Restoration Wednesday, Why Did We Get Away From Trailers?

posted in: Restoration Wednesday | 4

Four or five days ago I tasked myself with installing a trailer hitch on my wife’s VW All-Trac. It has become the family hauler since I swapped our 2010 Acura MDX with 165,000 miles for a Toyota Tacoma. What, you can’t fit your family in a Tacoma Paul? The 4dr Tacoma does make for a family hauler as well but once you add our dog, Abby the labby who’s never crabby, it’s a no go.

Why add a trailer/hitch combo to a wagon instead of a cargo topper? Well, I’m glad you asked me that. Trailers are making a come back ya’ll! Cargo toppers are cool but they are a pain to put on and take get off. My wife doesn’t want to drive her car with that thing on top. Plus loading and unloading is more of a chore. I’m not really sure why people got away from using trailers. They are easy to tow, provide more storage without overloading the car’s suspension, plus this one easily stores vertical in the garage.

The best I can tell, Coleman built the Caboose in the late 80’s to around 2000. I searched and looked at all kinds of trailers but never found something small enough at a fair price. I did find small trailers but they were $2,000 to $3,000 or more. This cost me $450. There are big-ish, boxy trailers around or you could tow a landscape trailer with totes on on it. But in the end, this porridge wasn’t too hot, wasn’t too cold, it was just right.

Hey man, I’ll be the Caboose.

 

4 Responses

  1. Mike

    Great idea… can you come out to CA and put a hitch on my wife’s new Kia Niro?? I like the idea of a small trailer too, would be great to then mount a bike rack on the top of it…and then BAM! no more car mounted rack…

    • Groosh

      For sure! I could load up the Caboose with all my tools and travel cross country with ease. Mounting more racks is a great idea. If you search for Coleman Caboose you will see someone made an off road version. Big tires, more stuff on top.

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