Vintage Tow Vehicles

wagongirl · 04-28-2005, 09:41 PM

Yep, we had the 60's wagons from American Motors. You know "What put the bread and butter on the table" Thats what was purchased? Now I'm in an all Ford family. Just like wagons, they are the best, second to a convertablef

safari57 · 05-02-2005, 08:57 PM

let's see if this works. I believe I have attached a picture of my '57 wagon and 51 trailer. We took it out for a test tow on the weekend after many alterations over the past few months and it was great. The pair sure get a lot of attention.
Barry

moogie32 · 05-02-2005, 09:13 PM

Now that is sweet!

wagongirl · 05-03-2005, 05:29 AM

That is a great sight! Yes it will get alot of attention for sure.

robandzoe · 05-03-2005, 06:26 AM

I just purchased a 65 Super Wagoneer that will eventually be used to tow the wife's 65 Caravel. Here's a picture of the Jeep, and Caravel.

Rob

safari57 · 05-03-2005, 09:25 PM

Thanks for the comments on our Safari and trailer. We have put a lot of hard work into them. The Safari was a total when we bought it 25+ years ago and we've redone it twice. Vintage tow vehicles are great fun. Our club is full of 30's, 40's 50's and some 60's and a few 70's vehicles. Almost everyone pulls a trailer with their cars. We put a lot of miles on every year and few problems if they are maintained properly. My buddy had a '66 vista cruiser two years ago, beautiful yellow (butternut?), that he was convinced to sell by a fellow who hauled car parts in a utility trailer to swap meets. I think he regrets selling it now. They are beautiful cars, ride well, lots of power, and fun to look at.

When you take a flip through all the neat cars people on this site are using to tow their trailers with you can't help but think how lucky we are to live in countries where we can actually do this. have jobs that allow us to afford the hobby, and get to spend time with a great group of people with great taste in trailers (and tow vehicles).
Barry

rideair · 05-04-2005, 12:28 PM

Here's a few pic's of my setup. It's a 1968 International Travelall 304/AT/2WD pulling a 1966 Airstream Overlander. I will start working on the next tow car later this year. It's a 1962 Ford Galaxie Conv. 390/4-speed. It will pull a 1966 Airstream Safari.

Paul Waddell
WBCCI/VAC/WDCU 1270

Hippo · 05-04-2005, 03:54 PM

Nice Travelall. The 1968 model was a very heavy duty towing vehicle. The V304 was the best engine in the line and was used in many different truck models. Both units look good together. Today's news from the Northwest some sold 6 pink birds and are holding them for ransom. They want 6 candy bars for return of the birds. Crazy out here.
Chuck
WBCCI#7854

safari57 · 05-10-2005, 07:16 AM

I enjoy the older Internationals and Jeeps. Being formerly from the prairies I remember them as being the stalwarts on the farms when things just needed to get done and everything else was stuck in the snow or mud. Seeing them now in restored condition makes me realize that they are great vehicles to use for towing vintage trailers. Solid vehicles, dependable and good looking. We see very few of the Internationals now but the jeeps have had a long history of being kept alive. Now I've got the bug - drat, how many restoration projects can a person have? I know, it's like my wife's shoes - is there any reason why there has to be a number she says? Barry

Globie64 · 05-10-2005, 11:59 PM

Has anyone upgraded the brakes on their vintage tow car to a discs/dual circuit system? I'm lusting after a '64 Chrysler pillarless hardtop wagon, but the all-drum brakes and our hilly terrain give me pause. I wonder how an early Toronado would work...

Peter

overlander64 · 05-11-2005, 08:53 AM

Greetings Peter!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Globie64

Has anyone upgraded the brakes on their vintage tow car to a discs/dual circuit system? I'm lusting after a '64 Chrysler pillarless hardtop wagon, but the all-drum brakes and our hilly terrain give me pause. I wonder how an early Toronado would work...

Peter

You have located one of my favorite station wagons! The 1960s Chrysler pillarless wagons were always one of my special favorites -- and the 1964s were the last year for the push-button automatic. You have identified the precise reason that I quit utilizing my '65 Dodge Coronet 500 Convertible as a tow vehicle -- the single circuit master cylinder and four-wheel drum brakes. I have the disc brake/tandem circuit master cylinder upgrade in its future -- the parts run about $1,800 for the conversion (basically everything in the braking system is new). A photo of my '65 is below (I have owned this car for more than 31 years -- the Nomad is long-gone but was less than a year old when the photo was taken in early 1981):

The 1966-1978 GM full-size front-wheel-drive cars typically had trailer tow rating of approximately 6,000 pounds when equipped with the proper options. The down-side is that any weight taken off of the front wheels can result in "unusual" handling -- mine ('75 Eldorado Convertible) likes to spin its front wheels if when taking off from a stop if there is any grade (the workaround has been to tighten the weight distribution bars by one or two links). It is also VERY difficult to find a car with four good wheels, and even more difficult to find a good replacement -- I finally gave up after looking for more than two years (and finding only two good wheels) and ordered a set of Boyd Coddington custom wheels -- that still required some modifications to obtain an interference-free fit. It also seems that there were only two final drive ratios offered for the FWD '66-'78 Eldorado/Tornado platform -- 3.07 and 2.70 (the 2.70 was evidently adopted as standard in 1973 and ran through 1978 -- really limits the performance with coaches near the maximum trailer tow rating). A photo of my Eldorado with the Overlander is below -- the photo was taken about two years ago before I moved from the Quad Cities:

Good luck with your search!

Kevin

Mookie · 05-11-2005, 10:24 AM

My friend with his Sunbeam Tiger - wishful thinking.

**Action** · 05-12-2005, 02:06 PM

I am in the process of fixing my Park Lane. And it was built for doing the job of towing.

410 V-8 4V Carb. C-6 3 speed auto tranny. First year for disc brakes. It has an old Kelsey Hayes trailer brake controller that is functional. The rear axle is a little light. I will see how it does when I hook it up for the 1st time.

It also has A/C (the Arizona requirement) AM/FM, power steering, brakes, windows, locks and antenna. And the back glass slides into the body of the car is power also. When I get done it will have factory speed control and dual exhaust.

The combo represents the high end of traveling for '66. Then I will take to Route 66 in Northern AZ.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>Action

safari57 · 05-12-2005, 09:49 PM

I love the old wagons. I sort of cheated with my '57 Pontiac which still had kingpin front end. I used a '77 Firebird formula front frame clip which gave me late model suspension, big disc brakes, and it handles extremely well. Ideal for towing trailers. I suspect with some time spent researching on the net you may find someone who has upgraded their car to discs using later model parts. It's unbelievable how much is interchangeable. I know that for '55 to '57 Chev's at least you can use early 70's Chevelle spindles and discs and I'm sure there are others that work as well. Kits are great if you can afford them or want to get it done fast and no hassles - I've been playing with cars for so long that emotionally I'm not able to just go buy a kit - to my frequent pain of course as I go through tons of angst while my buddy who buys the kit does his stuff on a weekend. You might also want to check and see what is available for better brake shoes that would make your drums work just fine for towing. Worth investigating.
If you do find an option please let us know as I have several friends who I've mentioned this to with mid sixties Chrysler products and they are interested in what you do.
Barry