even made them for motorized bicycles, not sure of the manufactures name or brand. The name of the wing tip marker lights are known as " Grimes Lights " They use a special bulb, specific to the aircraft industry, not cheap either. I just happen to have this new one in my stash of stuff. It will be interesting to see how the restoration of this trailer, will make progress.
Yes, Spartan was in Tulsa. Spartan was originally Mid-Continent Aircraft Company then was bought in 1928 by oil man William G. Skelly who reorganized it as Spartan Aircraft Company. J. Paul Getty bought it from Skelly in 1935. After WWII, they switched to making trailers and then ceased production in 1961.
I like the shape of it. Kind of a mini tear drop...... Congrats on your acquisition! Please post again when you get it ready to roll.
I found out from the f.b. Spartan group that it is not a Spartan. If anyone knows anything about this guy let me know.
Yeah, that's an old single wheel trailer alright. Having cut my teeth in the VW world, I've seen a ton of them, just not quite like this one. Sears, Allstate, Tralette... a lot of companies made examples. I don't think yours is Spartan, however, because even though the logos are similar, yours appears to have a bird standing where the spartan's head should be. I did, however turn up this: http://www.singlewheel.com/Auto/PhoenixFR.htm Phoenix Streamlined Single-wheel trailer. These look similar to what you have and maybe can shed a little light on what you've got. Good luck!
Could it have been made by an aircraft mechanic who then use the Spartan logo as a basis of a one off for this❓
It might be sacrilege, but I would put a couple of wheels outbound, mount it low to the ground, add the funkiest boat trailer fenders and tailights I could find and get it back out on the open road. Maybe even mount the body backwards to really mess with things.
That’s definitely the Spartan logo- how do I know- I’ve actually have flown in a Spartan airplane- my uncle owned it- one of 17 built
Thank you very much that is it!! Man the power of the H.A.M.B.. I tried googling key words in every order I could think of and didn’t come up with anything.
First of all, @ccain got it right, through his research, its definitely a "Phoenix" brand product, the pictures clearly show that. With all due respect to @BLUDICE , that logo is definitely not the Spartan logo, close, but its not the same. You can clearly see that the image in the circle, is a bird, on the trailer. Pretty cool that your uncle was fortunate enough to own one of these beautiful aircraft, consider yourself lucky to have flown in one! How do I know, well I too, have had a history with these very cool aircraft, the photos are by me. Mystery solved.
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