Car trailer size-- 16 foot or 18 foot?

[Curly]

I'm thinking of getting an aluminum car trailer for use in our Model A club. My closed cab truck is 13 feet long. I suspect most A's are about the same. What size trailer do you recommend?

[RawhideKid]

If you want to use it as a chase vehicle, get the 18 footer so you can load some basic tools as well as spare parts.

If you are only getting it to carry a broke down A, get the 16 footer.

[CarlG]

Get it big enough so you can haul both of your antiques.

[Mike V. Florida]

A quick look on the internet shows about 150.00 difference in price between the 16 and the 18. Get the 18 for the reasons given above having to do with storage.

[smittykid]

This is my Roadster on a 16 ft. trailer-lots of room.

[ronn]

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Rawhide hit it on the head. the 16 is much easier to tow then the 18, concerning bumping curbs, but the 18 is far more practical if you ever want to tow anything other then your A.

and yes, cost diff is nominal

[Bill's Auto Works]

Since you are going to spend the extra money for the aluminum trailer instead of the lesser quality steel one, don't skimp on the length. You will NEVER notice any difference while towing & you never know when you will have to transport something besides your "A"

Here is my 20ft Featherlite. I gave up a bit of length putting the air dam on, but it protects my customers vehicles from stone chips, so it is worth it.

[holdover]

ditto on the extra length, never know what the future will bring, think LWB AA etc., and there may be a time in the future you want to sell it, the short trailers are just too limited on what they will haul... Best of luck.....

[2manycars]

My first trailer was a 16, and it was good enough. My second was an 18, with the rear 2 feet sloped down like a beaver tail. That made loading much easier.

[denis4x4]

Go 20' as the wood decking cost difference between a 16", 18' and 20' is minor. Too, you can put a pickup cross bed tool box on the front and put a winch inside of the tool box. I got tired of dealing with ramps and went with a tilt trailer. Be sure and get brakes on both axles.

[1928Mik]

Get the 18ft, you'll be glad you did. I can't use the sloped beaver tail end. I had an 18ft 'car trailer' but went heavier so I could use it for tractors and equipment also.

[eagle]

The bigger question is, What are you going to pull it with? Too small of a truck, you will feel like you're pulling a freight train.

[JohnLaVoy]

Scotty has a 16 foot that he tows with his tudor sedan, I like the 20 foot unit because it gives me room for tools etc. on our long trips.

[Bill's Auto Works]

Originally Posted by eagle

The bigger question is, What are you going to pull it with? Too small of a truck, you will feel like you're pulling a freight train.

He is opting to spend the extra money & buy an aluminum trailer, so weight will NOT be an issue. My Featherlite 3110 is 20 ft long & only weighed #1475 lbs from the factory!

[katy]

ditto on the extra length

[GPierce]

16' Aluminum is plenty for me. Plus it's lighter. 860 lbs. according to Triton with a 5000 lb. gross weight.

[CarlG]

Curly,
Are you going for an open trailer or an enclosed one?

[Tom Wesenberg]

Originally Posted by GPierce

16' Aluminum is plenty for me. Plus it's lighter. 860 lbs. according to Triton with a 5000 lb. gross weight.

That's a nice light trailer that I'd be real glad to own.

In the 80's I built my own trailer, and was going to make it 14' just to haul Corvairs and Model A's. I bought some used 4" x 4" x 1/2" angle iron that used to be a TV tower. It was 16' long, so I decided to leave it that length rather than cut off the 2 feet. It's been the perfect size for all the things I've hauled, and that has been several cars, trucks, and other stuff. I'm sure glad I didn't cut off the 2 extra feet and wind up with only 14'.

[SeaSlugs]

Yea 18 min I would go for a car hauler. Much easier to position the load for optimum balance and future projects. Also its nicer knowing if you get rearended maybe they will hit the back of the trailer before they hit the model A thats on it. Much easier to go out and buy a trailer...

That and there is a much larger market later on for used 18-20' trailers VS 14-16'

[Big hammer]

How long is you tow vehicle ? So when it breaks down you can tow it home behind your "A"