Here is a travel trailer based upon what appears to be a Model T chassis. It’s listed on eBay in San Juan Capistrano, California. There is no history available so one can only guess when it was built and how it might have been used. It’s hard to imagine any of the brass era cars towing a trailer this big and heavy. There were larger cars, like a Cadillac or a Peerless, but can you imagine someone who can afford a car like that sleeping in this trailer? There were campers built onto Model T trucks and there were little trailers, but has anyone seen a trailer this big from the 1920s? Perhaps it was built in the 1930s after the Model A was introduced in 1927 and Model Ts were cheap or even free.
This travel trailer looks very basic, but kitchens in peoples homes were very basic in the 1930s, and refrigerators weren’t common until the 1940s. A dry sink and a stove would seem like a complete kitchen.
Here are the sleeping accommodations, a twin and a double bed.
The front axle looks much like a model T. You certainly wouldn’t want to tow this very fast. It’s an interesting old relic of early RVs and belongs in a museum or a collection. Perhaps it should be left as it is or maybe just repaired enough to be functional. It would be great to know anything of its history. Perhaps it wasn’t used for camping but used for housing at temporary work sites? Perhaps there is an RV dealer somewhere with a big showroom that would love to show it off? This would make a great display piece, a reminder of early camping. There are also a lot of people restoring old travel trailers. Could there be anyone out there willing to take on this old trailer? It needs everything including the roof, so it won’t be a small project.
https://tse3.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIF.O4n5bdD5nSPFX0neOVgCeA&pid=15.1&P=0&w=206&h=156
Found this one circa 1912-20? Looks like the one listed might have been modified (nose shortened)
This looks more like a mobile infirmary. The “beds”look more like places to put a stretcher. And since there is nothing but a sink and a receptacle that looks made for waste next to it
Reminds me of the horse drawn sheep herder wagons we have here in the West. They are incredible clever utilitarian vehicles that are quite comfortable.
The sheep=herder wagons probably were comfortable, but this trailer doesn’t look like that.
Is that a sink or is it a urinal??
wow…kinda neat….wounder where it’s been ?
Have you ever tried to pull a trailer with wheels at the corners? Silage wagons sometimes have wheels on the corners, and they travel like crap. Let’s just say its a wanderer, but not a Happy Wanderer.
It definitely was a “wounder”
I think it has traveled maybe 200 feet.
The reason most four wheel wagons or trailer traveled like crap is that no one ever adjusted the toe in. If your from or even rear wheels are toed out they will wander like crazy. Get a little toe in the follow just fine, 1/16-1/8″ is all that is necessary.
the fenders on this vehicle were not even available until after 1917 Some one watched a lot of livestock with all those windows
Wow, the original tiny house! Something about this is really appealing to me.
there used to be a lot of similar ones here in californias central valley used for sheepherders wagons
Pulling that with a Model T must have been a white knuckle, near death experience.
Hmmm, not ALL the comforts, unless that sink doubles as a commode.
They should contact the RV Hall of Fame in Elkhart, In. They might have interest in the unit and or have info on the manufacturer.
looks like the wagon where Dorothy and Toto met the wizard.
My dad in 1924 at the age of one traveled from Iowa to Oregon in a Model T that my grandfather had built a camper on the back. They called it a house car. It transported my father, his sister, his parents, his maternal grandparents and his uncle from Iowa to Oregon in a little over a month and one half. At least it was faster than the over year and one half it had taken his paternal great grandfather and his brother in law to make the trip from Iowa to California then to Oregon and back to Iowa starting in 1848. They moved to Oregon based on the stories that the adventurers had told if their journey.
Hello there. My husband and I bought this trailer and it currently resides with the rest of our trailer collection in Morocco, Indiana. We have 12 others that range from 1932 to 1960. This trailer came out of the Trepanier collection of Harry’s Radiator Shop fame. It originated in Illinois and was pulled behind a 1928 school bus to California. We will restore it and camp in it though it will be hauled on a trailer!
Terrific, Jill! Send us pictures as you progress!