Tralette Manufacturer Information Tralette, also known as a Peninsular, circa 1935. Very unique antique travel trailer. Built between 1932 to 1936. Designed to expand truck space and as a sleeper. It has vent swing outs front and rear, a spare tire well inside the rear door, cast iron radial member frame with single cast iron wheel well in the center. Optionally, they had a tent that draped over the opened rear door and a wood floor extension to facilitate two sleepers. All body panels were stamped. It trailers very well. It was a competitor to the Mullins clamshell trailer at twice the price. Several years ago, I came across a brochure for Tralette trailers. It piqued my interest, and in the fall of 2007 I pitched the idea of researching and writing a column about some of the interesting old pieces of advertising I’ve discovered for The Antique Motorcycle magazine. This glossy publication is essentially the newsletter of the Antique Motorcycle Club of America, and the column became Pulp Non-Fiction, and I’ve penned more than 50 of them. However, the research team at American Pickers came across my work regarding the Tralette, as Mike and Frank discovered a single-wheel Tralette trailer. Happily, I was able to provide scans of the brochure — some of which were recently seen on an episode of American Pickers. Here’s the original text of my first column for The Antique Motorcycle, plus the brochure scans for anyone else interested in Tralette. Tralette Cycle Car With the increasing interest in motorcycles at the turn of the last century, many ingenious solutions were arrived at to help make a two-wheeler more utilitarian. Sidecars, for example, allowed owners of these less expensive modes of transportation the ability to move either family or gear. Trailers, too, help increase the carrying capacity of a motorcycle, and the unit offered by the Tralette Division of the Penninsular Metal Products Co. of Detroit, Michigan, is an interesting example. Years built - 1932-1936
Damn cool. I expected an axle underneath to line up a wheel on each side where the "wheel arch" is, did not expect it to have a single center wheel. And it says it was imagined as a "sleeper", unless you're 3 feet tall I'm not sure how that was supposed to work. Really cool looking though, well worth putting some effort into.
That thing is too cool and worthy of a resto and put back on the road . first thing I thought of was “Dark helmet “ from space balls when I saw it
This is mainly a response for @HOTRODPRIMER , Danny's post, more than anything. I saw this cool unit down at the Portland swap-meet a few years back. Its definitely European and you have to admit, its very cool, for what it is.
The sleeper version had a pull-out extension and canopy. More images here: https://tincantourists.com/wiki/tralette/
Hi, It's a 1936 single wheel Trailette made in Detroit Michigan by Peninsula Steel. Here is one that is basically new, in storage since 1943
The Jalopy Journal
