This is a restored Kit Manufacturing Teardrop Travel Trailer that was originally built in 1946, just a year after the end of the Second World War. It has a polished aluminum shell and a rear hatch that opens to reveal a well-equipped, camp-style kitchen.
This trailer has doors on either side with opening windows, a rooftop luggage rack, a storage shelf, light fixtures, and window curtains. It offers a truly mid-century camping experience, as its original specification has been well-preserved.
This is the Cash family enjoying a holiday with their teardrop camper in the 1930s, this was a time when campers like this became popular across the country.
A History Speedrun: Teardrop Travel Trailers
The first teardrop travel trailer is lost to history, no one knows exactly who invented to concept, but they first began appearing in the late 1920s, with do-it-yourself plans beginning to appear in magazines like Popular Mechanicsand Mechanix Illustrated in the 1930s.
The fundamental design of the teardrop travel trailer hasn’t changed a whole lot in the almost-a-century since they first debuted. They have a teardrop profile, hence the name, and inside you’ll typically find a double bed, some storage space, and even built-in lighting and electrical outlets on higher-end models.
The rear of the teardrop trailer often has a hatch that opens to show a kitchenette with cooktops, storage for plates, cups, bowls, and cutlery, as well as counter space for food preparation. The open hatch then doubles as a sun or rain shelter while cooking.
Teardrop trailers almost always have just a single axle due to their low weight, a weight that typically falls under 1,000 lbs or 450 kgs, and as a result almost any car can tow them. This was significant back in the 1930s, when most cars on the road had well under 100 bhp and simply couldn’t tow a trailer any larger.
In the 1930s, in the midst of the Great Depression, building materials for non-essentials like travel trailers were somewhat limited for those on a budget. As a result, almost all early teardrop trailers were built of wood, with a simple steel chassis and axle.
Do-it-yourself plans to build teardrop trailers began to appear in magazines like Popular Mechanics and Mechanix Illustrated in the 1930s.
Higher-end trailers like those pioneered by Hawley Bowlus were made of aluminum, and the trailers built by Airstream soon followed suit – this was a sign of things to come in the industry.
In the years after WWII there was a popularity boom in the leisure market that affected cars, boats, trailers, and more. Teardrop travel trailers were favored by those on more limited budgets, and there were stories of many being built from aluminum sourced from the wings and fuselage sections of decommissioned war-time bombers.
After the time the popularity of the teardrop trailer began to subside, full-size trailers had become more affordable due to the economies of scale, and the cars of the time were far more powerful and able to tow them.
In the 1990s, thanks in part to the retro-style renaissance, teardrop trailers began to come back into vogue. People began discovering and publishing early plans from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, and before long small companies began popping up to build them to customer specification.
Today there is a thriving teardrop trailer industry in the USA and around the world. Many now have built-in electrical systems, well-equipped kitchens, and some even have solar roofs for off grid camping. The fact that the trailers are cheaper to buy and don’t harm the fuel bill too much has resulted in an intergenerational allure that shows no signs of slowing.
The 1946 Kit Manufacturing Teardrop Travel Trailer Shown Here
This travel trailer is a Super Deluxe model that was built by the Kit Manufacturing Company of Norwalk, California in 1946. It has a plywood structure which is clad in polished aluminum sheet metal, and it’s mounted to a steel chassis riding on a torsion axle.
It has doors on both sides with opening windows, a luggage roof rack, a rear bumper, a central rear brake light, and it sits on artillery-style 16” steel wheels which are finished in yellow and fitted with polished trim rings, Chevrolet hubcaps, and 6.00” Firestone whitewall tires.
Inside you’ll find a double bed-sized space with a sleeping pad, some shelves, a hanger rod, and two light fixtures. It also has a patchwork quilt and striped window curtains.
Inside you’ll find a double bed-sized space with a sleeping pad, some shelves, a hanger rod, and two light fixtures. It also has a patchwork quilt and striped window curtains. The rear galley or kitchenette is tucked under an opening hatch, it includes an ice box, a pantry, a water spigot, and a two-burner cooktop.
This unusual teardrop travel trailer is now being offered for sale out of Phoenix, Arizona on dealer consignment with a Nevada title. If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can visit the listing here.
Images courtesy of Bring a Trailer
Articles that Ben Branch has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
