Last summer my dads high school buddy from Wellington Kansas(just south of Wichita) gave me the teardrop part of this little trailer. Originally it was a bumper clamp single wheel unit but the frame was long gone. I’ve done a bit of research and found out it was called a Phoenix but other than that I have no idea where it was made or when. The construction is definitely aircraft related , it’s built from very thin aluminum that is riveted together and the tail lights are what look to be airplane marker lights. Wichita it a big aircraft manufacturing town so I think it could have been built in the area. Since I didn’t have the frame and single wheel parts I decided to build a conventional trailer. I started with 2”x2” square tube a pair of light duty slipper springs I used an old Rambler torque tube for the tongue capped with an old chain link fence post cap.My dad had a kool old receiver that fits the look of an old trailer. I had a 37 ford front axle so I cut it in half removed a foot from the middle and welded it all back together along with welding the spindles to the axle. I made a small bracket for a swing down tongue leg made from an old piece of tie rod. I also made brackets to mount 35/6 ford spare tire cover fenders and My buddy gave me a pair of 16” steel wheels from a 41 that he had so the last thing to do it tires on them. It’s been a fun project but it’s time to get back on the T roadster project.
Fuck yeah it is! I bet that’s gonna be someone’s favorite thing they saw at the show should be drag it along some time how does the receiver attach to the torque tube?
I like the direction you took with the wheels and fenders. Perfection! That really centers it in the hot rod groove. I'm incurably bent, though, which makes me wish the axle was sticking out for the tongue and the tube tucked under for the axle. What you did is the "right" way and most conventional way so I don't mean anything negative at all. I have a question on the springs. I don't see any shackles. Do the front ends of the springs flex deeper into the front mounts "dagger style"? I clicked and zoomed your photo but it's still hard to see the detail in your pix.
That bead rolled into the fenders is a particularly nice touch. Even equipped with a built-in bottle opener for your favorite long-necked beverage!
That is pretty cool, are you leaving it as is or going to paint it? For the next one, lots of farm machinery used a 5x5.5 hub, so you won’t have to sacrifice an axle, some of the hubs are even bolt on. I have a couple mullins trailers in inventory, built around the mid to late thirties, same idea.
Wow, just imagine it all polished up except the frame, fenders and the lower section of the sides ( chose you color, red for me)!
The torque tube had a flat spot on it so it was perfect to mount the receiver onto. I used two carriage bolts that come up from the bottom side and acorn nuts on the top side
They are called slipper springs I got them at our local farm ranch store. They have an eye on the front and the rear has no eye and sits in a pocket and slides back and forth.
I started sanding to do a paint job but the more I got into it I really started digging the patina so it’s going to stay the way it is.
The Jalopy Journal
