Welcome To The Teardrop Chronicles!

Why a teardrop trailer?

Over the years I have owned numerous vehicles and used all of them for camping in one way or another. Some were self contained, such as the Volkswagen Westfalia Campers, others acted as tow vehicles. In my younger days, a station wagon suited my needs just fine. It carried all of the gear that I needed and nine times out of ten, I used the back of the wagon as a place to sleep. This method sure saved on setup time once you reached your campsite, however, you still had to unload your cooking gear, your food and any other items that you needed in camp. Another benefit of the station wagon is that you could stop anywhere and you bed was ready and waiting [sound familiar?]. The drawback was that your gear was always with your during your trip and when you returned home, you had to unload everything as your wagon was normally your everyday transportation.

Of course, when we were younger, a tent was the way to go! It was easy to transport, relatively easy to set up [after you had done it numerous times]. Your tent could be left standing and served as a base site for your activities. I remember the tent that we had when I was growing up. My dad and I went down to the waterfront business district called "Lacledes Landing" in St. Louis. This was in the mid 60's, before the area began to be considered "The" place to go and all of the restaurants and trendy shops took over the area. Swischer Licorice Company had a factory there. I can still smell the licorice....

Anyway, we purchased a large 9' X 17' cabin tent for a family tent. It was blue and yellow and weighed about a bazillion pounds. It was constructed out of waterproofed cotton duck and when stowed in it's storage bag, was about as big as I was. It had a separate bag to hold the assortment of various poles, stakes, guy wires and stuff. I can remember the first time that we set that puppy up. Looked like an episode of the Keystone Cops! We did figure it out and that tent served us well for many years. As a matter of fact, it lasted long enough for my children to experience camping in it....

My point is, I lugged this beometh around for years! It began to have a life of it's own and I developed an animosity for it after a while. This is when I began to use my station wagon to camp in. I liked the convenience and the moveability. As time went on, I went through a variety of vehicles, usually always having a station wagon or van around. One of my favorite vehicles are the Volkswagen Westfalia Campers. Self contained with the ability to sleep four, easy on gas and sensible enough to use as a daily driver. I have owned several Westfalia's and have fond memories of each of them.

As my young family continued to grow and my daughters got larger, we were forced to abandon the Westfalia's for something with more room. We did not want [and could not afford!] a large travel trailer, so we opted for a "pop up" camping trailer. These were neat because they were compact to tow. Overall about 11' X 6', but expanded out to a generous 16' X 6" with two double beds, and a large single bed. Kitchen facilities were inside, water and power were available. We spent many years using our pop up trailer all over the country. My children constantly speak of memories that we shared using this trailer.

There were still limitations though. My most vivid are of a trip that I took with three of my daughters to Yellowstone National Park. Mom could not get away, so Dad and the three girls took off on an adventure on their own. The girls were aged 11, 9 and about 3. Needless to say, you know who did most of the needed chores and ALL of the driving! Towards the end of the trip, Dad was READY to get home. Enough was enough! Of course, I over estimated my physical and mental capabilities and somewhere on an interstate in the middle of Wyoming, I disintegrated. I could not go another mile. Middle of the night, no campground in site, no motels for miles and three children. I pulled into a truckers pull out alongside the highway, put my eleven year old in charge of the two other girls, tucked them into their sleeping bags in the front and back seat of the Oldsmobile and locked them in. As tired as I was, there was NO WAY that I was going to open up that trailer. So, in desperation, I lifted the roof just enough to get the side door open and went in headfirst on the floor with just enough room to lay on my side.

I had been aware of teardrops for some time, but this is when their benefits came crashing home! On that day, I began my teardrop research. This web site The Teardrop Research Pages, are the result of that fateful night in Wyoming many years ago.

I know, you are asking yourself, where is all of this rambling going? Knowing that I wanted to own a teardrop, I started to research them. Where can I find one? Can I build one? What can I get plans? Where can I get parts? And all of the other questions that all of us have been asking ourselves and others. Correct me if I am wrong, but aren't these questions that brought YOU here? I finally came to the point that I had to do something, had to start somewhere. I had not been able to locate a trailer for sale, did not know the first thing about building a trailer, but knew that I wanted one.

Most of the questions and comments that I receive about teardrop trailers are either about wanting to build a teardrop trailer from scratch or about restoring an "original".

The decision of whether to build a trailer or to restore a trailer is a difficult one, and if the decision is made to build, the questions always arise, where can I find plans and what style should I build? On the other hand, if the decision is made to restore a trailer, the questions are, "Where can I find a trailer?" and "Where do I start?"
These are the most asked questions.

In order to answer this these questions, I have decided to build web pages that chronicle both the construction of my teardrop trailer and the restoration of a 1964 Serro Scotty [not a teardrop, but the process is the same]that I completed several years ago.. It will take a while for me to complete these pages, and they will contain my thoughts through each stage.
[kind of scary, isn't it?]

So, check back at my site from time to time and follow along as I share the trials and tribulations of the Scotty restoration and my teardrop construction journey!

George

Scotty Restoration February 26, 1999