THE '48 -PHANTOM- TRAILABOUT
Have you ever heard of the GMC Trailabout??? The original & very rare GMC
Trailabout was built from 1937-39, and from all accounts, none of them have
survived. I had decided to build my own version of the Trailabout using a '48
GM Pickup Box that I obtained. (It has no tailgate so I refer to it as a GM
rather than a Chevy or a GMC.) Being a '48, that actually makes my Trailabout
a 'Phantom' model, one not really made. The Trailabout was originally built
as a Factory made utility trailer, using a GMC Pickup Box as the base. The
purpose of the Trailabout was to provide a way for people to haul stuff, when
they might not have a truck. It's downfall was due to the fact that most
people, during the Depression, would just build their own trailer from a
wrecked truck's bed, instead of buying the factory model. Now, the Trailabout
is just a small piece of GM history, kept alive by trailer buffs like myself
and others.
For several years I drove by a neighbors house, noticing that they had a
'47-'53 GM Truck Box Trailer sitting in their front yard. Then one day, I
recieved a magazine in the mail. In it was an article about the GMC
Trailabout!!! I was pumped!!!!! I love stuff like this!!! It then dawned on
me, was the trailer up the street a Trailabout???? Once I actually read the
article, I realized it couldn't be. It was too new. But then I thought,
maybe I could make my own Trailabout. Now that was an Idea!!!!! But, when
I thought that, I had no idea that I would own that particular trailer before
long.
But, Since The Trailabout was a real model made by GM, do you think you
could consider any pickup box trailer an off spring of the Trailabout??? I
have just purchased a '67 GMC pickup box trailer to restore and pull behind my
Lowered and Skirted '78 Chevy Short Fleetside, and was wondering if it should
be called a Trailabout as well??? What do you think???
Thanks!!!!!!!!!!
PS I have a scan of the original Trailabout ad form 1939. If you would like
to see it e mail me and I will send it to you.
toonman56@hotmail.com
Rob
The "ToonMan"
Creator of the Cartoons
"Squatch" and
"Chuck & Arbee"
SASQUATCH ARTWORKS
Custom Automotive Cartoons
www.chevytrucks.org/squatch-art
"If You Can Drive It, I Can Draw It!!"
Rob's Rod Shoppe is a division of SASQUATCH ARTWORKS
oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
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