Jim:
TearDrop Trailers go way back and I started with some articles from old magazines. If you’re thinking of building one yourself, be sure to build it for modern highway speeds. Some of these vintage projects don’t look sturdy enough to me! But I was looking for a small trailer that my Mazda could tow.
An online search provided articles on teardrop trailers and their origins, plans and ideas.
Trailer for two Mechanix Illustrated, September, 1947 (pdf)
Luxury Trailers create a new army of “Modern Gypsies” Popular Science Monthly, April, 1936
Mechanix Illustrated Trailer for Two — September, 1947
We met our good friends, Kyoko and Paul for a day of trailer shopping. They were also interested in small trailers. As we planned the day, Marilyn remembered a lot on the interstate frontage road that had teardrop trailers. Princess Craft RV was our first stop that day.
One small hand-made trailer caught our eyes. It was a custom-built trailer with many unique details like tile trim in the galley. Marilyn liked it right away, but we decided it was too expensive. Later that day we visited a lot with large RVs. As we looked around we were convinced we really wanted our very own teardrop. After the weekend exploration, we kept searching online and talking – Finally I decided that I wanted to build the trailer. The guys down the road who rebuild vintage cars would help. We looked at utility trailers at Tractor Supply as a base and continued to search the Internet for plans with the perfect combinations of comfort and style.