Pictures and details from the day the trailer came home to the day it appeared in two magazines.

Buying the Trailer
If you’ve read up on my 1966 CJ5 you know I’ve been around it since I was 9 years old.  Having a real Jeep around kids naturally led my folks to buying us a number of Jeep toys to play with.  You know, those cool sets that always came with a Jeep and matching trailer.  After growing up and becoming the owner of the ‘66 it wasn’t much of a stretch to recall those toy playsets and want a 1:1 version of a matching Jeep and trailer. 

So for years I’ve had my eye out for a “Jeep trailer”.  I never knew much about them until finding John Hubbards’ Jeep Trailer’s Spotters Guide posted on Derek Redmonds CJ3B site.  After much study of those pages I could at least put a name on what I was looking for - a name from the real roots of the Jeep - a Bantam Jeep trailer.

Knowing it’s name didn’t make one any easier to find here in the Rustbelt, though!

Then a mistake on some wheels I had ordered for the CJ led me to a machinist who mentioned having a trailer that “took Jeep wheels”.  My ears perked up, and I described the basic shape of the Bantam box and the rounded fenders.  “Yep - that’s what it looks like.” “Want to sell it?” “Ya know..we’re moving here in a bit and it’s just sitting full of junk anyway.  Yea, I’ll sell it.”

I didn’t even ask the price.  A few weeks went by before he had the time to get it cleaned out and brought in.  When I finally went to pick it up I went to write the check and asked “How much?” “75.00” was the answer.  I felt a little guilty, knowing these things sell for quite a bit more than that on the ‘net.

Little did I know the initial purchase price would be about the cheapest part of the project:

Not bad looking for $75.00, eh?  That’s what I thought…

A little worse for the wear, but not *too* bad...right?

Right?

Time to Disassemble
First let’s get this tub off of the frame..

So we can really see what we’re dealing with here...which is a very rusted and useless frame.

Might as well go whole-hog at this point and disassemble the entire thing.

Reassembly Starts
Hang it all!  For POR-15 application that is… the trailer will live outside, so all metal gets a coat of POR first.

Assembling the new frame.  The quotes I got to re-create the lighterweight sheet metal frame the Bantam originall had were pretty high, so a heaver frame was welded up from standard angle and c-channel.

Tub is now welded to the new frame.  Also in place at this point is a new reproduction floor from JeePanels Plus.  New “RV store” fenders get fitted at the same time as the originals were rusted past being salvageable.  The new fenders are actually very close in size and shape to the originals, and for $18/ea I just couldn’t beat them.

Bodywork
Back from the sandblaster and body shop.  My novice welding job is visible here.  A MIG welder runs so much better when there’s gas in the bottle… who’d a thunk?  New floor is visible.

For rear side supports I copied an early Bantam design and reinforced the edge of the bed with 1” angle and added the diagonal 1” square tubing supports.  Sturdier than the sheet metal type and better looking.

Many of the tarp hooks and fender mounts had to be re-brazed on since there was rust behind them. 

At this point we painted everything with the POR15 product, then took it back to the bodyshop for final paint.

Finished Product
The finished product in 1962 Ford Rangoon Red. Not bad!  Front shot shows spare tire mounted - a 4.5” Jeep wheel with a small metric sized VW radial.

With the CJ at the local state park on Lake Michigan.  I had several people come talk to me while I took the pictures...it’s amazing the attention draw these little trailers are.

The CJ and trailer were featured in the February 2002 “Readers’ Rigs” section of Four Wheeler Magazine, and the September 2002 “Jeep Shots” section of JP magazine.