History Vintage race car trailers.

Just picked these 12' vintage ramps up...super neat for a trailer or ramp truck

 

is that an old seat belt as a safety strap on the front axle?

 

Rolled mine out of the shop last nite. I still need to add fenders, ramps,lights, jack and safety chains. But at least most of the fabrication is done.

 

Where did you find the Martson mat? (WWII mobile runway)

 

I had found the axle on Facebook market place( for a whopping $25)when I went to pick it up the person selling the axle had a trailer with mat on it. I told her I was really looking for that also and she said her uncle had several pieces. I ended up getting two really ****y pieces but as you can see I beat them into submission and made them work.

 

Get some late 30's pickup rear fenders [eg: 37 Chevy] And cut out and mount a steel backing plate that the fender can bolt to.

Along the front edge [where the running board normally goes] fold up a triangular shaped "Nerf Bar" and step to protect the front edge fender

This style fender.


The long tail behind the fender gives the whole trailer that vintage appearance .

 

I’ve run the pickup fender idea thru my mind. It’s going to end up whatever is cheap or free! Haha!

 

Skills can always overcome $$$$

An alternative is to get some rolled trailer fenders [$38 for E trailer]

Then put the flanges on the trailing edge into a sheetmetal stretcher to roll the fender outward at the bottom.
Trying to get this appearance.[below]


When you mount the fenders, "clock" them so the rear is 2" lower than the front.

I've seen this done on Motorcycles using trailer fenders

 

I loaded the car on the trailer tonight to see if I measured correctly! Hahaha! It fit!

 

I’m getting a bit closer on my trailer.
Gave it a coat of rust-0-lium in areas where I don’t have to weld. Still have to pull wires and I have been building ramps.

 

Went out for the first pull this afternoon. Now I just need an old station wagon or truck to pull it with.

 

December 1959 Riverside Raceway East Versus West drag meet.

Hello,

Nationally recognized, Dallas Martinson’s FED seen in the pits at Riverside Raceway. Again, during this time, 1959, most of the drag racers utilized the single axle trailers to haul their race cars to the drag strip. Easy to build, simple to move around and can be customized to fit the individual race cars size and length.

The yellow painted highlights of the FED contrasted well with the red painted trailer. In the pits, it made a statement and attracted most to the unusual motor set up and suspension. But, like most trailers during this early drag racing time period, the trailer was a single wheel unit, built with careful leveling and balance.

Jnaki

A lot of people kept the single wheel trailer hooked up to the tow car or truck. Then lowered the individual ramps to push the lightweight race vehicle up the ramp to its resting/lock down place. If one is to look in detail, this RED trailer has a built in curve at the end of the ramp.

So, the trailer would have to be disconnected from the tow car or truck, lifted up in front and then the FED would be rolled onto the trailer until the wheels cleared the ramp. Innovative or not, there were no loose, individual ramps to fiddle around with during loading or off loading. One-two less things to worry about.

 

Here is an Up-n-Over trailer reported to be designed and built by Joe Gesma in 1932. The axle was from a '29 Cord L29. It's been transporting the '33 Banger for the past 30 years to West coast tracks. Here's a cool video of the previous owner loading. It's ***led as a '47.

As cool as it is, I'm thinking of letting it go to a new home. My trips will be 500-1000+ miles and I already have a modern trailer. I know, I know, blasphemy but otherwise it will just sit and not be enjoyed. Make an offer if you will use it. Cincinnati

 

Love those old race cars!

 

This picture (yes...I know it's a bit later than 1965...probably 1970 or so) was a work acquaintance's A Fuel car, the trailer was pretty "plain pipe rack" simple. For what it is worth, Jim Archer was the racer and I wonder what ever happened to him. We worked at the "Apollo Site" near Las Cruces NM at the time.

 

Hello,

When we were planning on a hot rod/drag race car, we knew it was going to be a daily driver and a weekend race car at Lion’s Dragstrip. So we needed a parts runner/car and the 58 Impala was ok, once we got the motor from a local speed shop in a rental trailer back to our house. We did not like driving the 4 miles back to our house with the trailer attached. Although we had enough power to accommodate going up the steep road grades with the 58 Impala.

As we knew of several friends that had compe***ion versions of old hot rod coupes and sedans, they either towed the sedans to the dragstrips or had a truck that could tow a trailer with the hot rod on top.

The early trailers were single tire versions and watching them load the trailer with the compe***ion coupes was a trying time. Even if the bottom track with the short wall lips were there for guidance, more than likely, one drove the coupe/roadster up into the trailer. With a larger pit crew, and a lighter fiat coupe, it would have been pushed up the ramps to get to the teeter point to level.


Jnaki

In our case, we were thinking of towing the 1940 Willys Coupe all the way to Detroit for the Nationals. But, we both hated towing even a small wooden slat side trailer to move heavy motors or parts to places we needed to go. So, we were ok with trying to tow the car with different tires for the whole trip up and back. No, extra weight for any tow vehicle was the key.

We did tow the 40 Willys Coupe to Lion’s Dragstrip that was almost 2 miles away. The streets were level and we had to cross a set of railroad tracks. As we towed the Willys, it seemed like a heavy weight was trying to go it own way while being pulled to follow our 58 Impala. We no longer had a bumper two hitch. We had a solid bar under the bumper hitch custom made for the Impala. It was less of a big weight towing than having a trailer plus a complete Willys Coupe behind our Impala.

So, for the future of towing that long distance to the middle of the USA was going to be a challenge. But, the Impala was not going to be the tow vehicle. My brother already had a 56 Chevy station wagon ready to buy when we were going to get ready for the long road trip. No trailer for us… YRMV