On Tuesday, 4 November 1997 at 15:32 Dean Crowley wrote:
DEAN>A friend just delivered the back half of an old MGA ... I plan on
making a trailer out of it ... Has anyone ever build a trailer like
this[?]....
Response by RICH> I haven't built one out of an MGA, but I did help
build one from the rear halves of two '57 Chevy's. Cut 'em off just
ahead of the flat area below the rear window, butted 'em together, built
some internal bracing for the joined area, and welded 'em together.
Lotsa finish work on the surfaces. Used the frame rails on the rear
section for the front section and just fabricated mount points. Made the
tongue out of round tubing and bought a ready made hitch assemby. Wired
the tail/brake/back-up lights right into the factory system by using a
aftermarket plug. Used the stock axles and brakes, and wired in an
electric brake control to a remote solenoid operated master cylinder.
Hooked the stock emergency brakes up to a lever and cable mounted on the
tongue. It occurred to the owner several months later that he really
should have had both trunks keyed the same....
For your project, I would see if a ready-made tongue and hitch assembly
can be purchased -- then it would be a simple matter of boxing in the
existing frame and adding that assembly. Make sure you plan for wiring
the existing lights into the factory system, too.
To finish off the cut area use the same guage of metal that the rest of
the body is made of. I would try to make the lines of the trailer blend
in with the car; in other words, make the new area rounded at the edges
so they 'flow' into the existing rear half. Don't forget to reinforce it
from the inside. You might even want to install a door so that you can
access the interior from either end. If you do, weatherstrip it -- heck,
make sure you replace all the weather stripping.
Consider putting a bumper on the front, too. For some reason, they seem
like ther're missing something otherwise. Check with a trailer shop to
see if you need to have X amount of tongue length to prevent binding.
When you install the tongue, make sure its centered.
You can probably use the stock axle and brakes. As long as you're not
getting carried away you should be able to avoid hooking up the brakes,
but I would do it anyway. Fabricate a method of using the emergency
brakes on the trailer (for parking) and make sure you add a place to
permanently hang some wheel chocks (on a length of chain). I recommend
the tongue.
Of course, you could always buy a trailer of the appropriate frame size
and set the body half on it, but that wouldn't be anywhere near as much
fun (and you probably wouldn't be able to use the MGA wheels...).
I seen one made out a rubber bumpered MGB tooling around up in Rochester,
MN, a few months ago. The owner had painted it the same as the B it was
being pulled by and it matched nicely, right down to the luggage racks in
place on both deck lids, The owner had also fabricated a small open rack
at the front of the trailer where he had installed two jerry cans for
fuel. I was impressed by his ingenuity.
Well, that's my $.02 worth.
Rich
'79 Midget 'Miss Molly'
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