Vintage Travel Trailer options?

I made a big decision today.
After jacking up one side of the Argosy to check the suspension and finding that the trailing arms had a lot of play in them up and down, which told me the rubber was hardened and had taken a set, I decided to take an offer I had gotten on this thing. It now has a new home with someone who valued it far more than I did. His plans are to finish gutting it and turn it into a smoke house of some sort.

While I'm back to square one, I've got the cash from the Argosy so I'm looking again for something light, (lighter), that I can tow with a smaller vehicle easily. While my first choice would be something more like a small enclosed trailer I still think a small camping trailer that's not too heavy would work just as well or better.

thelordofthedamned wrote:
I m the proud owner of a gutted 1973 Holiday Rambler Vacationer...I have cornered about 100 members in a group on Facebook, if you search for vintage holiday rambler owners youll find us, if you need some more opinions on them.

How much does a Holiday Rambler weight?
I've got a relative with an older model siting in a barn since the mid 70's. Its in the 24-28' range. He towed it with a Chevy Nova back then but never very far and only twice a year. It got hauled home to PA in the off season and back to the shore in the spring.

We all used it, but it was a big ordeal to move it since the car only had a 250ci inline six motor. His other vehicle was an early 60's van back then that had no hitch. Its super clean but its been winterized and sitting on wood blocks for 35 years under a canvas tarp.

A few issues come to mind though with the Holiday Rambler, first off its likely too heavy, second, its no doubt too nice to gut to make a hauler out of, and third, I doubt if the structure could withstand removing all the cabinets and walls inside?

rebelopie wrote:
This sounds like an interesting prospect. What year is your Lincoln? Your tow ratings are lower than our '96 Town Car, which was rated to tow at 5000lbs. We used the Town Car to tow our T@B, which had a loaded weight of 2000lbs, I believe. We traded the Town Car in for an '05 Dodge Dakota. In my opinion, the Town Car towed the trailer better (and was more comfortable). We had to "flip" the hitch/ball upside down so the tongue of the trailer was higher and the trailer rode level.

If you are going to use your Town Car for towing, upgrade the brakes to hearse/limo brakes. They are expensive but worth it for considerably more braking power. Also, if you have the rear air suspension, make sure your "air bags" are in good shape. The weight of the tongue is tough on the suspension. I replaced both at the same time we did the brakes to make sure we were ready for towing. The biggest challenge for me towing with the Town Car was a lack of tachometer. Also, backing a single axle trailer shorter than the tow vehicle made for some interesting maneuvering.

The Lincoln is a 2007, with a factory hitch/tow package. I actually didn't buy it for towing but after using it to bring a boat back from Florida I realized how well it tows. It pulls and handles a trailer far better than my Explorer or F150. The Lincoln also gets great mileage compared to either of my trucks. I'd be lucky to see 14 mpg out of either truck, yet the Town Car gets over 24 mpg towing if I'm careful.
There are no airbags, they dropped those years ago. My 95 TC had them and I swapped them out for a set of steel springs from a Grand Marquis, but I never towed with that car.
The tow limit of 2,000 lbs is what's listed in the 2007 tow rating book from Reese, since the engine, trans and rear are basically the same as what is in an F150 that year, I have little doubt it'll pull a lot more than a ton. I pulled a 3500lb boat back from Vermont over the summer and it towed that without any effort at all.

It could handle tongue weight a bit better but I suppose it'll be fine with the right hitch. I have little doubt it would pull 5,000lbs safely with the right hitch and brake controller.

This sounds like an interesting prospect. What year is your Lincoln? Your tow ratings are lower than our '96 Town Car, which was rated to tow at 5000lbs. We used the Town Car to tow our T@B, which had a loaded weight of 2000lbs, I believe. We traded the Town Car in for an '05 Dodge Dakota. In my opinion, the Town Car towed the trailer better (and was more comfortable). We had to "flip" the hitch/ball upside down so the tongue of the trailer was higher and the trailer rode level.

If you are going to use your Town Car for towing, upgrade the brakes to hearse/limo brakes. They are expensive but worth it for considerably more braking power. Also, if you have the rear air suspension, make sure your "air bags" are in good shape. The weight of the tongue is tough on the suspension. I replaced both at the same time we did the brakes to make sure we were ready for towing. The biggest challenge for me towing with the Town Car was a lack of tachometer. Also, backing a single axle trailer shorter than the tow vehicle made for some interesting maneuvering.

I m the proud owner of a gutted 1973 Holiday Rambler Vacationer...I have cornered about 100 members in a group on Facebook, if you search for vintage holiday rambler owners youll find us, if you need some more opinions on them.

I never heard a thing, when I got home the rear pan under the back was torn free and mostly missing.
The front cross member is made of light sheet metal, its not like the other supports. Its no heavier metal than a soda can. It sits right below the body front edge between the V of the tongue.
With that piece missing its at best a cosmetic issue. It only has two small tack welds at each corner holding it in place.

The tires will get replaced as soon as I find a decent used set cheap, I simply can't afford to spend $400 for four new tires. I'm hoping to find something cheap on CL over the winter.
The paint is a priority due to its appearance, if I don't make it look better I'll have the local zoning board on me here. The neighbors here even complain about the cap on my truck not matching.

I took it to the CAT scale today, the total weight sitting on the scale by itself was 1563# I figure if I lose the rest of the interior and generator on the bumper I can knock off another 200#.

Other than tires I don't see any below the frame rubber, just two torsion axles and a steel frame.

I was able to fix the tongue latch by taking all the pieces for it apart and hammering the lift rod straight and re-welding and re-drilling the latch handle. It works fine now. I added two new safety chains to it as well since the originals were too short and almost completely rusted through.

The generator on the back is probably junk, its just an old mower engine with a truck generator mounted on a plate, I've got a fairly new unit that runs if I need one. That area on the back of the bumper and frame will be better served carrying something lighter and more useful like a barbeque grill or ice chest.
I'll simply remove the steel plate across the rear frame and bumper and replace it with a lighter piece of aluminum diamond plate.

slowleak wrote:
There is an old Honda Generator on the back bumper but I'm not sure if it runs or not.

The only obvious rust I see is on one cross member up front, which is nearly gone completely but the rest look fine.

The generator on the back is probably making it easy to lift the tongue.
The crossmember missing means that the trailer is not road worthy.
I can understand the motivation to find an easy towable that's cheap but this trailer sounds like a road hazard for everyone. I would suggest you concentrate on making the trailer road worthy and forget about paint until later.
You guess you lost part of the trailer at the gas station? You didn't hear it or just kept on moving?

Francesca Knowles wrote:

slowleak wrote:
my towing limits will likely be somewhere around a ton tops using my car,

:h
2,000 pounds, tops????

I have a fourteen foot molded fiberglass trailer, which is one of the lightest standy-uppies on the road. Keeping it at/under 2,000 pounds is a constant battle.

You're dreaming!

I've got a 12' fiberglass now that's probably as heavy as this thing, or at least it feels it, and it doesn't carry weight very well at all. The springs just don't take much weight, just me standing in the trailer will bottom the suspension on each side. I'm probably going to toss the leaf springs for a new torsion axle and home made adapter mount to keep the height correct. Its basically a 1" square tube frame with 1/2" plywood upper sides. The weight is in the 3/4" wood floor and super heavy glass top. I had the top off to do some repairs and it took 6 guys to lift it. Fiberglass isn't as light as aluminum.

I'd guess that my 12' trailer is close to 1400 lbs loaded most of the time, and it catches a lot of wind. The shape of it also makes for poor aerodynamics since the front wall 'leans' forward by design. Its 3" of ground clearance is an issue as well. I already lost one side of the rear bumper leaving a gas station, it must of hooked the edge of the pavement and got ripped off. All that's left is the bolts where it bolted to the lower frame.

It won't be headed anywhere for a while, at least not till the weather warms up.

I'm not real sure what to do about it not having brakes but a trip to the scales will let me know if they'll be required here or not. By the feel of this thing I doubt its over the minimum rating to need brakes. In NJ it has to weigh over 3,000lbs to need brakes, I'm guessing that the way it sits now its not going to be anywhere close to that. I can grab the tongue and lead it around the yard on the grass, and I can tilt the thing back and get the front axle to clear the ground with little effort. Granted all the weight now is past the axles and who knows if the tank is full back there or not. The belly area is totally clear from what I can see. I did crack the drain valve a bit and nothing came out, so either its frozen, caked solid, or its empty. There was water in the toilet tank but not much. Someone has antifreeze in the toilet and tank. The cold water inlet in the rear is capped and marked 'antifreeze'.

I'm pretty much ok with the way its set up now, I'll just be adding a real sleeping area and doing a major sanitizing job in the bathroom. The rest isn't bad at all, just a big empty white box inside. Maybe some tied downs in the floor are in order but other than that all the work is on the exterior.
Anything beats sleeping in the back of the truck or car in a sleeping bag with everything you brought with you outside under a tarp or canopy. Especially when it rains during a swap meet. I do both antique bikes and transportation collectibles, nothing is very heavy, a full load won't add much weight at all. The heaviest thing getting loaded will be the occasional outboard or cooler full of ice for the weekend.
I rarely travel more than a few hundred miles, and probably wouldn't try to cross any big mountain areas with the car pulling the trailer. The problem is the car is rated much higher for towing then my truck is, my 4 cylinder pickup is only rated at about 1100 lbs max. It would have big issues getting this thing rolling, let alone stopping it. My 10' utility trailer with a small tractor on it feels like a 40' semi behind my truck. The Lincoln pulls it like nothing and gets better mileage doing it.

The way I look at it, back when this trailer was new, most people towed with cars, I grew up next door to a guy who pulled a 30+ foot Holiday trailer behind his Ford LTD, he used to brag how he hit every state in the country one summer with it. The entire front was covered in stickers from places he had been. The car was a rusted out late 70's model with a 302 V8, those were the years when the HP rating took a dive to about 120hp or so. My Lincoln has 239hp and came fully set up to tow. It even came with a built in brake controller and 7 pin plug.

I was most surprised that this trailer didn't sway or track all over the place being it was on a straight hitch, no EQ bars or sway control.

A web search lists this trailer around 3500 lbs, I'd bet real money its not even close. I'll know for sure when I weigh it.
One thing I do want to do is lose all the glass, at least the front windows need to be covered up or secured better, maybe just some black paint inside will work but I can see them getting hit with debris on the road and getting busted. The corner windows are plastic but I'm sure their brittle after all these years. I've yet to find any tags or a vin number on this thing, any clue where it should be?
I also have to decide what color to make this thing, the army green don't cut it and its peeling everywhere. I'm figuring a good hot pressure washing will loose most of the olive drab paint. I'm thinking someone was using it as a hunting shack considering all the spent shells all over the place inside.
Being a big metal box though, I can't imagine what firing a gun inside would sound like.

slowleak wrote:

I was actually pretty surprised to see that this thing don't have any brakes, no drums, no backing plate brackets at all, just straight torsion bar axles with some sort of clamp on shock mounts added.

My Lincoln is rated at 2000 lbs max, this thing feels lighter than my old 12" popup trailer. At highway speed its barely noticeable back there.

Dear New Jersey:

Good luck sharing the road with this setup, and do send a heads up our way if it ever makes it across the State line headed West!

Love,

Everyone else in the Continental U.S.of A.