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1937 Pierce-Arrow Travelodge


Guest handworn

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I can't find weight either, but one point about these was the aluminum skin over a light metal framework....so I bet the trailer is lighter than most...with woodwork and stove and such, I'd guess 2500 to 3000 pounds for the two smaller sizes made, 3000 or slightly more for the bigger one...

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Guest handworn

Well, if you have a scanner and could send or post a copy it would truly be invaluable. If not or you'd rather not, I understand. Thanks for taking a look at it, at any rate.

I have the 1937 Pierce-Arrow Travelodge factory brochure sitting right here on my desk. Extensive specifications shown but, alas, no weight. Sorry. Anything else I can help you with before

I put the brochure back in the file?

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Guest Bill Miller

Obviously, the easiest and cheapest thing to do is to tow it to the nearest truck stop and weigh the coupled unit on the certified scales (under $9), subtract the weight of the tow vehicle, and there you have it. Every time I buy a new old car I pull it into our enclosed trailer and do the same thing in order to figure where to place the car in the trailer so the tongue weight is correct on the hitch ball. I don't know your location but there ought to be a truck stop within driving distance.

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Travel trailers were one of the hottest trends of the late 30s. If Pierce could have gotten in on this market it could have saved the company.

Trailers at that time were built with wood framed bodies covered in aluminum or masonite, similar to the way coach built bodies were made. They could have been made in the Pierce body shops with very little investment in new tooling.

Sales of 5000 or 10000 units a year would have kept them in business. They only had to hang on for another 2 or 3 years and wartime contracts would have eliminated the red ink from their books.

I don't know why the trailers did not catch on. Maybe they did but too little too late to save the company.

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Pierce did everything high end, even the trailers were metal framework with aluminum skin, at a time, as mentioned, when most travel trailers were wood frame with less expensive coverings.

Even the interiors were high end, with fine wood paneling, leaded glass windows, and fine appointments.

Building nothing but the finest was a noble, but unsuccessful, business plan in America during the 1930's.....

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Guest handworn

Thank you so much! This provides a wealth of detail. My Travelodge is remarkably original inside, but it doesn't have everything. I can only wonder if any copies of the "Large Illustrated Catalog with all interior diagrams" have survived.

I'm a bit embarrassed to ask this of someone who just did me a big favor, but could you scan the bottom inside part with the Specifications again, pushing the folds down so everything is in focus? I can't read part of the Specifications, and those interior detail photos will be the only evidence as to what some of the missing bits look like (like the sink cover, or the light fixtures). Thanks a million.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]205592[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]205593[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]205594[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]205595[/ATTACH] Here is the brochure in 4 parts.
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Guest handworn

The Nethercutt's Travelodge is a Model A, so the weight won't be the same, and theirs is the one in Automobile Quarterly, which makes it clear that it was restored from a shell being used as a chicken coop, or something, so it sounds like its interior appointments are reproductions. But they might have the Large Illustrated Catalog and other things. Thanks for the idea.

I think the Nethercutt Collection has one of those. You might ask them for info.
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Guest handworn

By the way, what kind of wheels would a '36-'38 Pierce Arrow have (I assume trailers used the same type as cars) and what kind of tires? Does anyone know the best sources for original wheels and reproduction tires?

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