Are wagons falling out of fashion?

We had our hitch made by a local hitch installation shop. I was concerned about liability if I did one myself. It was a Saturday morning, $300 cash deal and others I know have paid about $400 during a regular work day. The boss did it himself. I thought it would be fairly straight forward but he knew exactly where the stress points would be and reinforced for that. A key criteria was that the hitch is tucked up tight so it is not visible from the side. I put my car club plaque in the hitch slot when not towing.

I am continually impressed with the growing number of vintage car/vintage trailer rigs that are showing up. For many newer to this cause it is wanting to continue to participate in the car environment in an affordable way and towing the trailer cuts costs significantly. For the kids it is another way to get them involved a bit deeper. We sure have a lot of fun and with our car club there are about 14 who tow their vintage trailers with their hot rods. Lots of fun.

Barry

 

where as I hate to camp......i opted to get a vintage F/glass boat

which i'll be packin behind the woodie next year:banana:

 

Well I just sold my vintage camper... Being that model trains are another big hobby in my family, actually it was the big hobby until my dad started in 74 with cars, we had a 68 Mascot camper that was used 2x a year at the major TCA (Train Collectors Association) meets in York Pa. We bought it used shortly after getting the wagon. It was in use until 97, when it was no longer cost effective to run all the way out there... So it sat until 07 when I bought my cutlass. We got rid of it for a place for me to park my car.
It was a sight to see it behind the wagon, not only vintage, but we owned them both for a long time. I still have the class IV hitch on my wagon though, and we still use it as our hauler... I've been thinking of picking up one of those little trailers at harbor freight, but then I think of how rediculous it would look behind the car and how over-rated my class IV hitch is for a 8x4 trailer

(You can kinda see the hitch just below the bumper/license plate in my sig)

 

Yeah, and he won't find one. They just don't make them. Just like they do not for my 67 Country Sedan. But, I have cousins, Bannish Welding in Lansing that I will go to in the spring and have them make one for me.

We bought a new travel trailer, last weekend. The wife is thrilled, she loves camping and was in tears when we sold the 5th wheel back in 2002. Now we have another tow vehicle (the 67) and we will get back into camping with it. It won't be as "cool" as having an old trailer to haul, but the amenities on new trailers, and their lightness for the same size as the old ones, made me go for a 2010 model.

Still should bring some comments I am sure.

 

Good for you WO. Nice to see someone using vintage to tow their trailer. I had the luxury of redoing my Airstream so I built in the amenities, hiding them, so it has pretty much everything a new one would including A/C. It is still not the same as new but it works for us. But we have a buddy who tows a 26' Wilderness, 2004 vintage, with his big block 55 Bel Air hardtop. We travel with them often. Their's have a slide out and is really nicely done. Another friend uses his '54 Ford wagon to tow his 17' trailer. To us the fun part is using the wagon to tow and once parked in a campground (cg) we are out and about in the cars. .

You will be amazed at how many people come up and ask very surprised if the car can really tow the trailer. In fact, until the 80's, very few trailers were towed by anything but cars.

Any qualified hitch shop or welding shop can build a hitch to fit our cars. Make sure to tell them to build it to tow a trailer of 4,000lbs and you'll get a heavy duty one.

 

Ooooooooooohhhh, love the Airstreams, always have. There have been several around here, older ones for sale. They are so nice looking. But the new "Bambi's" are $$$$$!

I traveled for a year with my folks when I was 12-13, all around the country in a 1969 Aalite (sp?). We hauled it with a 1972 Vista Cruiser (455, TT package car). Kinda got the bug from that. And saw many very nice Airstreams then.

Please, post some pics of the group of you traveling with your trailers.

 

How about camped? I didn't think to take any of us on the road. You'll also see one of our other friends who uses his '56 Nomad to tow his trailer. He puts huge mileage on every year.

Barry

 

I need the jaw drop smiley...

Wow, just wow. You got to get a pic of the Airstream hooked up to the Pontiac. Beautiful.

 

Thanks, I've got one posted here somewhere already and I don't want to duplicate it, so I'll see if I can find it and point you to it.

I think the thing we are seeing though is that more and more folks are showing up with wagons in campgrounds with trailers of any year behind them. We have friends in the area who have an 2006 Chrysler wagon with the hemi they tow their vintage Airstream with and they just bought a '66 Plymouth wagon to do towing duty as well. A gorgeous car. I've sent them the forum info so hopefully they will get involved. Two other couples have gone to slightly bigger rigs with '65 Suburbans. So just in our area, with folks that we camp with, we have 5 wagons, 2 burbs and know of a '58 Plymouth wagon being done up this winter to tow a vintage rig. We also see a young couple, mid twenties, showing up with a 64 wagon towing a mid sixties trailer and they have a young family. He is pumped about wagons. It is that enthusiasm that we see constantly that convinces me that wagons will continue to be players for some time yet.

Or that is my take on it...

Barry

 

That is refreshing to see that. There were a ton of 60's trailers for sale on craiglist around here (Michigan) this last fall when we were shopping. I am not handy enough to redo one, but I saw alot of pictures of great styles and when you might see a horrible exterior, the interior was beautiful with exquisit woods you don't find today. It's great to see those people using vintage vehicles to pull them.

If you go to the trailer towing forums, there are so many guys that think that if you don't have a 3/4 ton truck, you better be only pulling a pop-up. Boring (and wrong). Enjoy!