I started building a teardrop a few years ago to 'match' my '54. (Surprisingly easy, and there are lots of plans available on the internet.) But before I finished it, we inherited an old 1962 Aljo from my wife's dad that he had bought new back then. Thank goodness we did!

Yes, the toilet will be a key element for your wife. The ability to get out of the weather and sit and play games or watch TV will grow on you quickly, and it gives you a lot more flexibility on when and where you go camping. If you manage to get a Vintage (or Retro) trailer then you will also meet a whole new crowd of people who like to keep old stuff running. And if you go to a regular ol' KOA with all those same-looking modern monster trailers and massive RV's, you WILL be the most popular trailer there.

With just my wife's Sequoia I can and have towed it everywhere, but I'll need to beef up the stock rear end and manual steering on the '54 before I use it to go too far outside of this big flat California central valley...

Jerry

 

Fun thread. I love this topic. I've loved camping all my life and have done everything from backpacking to hauling a travel trailer cross country. Recently returned from a 5700 mile trip from Oregon to Michigan and back pulling a brand new Forest River Sonoma 167RB. I looked at many makes and models before buying this one. I'd rather ride my MC and bivouac off the road behind a haystack but my wife wants her creature comforts. I intend to pull this with my '54 but first I need to finish the interior and fix the slow leak in the Monroe Max air shocks. So for this trip I bought a low mile 3/4 ton 2wd 454 Chebby. It's way more truck than needed to pull this trailer but you really can't have too much truck when pulling any size trailer cross country but msot of my camping trips int he near future will be more local trips. Well, I might need to go back to Glacier NP sometime soon.

When talking about campers I like tell people that there is a reason there are about a billion types to chose from - and that's because nothing does everything very well and of course everyone is trying to do something a bit different than the next person. I wanted as small a trailer as I could get that sleeps 2, has a full bathroom (not a wet bath), and a 2 door 6 cu ft refrigerator. This Forest River Sonoma 167 is 7 ft wide and weights 3000 lbs.

this photo is one of our nights on the road over-nighting for free. I'd pay for a campsite every other night, fill the fresh water tank and dump the waste tanks.

 

When I first saw this photo I thought that it might be at Big Bear Lake or possibly the Run To The Sun at Lake Havasu...Mike Schartel's pinstriping booth is easy to recognize. If you don't know Mike or are unfamiliar with his work, take the time to meet him the next time you see him at a show. Mike does some great work and is really a nice guy to boot.

 

Kernville,Ca......... The next one is this Oct 13-14. The wife & I will be there Fri-Sun. But my truck won't..not done yet

 

Snapped a pic .

 

Great thread Jimmy and lots of cool ideas here. I particularly love the nostalgic trailers, the tear drops and the R pods. Our trucks will pull any one of them with a little setting up.

 

Here is he solution to the small trailer and classic truck!! They used to pull 30,000lb trailers back and forth across WI until the early '90s. Not very fast mind you, but they did it

 

Don't overthink things! Check out this vintage towing setup. I bet it did just fine...Surely a flat V8 and stock brakes, axle, etc. Maybe even a clamp-on bumper hitch.

 

Most of the vintage teardrops and other travel trailers are very heavy. There is something to be said for nostalgia however. Given the points I made in my previous post on this subject, here is a pic of a Tab trailer, that is Tab spelled with an "@". These are pricey but they are very lightweight and have virtually any amenity you (read, your wife) would want. These are advertised as the travel trailer solution for those who don't want to have to buy a tow vehicle to move it.

 

Lots of cool stuff to look at, good thing I'm not in a hurry, of course even when I am in a hurry things take me forever. I love that pic Ross, it reminds me of the episodes of I LOVE LUCY when they were pulling that huge trailer.

 

Funny, I remember those Lucy shows.

 

Growing up, our family of four lived in a 27 foot long house trailer. The exterior was polished aluminum. A tow vehicle we had for a time was a meadow green 1950 Mercury. Back in the day, cars could pull trailers. Now 3/4 ton trucks with enormous diesel engines are the preferred way to handle towing duties. I'm thinking the Merc probably only had about 110 horse power--a pretty short wheel base also.

Jim

 

I love the idea of the Teardrop, I always wanted one. But with the wife and 2 kids we needed something bigger and traveled the country in a Apache tent trailer and it pulled easily with my 223, three spd OD. Eventually the tent part rotted away and the kids grew older and don't travel with us any more so we just sleep in the back of the panel. We do basic camping, Coleman stove etc. All the camping equipment stays in the truck, all we have to do is add food and we are ready to go..

 

...Another light trailer to pull is the Boler. Fiberglass, very easy to pull. Made in the seventies till production stopped. Now they are back under the Scamp name.

 

My sister and brother-in law have a small popup trailer that I'm sure would be light enough to tow behind an F-1. It's got a lot of amenities and pretty good headroom. Not quite the vintage look some are looking for but it looks good behind their FJ Crusier.