Newbie with questions...

[57plymouth]

I'm sure I'm asking the same stuff everyone asks, but here goes...

I want to build a Teardrop to pull behind my 57 Plymouth. Said heap has a six cyl. Flathead motor with a two speed automatic. Zero to sixty is timed with a calendar and it hits top speed fastest if dropped off a cliff. But it sure is purty...

http://bacooper.myphotoalbum.com/view_a ... me=album10

http://bacooper.myphotoalbum.com/view_p ... elvedere_9

You would think I would be smart enough to tow a camper with my truck:

http://bacooper.myphotoalbum.com/view_a ... me=album02

http://bacooper.myphotoalbum.com/view_p ... d=IMG_0026

But NOOOOOOO!!!!!! I want to pull a camper behind my 57 to car shows. I guess I drink too much. Anyway...

Looking for plans for a lightweight teardrop. What's a good plan for a newbie. I'm familiar with woodworking, and I'm familiar with building junk cars into expensive junk cars, er, welding that is. Whar oh whar should I look?

[angib]

Zero to sixty is timed with a calendar....

You would like the entry in an old British car magazine for the Fiat 500 - which had a top speed of under 60mph. In the '0-60, sec' column, it said 832* and down the bottom of the table it said:
*average time to find steep enough hill.

But anyway, why are you worried - with those big fins, your Plymouth must go nearly the speed of a rocket....

Really, any teardrop design will suit you - if you want to keep it light, it's how you build it, not what the design is, that matters. If you want to minimise aero drag too, you'll want to keep the trailer low so it doesn't stick up above the Plymouth too much - ideally you want the underside of the trailer level with the underside of the car.

Andrew

[Mike C.]

Welcome 57plymouth,

Well to get ideas, you might look in the " Hall of Fame ",
in the upper left on each page or the "Design Library" at the top
of each page.

As soon as you figure out what you want to build, then go into
" General Discussion " or " Teardrop Construction" forums and
start asking questions.

And when you start your build, be sure and post pictures, we love
pictures.

See you around the campfire.

[Ron Dickey]

next question??

[Miriam C.]

to the playground. Sounds like that Plymouth is about my speed. Choose whatever you like cause unless it looses power going up hill you can pull it. Course you could always park it going down hill and camp only where the land is totally flat.

Enjoy

[Bill Fernandez]

Welcome to the crazy house you dont have to be a nut to be here but it helps

[Jack J]

As Andrew said, find a design that you like. Then with a little thoughtful planning you can build a teardrop that would be on the lighter side. Looking at you photos of your car and truck, looks like you shouldn't have any problem building a teardrop. The Plymouth would look sweet with a teardrop behind it and when it is done lots of other folks with tell you the same thing.

Don't worry about speed with the 6 cyl, I have a 6 in my '51 Chev and a friend of mine that we go camping with pulls his teardrop with a '29 Model A with a 4 cyl. We find that although we are slower than the rest of the traffic on the road, except loaded semi's going up steep hills, we see more while driving than someone going 70mph.

Good luck on the build,
Jack