Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

First, I apologize if this has been covered before, I tried to search before posting.

I love teardrops, but I think I would do better with something I could stand up in. I love the 1950-1960s Shastas and Serro Scottys. I was wondering if overall it would be cheaper to build one from scratch vs restoring an original..I have searched Craigslist and they are few and far between. If I got one, it would have to be sub $1K which is usually terrible condition. I want a vintage exterior but then a fairly modern interior (think T@Bish).

Any suggestions, or build threads that are similar are greatly appreciated!

Thanks!
-James

James
Sometimes it becomes a roll of the dice. Buy a used camper, you get a frame, axle, wheels, tires, hubs, bearings, sometimes working lights, doors, windows, trim, sides and tops. If you want a vintage exterior look, you can't beat an old one for these items. Even if they require repair/rehab, new windows, doors, trim, wheels, etc just can't be made to look very old. You can still do what you want in the interior. You can even put new external aluminum on with the old windows and doors, and still get the "vintage" look! But then again, all these old items are going to require elbow grease to re-use, so...the trade off is in man hours vs. buying all new!
Having said all that...look at Doug Hodder's Sierra Nomad, or Len's (len19070) replica Scotty...tell me they don't look vintage. Some people are pretty crafty!
I get comments all the time on my wood strip tear, people thinking it's old.

Thanks Dan, I will check those out. I love the style of the new vintage styled Scottys and would probably rip off a combination of body lines from them if I went the build route.

I am restoring a 1976 Sunline 12' TTT. I to was (still) looking for a Scotty. They are hard to find cheap. I got my Sunline for $300. Lots of man hours and I cannot tell you how many times I have said to myself it would be easier and faster to build from scratch.
I have some build progress pictures in my album.
Even though not a Scotty or classic camper, I still get a lot of interested folks wanting to check it out.
Good luck,
Peter

I looked locally for about 5 weeks in early Spring for something to restore. The only trailers I looked at were pop up campers. There were no TTTs to be seen. Even the pop up campers in my price range were pure garbage. Little to salvage but the frames. This made me start to think about building from scratch. Now that I have I think it was a good idea. My shell was put together pretty quickly. Probably in the same time it would have taken to strip and repair an existing shell.

I have my eye on a Fleetwood popup across the street that hasn't been moved in at least 5 years. Waiting to see the guy outside to ask if it's for sale or free Sorry for the infrared sniper shot, it was the only camera & lens I had near me.

James,

I'm building on a pop up frame. I bought it from a guy who was planning on restoring the pop up but after taking it apart he figured it be WAY too much work. Lucky for me. The frame took a bit of work to make it useable for my Road Foamie, but I'm pretty impressed with how stout it is even though it looks like a newb did the welding. I've got some pics of it in my build thread (see the link below). Anyway, frames can be had cheap, a vintage Serro Scotty isn't. A guy down the street had one that looked awful and the door had been ripped in half by a bear and he still wanted $2000 for it. Now I'm sure he was crazy (he got evicted for bypassing the meter on his natural gas line) but he did feel confident that he could sell it for that price if he were in the mood to sell. IMHO, starting with a frame and doing the build yourself is the way to go. It's kinda like remodeling a house. A contractor will tell you that remodeling is harder than a new build. Just my 2 cents

atahoekid - The more searching I do, i agree completely. If i could get that pop-up (which i have a feeling either isnt for sale or will be expensive) then I might be able to use the a/c, furnace etc. but if not, there is a trailer dealer nearby, Down 2 Earth, and I can get a quote on a custom trailer and compare that to the HF kit ones. After seeing the build thread for Doug Hodder's Sierra Nomad, I was really sold on building from scratch. You would never know his was new...