I just came across this thread and having built literally several hundred trailers over the years, I would suggest that if you decide to do something similar to the trailer @THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER built, you should give thought to priming the inside of the tubes. I'm not saying anything bad about his trailer, as a matter of fact, it's one of the nicer ones I've seen. Most of the side rails on small campers are made with schedule 14 material, and they are not primed inside. There are holes for wiring to run through the tubing, and they are sources for moisture. Rust will occur inside the frame through leaks and condensation. You won't see it until the trailer breaks. Inside priming is a fairly inexpensive thing to do, and it will save you some aggravation one of these days.
Steve Danish. from Cropseyville New York 1953 New York State NASCAR Sportsman Champion Member of the New York Stock Car Hall of Fame Fonda Speedway Hall of Fame Steve brought a level of professionalism to short track racing using crew uniforms in the 1950s Raced and won with BlueFame Chevrolet into the early 60s, he went V8 in the late 50's but with a Buick Nailhead. NASCAR Sportsman had a 300 cubic inch limit which meant Danish had to run a 264 Buick. The car was not competitive with the Buick against the 283 Chevys and the few 292 Y-Blocks, so he returned to the 261 Chevy six and his winning ways! He did go small block in 64/65 and retired 67(?) because he felt racing was becoming too expensive.
great photograph; thanks. those guys really are "representing". must have been great days to have experienced.* *not perhaps for the high degree of technology (compared to today) but for the human factor before corporations took over. i picture a guy in the pits who can't find a certain size socket variation or wrench contortion, walking over to his competition's crew, asking, and getting, the tool he needed to keep running.
There have always been a certain amount of secret keeping, but for the most part guys in that era helped one each other out and in many cases on the short track level still do. My dad tells the story when he was helping Jack Miller in about 73 (Jack was on fire that year could be beat!. Jack got in an incident on the track no damage but cut three tires, difficult to believe you could cut those old M&H RaceMasters they were like rocks! Jack went back with 4 different color wheels because he borrowed three wheels! He won that night too!
now that's what i'm talkin' about. and even if those other three fellow's names are lost to us now, how many times in their remaining years did they puff out their chests and say " i helped Jack win that night. you see, he got into a scuffle on turn number . . . . . . ."
One of them was Harry Peek who was one hell of a driver, mechanic, and a genuinely good guy, know as the Gentleman Harry Peek. Back in the 80s one of the local guys got into Harry on a restart and spun him, Harry didn’t make the show. Mike the man who got in to him got out of his car to apologize as he walked by someone yelled out “Jeez Mike you just spun Harry, why not punch Santa Claus too!
Back in high school (early 1980s) I worked at a gas station that rented U-Haul trucks on the side. We had a few trailer hitches that would clamp to the rear bumper of a car that were at best a wonky affair. I never had to install one, but I did hear a few stories about the rear bumpers being pulled off from rusty bodywork. My Dad had a 1967 Pontiac Catalina that he had a trailer hitch installed on. It was very thick solid steel and bolted to the frame of the car. It got a lot of use towing campers and trailers. I also remember the large fender-mounted rear view mirrors he would install.
Here in the rural South most people pulling a car used the dinghy style method, you might know it best as flat towing, using a tow bar, for short distance a piece of iron pipe and a chain would do in a pinch. Most people that towed cars used a Fulton tow bar or a homemade version similar to it. I honestly don't remember seeing a trailer built solely for the purpose of hauling cars until the mid 60's, dirt track racing was extremely popular here and come the weekends I saw many 30 & 40's cars being pulled dinghy styled on their way to South Carolina & Georgia dirt tracks. HRP
Looking at old photos and the couplings @34 GAZ has, it seems like a lot of early trailers were made from round tube???.
The first trailer I built was in late 1950s,but design wise was pretty much a copy of those I saw,that had been built mid 40s. WW2 surplus temp landing field runway,steel strips that linked together,were cheep an every were,so were what a lot of racecar trailers were made from. In the pits at most race track,more then 1/2 the racecar trailers were done the same way. When getting a tag,it's best to call* it a "Utility trailer*",so you can put anything on it ! I still have mine,though it's need some update over the years. The first hitch I used was a clamp to bumper type,later on,I did a welded to frame bracket type hitch. I always have towed with a station wagon{ pick-up truck was never my thing}Wagon keeps all the stuff in back dry,and locked up,plus gets better MPG .
A few years ago, close to 20 years in reality, we went to a swap meet in Sulphur Spring, Georgia and this was on display,
The first car trailer I ever used was built from a pair of ramps off of an old drive on car hoist. Whom ever built it, simply welded a pair of axles and wheels from a house trailer under the ramps, welded a piece of pipe between the ramps at the front and the back, and added a tong with a ball coupler welded to it under the front pipe and the front axle. We drilled a couple of holes at the back end of each ramp, bought a 12' piece of 2" x 12" lumber, cut it in 1/2 and drilled holes to match the holes in the ramps, and added four 4" bolts and nuts to the boards. The bolts in the boards were stuck through the trailer ramp holes to become our loading ramps. There were no springs and no brakes on the trailer, but it pulled straight and hauled the dirt car to our local track. I think my buddy paid $75 for it, we used it a couple of years, until I had a new car trailer built. We sold the old trailer for $100. At the time, I was pulling the car trailer with my 66 Dodge 3/4 ton pickup.
Jack has done very well for himself both at racing (he is the 1973 Fonda Speedway late model champion a multi time Utica-Rome Sportsman Champion and a Fonda Speedway Hall of Fame member) as well as New Holland farm equipment dealer, he started out as mechanic! He runs vintage in the late 80s tube chassis class, two years ago a man who had always wanted to race but never had the funds put a vintage car together. The car was evil the first time out and he could not figure out the handling. Jack went over and asked him what kind of (tire) stagger he had. He guy replied "What is stagger?" Jack had he jack up the car and showed him how to measure stagger, Jack discovered he had reverse stagger. (Reverse stagger the left rear is a larger diameter then the right rear causing the car to push or understeer.) Jack told him to leave the right rear alone and put a 1" smaller tire on the left, when the guy told Jack that he didn't have any more tires Jack went to his truck and grabbed a brand new tire on a brand new aluminum beadlock wheel and told him to run it for the night!
I'm going to build an Auto Kamp trailer to tow behind the A. I've got an original axle and wheels but the rest will be imagination. They sold them as a frame, flat bed, box or camping. They used Model T wheels so parts were easy to get anywhere. They had their own oddball hitch
I've got one now that is water pipe - some pieces are still threaded. It's got a 1930s (?) Chevy front I beam that the spindles have been welded.
in the 1950's my dad raced hard tops. what I remember is a modified ford wishbone was hinged to the hard top & swung up to act as a bumper during the races. also a safety chain. I don't remember the set-up on the tow car. dt.
interesting. i have seen those, but never with the realization of an operating "tailgate". thanks sid
The one posted is a original 1937 Mullens trailer and is made of steel, Most of the ones you see behind street rods are fiberglass reproductions , the tailgate is part of the body although they can be modified to function as a tailgate by someone familiar with working with fiberglass. Back in the late 70's and early 80's I pulled a Mullins behind my 1940 Ford sedan to a lot of shows, with a wife and twin girls we needed the extra towing capacity for cloths, tools, chairs, ice chest, ect. for a week. HRP
Many of the cars in this video are local, and some of them are pulling into Fonda. Fonda was unique in the fact that the cars would exit the NY State Tru-Way on to Riverside drive. As the cars came down Riverside drive to turn right and cross the bridge over the Mohawk the people would cheer or boo depending on the car and driver.
The Jalopy Journal
