New Owner. Old Teardrop.

[TRP]

Hello Gang,

My name is Ted. I'm the proud new owner of (best I can tell) a 1955 Benroy teardrop. I live in Northern California. My wife and I are doing all we can to raise our two kids the best way we know how. Part of that includes lots of camping and family time. Hopefully the trailer will add to that enjoyment. I build and fly giant scale radio control airplanes. I am also an avid home brewer. I do a lot of work on my home (just finished installing 4" white oak floors throughout my home). I have restored a 64 356 Porsche and several VW's. Lately I have been without an automotive project and have been on the hunt. I have always loved the look and nostalgia of a teardrop trailer. I had thought of building one, but sourcing the trailer part was always kind of iffy. I also really like the look of the old style teardrops with their standard tires and fenders, so I look on and off in hopes of finding a diamond in the rough. These items led me to my current state. Scared new owner of a well worn 1955 Benroy Teardrop.

Enough about me, you all want to hear about the Benroy!

(Short story)
I don't know a whole lot about it. I drove up into the mountains to look at it after seeing an ad on Craigslist. I purchased it really on impulse - sort of. I will pick it up this weekend.

(Long story)
On Sunday I was killing time on the internet. Typical for me, I was cruising Craiglist for fun projects. I saw several ads for 'teardrop' trailers, all well outside of my price range. I then saw and ad for a 'tear drop' trailer. I checked out the ad and it was for a 1955 "Venroy". I googled 'Venroy' and found that the only trailer close to that was a 'Benroy'. I figured it was too good to be true so I passed on and I didn't think much of it. On late Monday my imagination got the better of me, so I sent the owner an e-mail. He replied early on Tuesday and said "it's all here, dismantled, call for more info". Again, I thought... sounds fishy. I didn't think much of it. Again, mid day Tuesday my imagination got the better of me so I called and spoke to the owner. Sure as the dawn of a new day, it was a legitimate ad for an all original 1955 Benroy. He had purchased it with plans of restoring it to tow behind his hot rods. He dissembled the trailer some years later to replace all of the wood. At that point, life and other projects got in the way. Now his health and other items have taken hold, and he's was ready to sell it to move on with other projects. After speaking with my wife and getting the okay, I called the owner back and made plans to see it on Saturday.

With the wife in agreement and what seemed like a gift/dream come true on the line, I didn't sleep a wink last night. I must have vacillated on buying it at least 20 times. Do I want a new project? What will I do with it? Do we need a toy? Etc. Then I thought, what if someone picks it up before I get to look at it on Saturday!? This morning I got up and called the owner at 7:45am. I begged his forgiveness for calling so early. (His wife laughed and noted that they had already been up since 5 and that that they chased the sun into the sky for the rest of us.) I asked if it was alright if I came and looked at the trailer first thing this morning. They obliged. I called the office and cleared my morning calendar. By 8:00 am, I was in route to check out my latest find.

An hour and 10 minutes later I was at the base of the steepest and most cooked mountain rode I'd ever found myself on. I checked the directions to make sure I was on the right road. I was, so I made the ascent. Each time I made the switchback my inside rear tire would squeal / chirp. I couldn't help but think that getting the trailer out of this place would be a chore. I called the owner to make sure I was on the right road. His wife answered and said "Yup, just keep going up until you can't go any higher, that'll be us at the top..." Once I reached the summit, I met the owners wife. She walked me out to where her husband had just used a small tractor to pull the trailer out from under a tree.

I was a little taken back by the state of the trailer. I knew it was dissembled, but wow. It was basically a pile of neatly laid out aluminum panels, with all of the trim neatly stacked on top. All riding on two brand new tires. The sun faded fenders were off to one side. I leafed through the aluminum pieces and sure enough, everything was present and accounted for. Once I found the side panel that hosts the plaque with the name Benroy on it. The original doors, hinges, handles, propane tanks, etc. The original hatch is still intact, but it's in really rough shape. All of the aluminum is complete and mostly useable. I say mostly because someone had cut a huge hole in the 'front' of the trailer for a 4' x 2' horizontal window. This will need to be sectioned in. The owner showed me the original registration papers and the pink slip/title. That was all I needed. For the asking price, I figure I couldn't go wrong.

I'm not afraid of a project, so I paid for the little jewel on the spot. I will drive back to pick her up this weekend.

I'm embarrassed by the current state of the trailer so I'll hold off on posting photos.

Thanks for letting me share, (I do tend to ramble...)
Ted

[Rlowell]

Welcome Ted!

Are you ready for the madness that it takes for a teardrop camper? The project sounds like lots of fun and work. Please do post photos from start to finish as
that is how we all learn. Many folks have been through the same thing here on the site. The well of information is deep...jump in...the water is great!
Lots of helpful folks in hear and the knowledge is endless.

Rod

[TRP]

Hey! Thanks for the warm welcome. I've uploaded some images to my gallery. She's not much right now, but I'm hoping to get her back on the road as soon as I can.

Before the previous owner took 'er apart:




The Pile-o-parts I call my own:


No laughing... she's not much but I'm hoping to have the last laugh on this one.

Thanks again,
Ted

[Rlowell]

Thanks for sharing. Now we can appreciate the progresws that you will make!

Rod

[Lazybones]

Welcome to the board and teardroping!
Where in Nor Cal are you? We have a great group of teardrop campers up here.

[Vedette]

Restoration can be fun and a new way of life.
Those who don't like challanges are not in this game!
Good Luck
Welcome to the Forum.

[bc toys]

congrats on your find good luck and enjoy it

[TRP]

Hey Gang,

Thanks for the well wishes. Technically, I'm in what most Californians call the call the 'bay area'. I'm 20 miles south of San Jose, proper. For some reason most people outside of California call this area 'Northern California'. I grew up in Chico, where I would consider to be true 'Nor Cal'.

I'm off to try and tow the trailer home tomorrow morning at 7am. If all goes well, I should have it home and in the garage around noon. I've called around and found two different places willing to sandblast and prime the trailer. Now I need to figure out what color 'red' the benroy's were. All I've found is that they were 'fire engine red'.

I plan to rebuild the trailer using what I can from the original. I've seen a few posts where people are clear to point out that something was 'restored' vs. 'rebuilt'. I'll be damned if I can understand the difference. What is the difference? I don't want to use the wrong terms and offend any one.

Anyway, I'll post more photos once I get 'er home.

Thanks again
Ted

[Rlowell]

Ted,
We all look forward to your progress, but none more so then you.
Good luck,
Rod

[kellerdk]

Oh boy, you're gonna have fun reconstructing those original parts. BTW, we lived in Chico for many years and I grew up in Santa Cruz. We're now in beautiful Hope, Idaho where eagles, lakes, streams, deer, moose, bear, turkeys and endless views are plentiful. Can't wait to see your project develop.

[TRP]

Kellerdk -

You aren't kidding. I got the trailer home yesterday before noon. I unpacked everything and laid it all out. This is when I noticed that the original Benroy trailers weren't built like many of the examples I see being built today. They used a much thinner plywood skin, backed up with various sizes and shapes of hard wood crutches/formers. I uploaded the photos to my gallery. The one thing I don't have an example of is the floor. It looks like it would have possibly been just a simple 4x8 sheet of plywood. Anyone know for sure?

Another thing - this one came with 4 hubcaps. All appear to be from a Plymouth. Two of them match (baby moon style), the other two do not. Only the mismatched set 'fit' the 15" wheels. I though I had read that the Benroy's had 16" wheels with a 5 bolt pattern. Mine has 15" wheels with a 5 bolt pattern. I'm confused.

Anyway -
I'm off to Lake Tahoe for a week. Any progress on the trailer will have to wait until I return. I can't wait to take the trailer to the sandblaster and get her all cleaned up.

Thanks again for letting me share!

Ted

[pappaw]

That's going to be neat.

Good idea on sandblasting to start out.

Cheers

[TRP]

I was out in the garage today and I took the wire wheel to the trailer tongue to see if I could verify the vin number. Sure enough, Under a few layers of red paint and some rust, there is was on the drivers side. The first 5 letters and numbers are very clear. The last two are faint, but they can clearly be made out of you look hard enough / at the right angle.

I wonder how hard this are there any posts on the proper way to register your vintage trailer? Should I be posting these questions in different thread?

Thanks again,
Ted