Newbie from Covington, IN

[mahoy78spyder]

I'm blown away by the number of Newbies that are recent! I'm guessing that's because this is such a cool topic of discussion and all around great hobby!

Seriously though, I'm pretty excited to find such a huge knowlegebase - and fan base! - of Teardroppers (is that a thing?) out there! So... on to briefly introducing myself:

I'm a retired Air Force Master Sergeant (23+ years) and live out in the middle of "nowhere" here with my wife and 5 kids in west-central Indiana on 13 acres of wooded, private, glorious paradise. My wife and I are currently restoring a 1957 Tour-A-Home 14' camper and along the way, I came up with the ingenious idea of also building a small 4X8 Teardrop out of an old trailer frame I've had hidden back in our 'Salvage Yard', as I call it, for 8 years now. I'm a hot rodder as well, and my intention is to build the Teardrop in similar fashion to my '78 Monza Spyder I've owned for almost 30 years now, with the same red/black color scheme, and perhaps some stripes and something 'Spyder-specific' on it. I like to frequent the Hot Rod Power Tour, or just local car shows... and I'm cheap!... and if I don't have to stay in a hotel, I won't. I'll just tour around in my Teardrop behind my Monza (yes, believe it or not they made trailer hitches for those cars!) and enjoy myself.

Now... please don't laugh too hard... you have to see the potential. This is how the trailer frame appears now:

[mahoy78spyder]

...and this is the car I hope to be towing it in. Don't worry, it's small, but packs a 325+hp .030-over 350 V8 in it I built several years ago. (currently pulled for rebuild). The car itself doesn't look near this good any more - it's a little older looking and more 'tired' now - much like me - and requires her own restoration. But that's the fun in it, right? (Well, besides enjoying it once it's done)

I've been reading probably 20-30 different topics these last few days and can't wait to soak up as much knowledge as possible. I'm a technical guy, and love the challenge in building something I've never built before. Looking forward to what I'll learn here!

[bc toys]

Welcome to this great site you can post pics of you trailer rebuild on here or go down to lower section and start a new post and give pics there this is how we get ideals for our builds and help those that ask for help

[bobhenry]

Damn dude were neighbors.

Formerly from Linden I am now in Lafayette and Frankfort ( long story) . I have a ton of camper and camping stuff piled up don't buy it until you ask me. I have about 4 of everything.



Here is a # if you want it 765-538-2580

[bobhenry]

Now... please don't laugh too hard... you have to see the potential. This is how the trailer frame appears now:

It's a little 4x8 Harbor Freight trailer. There are hundreds of tiny trailers riding around on them. I will have to say it looks to be in better shape than mine was when I found it. Some dumb ass tried to load a boulder on it and mashed most of the frame. I used the axle cradle and the tongue and threw the rest in the scrap steel pile.

[mahoy78spyder]

Yeah, I did a little research last night and discovered it was a cheap Harbor Freight 'trailer-in-a-box', and the smallest 950 lb limit trailer they offer by the looks of the tires & axle. I pulled it out of the woods last night and looked underneath and realized just how thin the metal frame was (it's not even boxed in - just thin C-channel) AND how rusty it had become from sitting. I'm still going to build a Teardrop, but I'm afraid I'll be doing the same as you - scrapping the 48x96 frame itself and saving the tongue and axle and welding together my own frame that I would trust a little more.

My Spyder has a roof that is completely made of glass (only Monza ever made that way - long story) so I had been also researching how to install a lexan roof in my Teardrop to mimic a sunroof like in my car. I was stoked when I saw several pics of a couple 'sunroof-design' Teardrops built by someone who lived in Linden... is that you by chance??

[Verna]

Yes, our own Bob Henry built that one, too!! Welcome, from a Hoosier from Indy.

[mahoy78spyder]

Great to see so many Hoosiers and Midwest members! I see there is a Tearjerkers group in this area. Would love to attend and get to meet some of you and see some Teardrops first hand to get a better idea of what I'll need before building mine.

Bob, I will most definitely look you up when the time comes! (My Dad actually attended Linden schools, and most of my family is from Darlington, so I'm well acquainted with the area.) :-)