So I was some stuff over the weekend and saw this neat old box trailer sitting off in the field of the house where I was looking. I struck a deal on it for it and it's contents. That was the easy part. The hard part was getting it moved, but that was accomplished. I was wondering if anyone had any information on exactly what it is? I'm guessing it doesn't have a lot of value, but it certainly is neat and would have lots of possibilities.
It might be a tad newer than that, what's the length, 25'? 30'? Might be worth carefull stripping of the paint on that front plate, could be an original owner logo underneath.
F at the top would indicate that the trailer box is Fruehauf trailer company,,date I am unsure but there was one of these on a abandon wrecking yard here in town until the last few years. HRP
20' long. I haven't dug into it yet, but unfortunately I doubt there is a car buried under everything. Maybe an old bike though. I could definitely use it as storage for car and other miscellaneous for the time being, but I may want to redo the floor if I'm going to put a car in it. Just out of curiosity's sake though, anyone have any thoughts on what something like this be worth?
definately a fruehauf , the emblem is collectable . heavy duty built units . looks like a old REA ( Railway express agency) express trailer from the color of the paint the REA was in red
Did you get this trailer home yet? I've been on the hunt for these old trailers lately. There were several in North Texas that I had been trying to buy for years and they never would part with them. Last week when I drove past, they had all been scrapped!
I always thought it would be kool to mate one of these old trailers to a cab over and build an old school motor home.
A lot of the 20 footers were full trailers with axles at the front and rear. They were made to be pulled in multiples like a short train. Instead of a dolly and fifth wheel like modern trailers have, they had a tongue attached to a steering mechanism that steered an axle pretty much like an old car straight axle but much larger. Most of these were built for the military before and during WW2. The brakes were mechanical with rods that ran back to actuators at the wheels. The levers that actuated the brakes looked a lot like the the ones used with air brakes on trailers today. We removed about 10 of these trailers, still on rubber and in good shape for their age, from a plant that made military munitions back in the mid-90's. Gave 3 or 4 of them away, and still have the rest at the shop for storage. We cut off all the running gear so they could sit on gravel on some timbers for good access and scrapped all the axles, springs, drums, and wheels. As far as their value, they're not worth much of anything even if they're complete like ours were. I checked into that before cutting them down. They're not fit for anything other than storage, and a newer body off of a box truck makes a much better storage box and can be bought for $1000 to $1500 in good condition.
The Jalopy Journal
