Car Trailer

[LAW75]

Hello and hope all have a healthy and happy holiday.

I have a '66 BJ8. I am looking to purchase an enclosed trailer for my car. I need advice on the inside measurements needed. Most of us old folks will have great difficulty "sliding" up (top down of course) to climb out of our Healey (assuming not enough inside width to open door enough to get out). Does anyone have the suggested "reasonable" inside width needed to exit car from door? Any suggestions on options that should be looked at? Anyone know of a used trailer (2 axle) for sale? Thanks

 

[Patrick67BJ8]

Hello and hope all have a healthy and happy holiday.

I have a '66 BJ8. I am looking to purchase an enclosed trailer for my car. I need advice on the inside measurements needed. Most of us old folks will have great difficulty "sliding" up (top down of course) to climb out of our Healey (assuming not enough inside width to open door enough to get out). Does anyone have the suggested "reasonable" inside width needed to exit car from door? Any suggestions on options that should be looked at? Anyone know of a used trailer (2 axle) for sale? Thanks

I purchased a new 16’ x 8.5’ enclosed trailer in 2015. Inside height is is about 7’.
There are “boxes” on both insides of the trailer to allow for trailer wheels. To keep from hitting them with my Healey doors when I open them I attached plumbing foam pieces to the wheel boxes.

if I had to do it again I would have the trailer builder place E-Track on the trailer floor so I could use the special tie down straps for tires. Also, add a winch.

 

[LAW75]

I purchased a new 16’ x 8.5’ enclosed trailer in 2015. Inside height is is about 7’.
There are “boxes” on both insides of the trailer to allow for trailer wheels. To keep from hitting them with my Healey doors when I open them I attached plumbing foam pieces to the wheel boxes.

if I had to do it again I would have the trailer builder place E-Track on the trailer floor so I could use the special tie down straps for tires. Also, add a winch.

Thank Patrick. When car is in the trailer, how far does the door open? Any difficulty getting out of car? And, without he E-track, do you have to craw on the floor to tie down the car? Thanks

 

[BN6_L1232]

A number of your fellow Healey Philes purchased Futura trailers several years ago. We are all happy with the ease of operation, storage and reliability. Below is a link for their new enclosed trailer. All sides are closed, although show as one side open, and the deck lowers to allow easy loading for our Healey's. Dimension are show and the rear hatch uses charged shocks to assist with opening. Check out their videos.

Super Tourer | Enclosed Race Car Trailer | Futura Trailers USA

Elevate your racing experience with a lightweight Super Tourer enclosed trailer from Futura, your premier destination for top-quality hauling solutions.

www.futuratrailers.com

 

[LAW75]

thank you

 

[BigGreen]

If budget permits

 

[Patrick67BJ8]

Thank Patrick. When car is in the trailer, how far does the door open? Any difficulty getting out of car? And, without he E-track, do you have to craw on the floor to tie down the car? Thanks

The car Door doe not open very far. It’s a squeeze for me. The tie downs on the floor require bending over for the front plus laying down, aka, crawlin, for the rear ones. That’s the main reason I recommend E-track mounter to the floor with tire/wheel securing straps.

 

[Michael Oritt]

Whichever trailer and tie-down system you purchase do NOT cross the straps as is often seen. Rather make the straps feed as straight and short as possible to the car. Heavy (2" or more) nylon ratcheting systems are the way to go.

 

[Healey Nut]

A 14x7 dual axle with pointed nose with a man door on the side (on the pointed bit) for access suitable ramp on the rear . Tie down rings in the floor at the corners . Get four short nylon lifting slings which you can use to choke around the ears on the wheel spinners and then use suitable ratchet straps to connect to all four slings and secure the car . No need to lie down or scratch around under the car trying to get hooks or straps over the chassis members etc
you can also buy wheel basket straps that fit over the tires to pull the car down to the deck .

 

[WHT]

Hi LAW75,

I had a trailer built 3 years ago to my specifications. Most people buy a fairly large trailer. However, we wanted a compact enclosed trailer that would hold any of the 1950 to 1980 small British cars. We also wanted good access to the car to move around the car as needed to load, tie down and unload the car.

I designed the trailer around chassis blueprints of our MGTD and 1967 BJ8 cars (the length was increased 1 foot over that shown in the first picture). As you can see from the pictures, the trailer has four doors that provide complete access to the car and loading winch. And, as Michael said, we use wheel nets fastened to tracks to hold the car down so it is free to move on its own suspension. The last picture shows a compact trailer mover that helps move the trailer in our driveway and store it in one of our garages. You can literally spin the trailer 360 degrees in a 22 foot space.

A major consideration for us was having no more trailer than needed to make it easy to tow and easy to store in a standard garage bay. This also made it perfect for moving through gas stations and finding motels with adequate parking during trips. Sometimes, less really is better!

We towed our BJ8 2500 miles through steep hills at 80+ miles per hour behind a Grand Cherokee Jeep (Hemi engine). The trailer tracked and braked perfectly; and was mostly forgotten about during the trip.

Regards, Bill

EDIT:

Looking at the picture, you can see we load and unload the car with a winch. And, I would NEVER go back to a drive-on trailer again.

Also, the bottoms of the two side doors on the trailer are low enough to allow the car doors to be fully opened for easy access as needed/wanted.

 

[WHT]

Several additional pictures:

 

[LAW75]

WHT//// your Healey looks fantastic. Share any more pictures??

 

[WHT]

Hi LAW75,

Thanks for the nice comment.

Good luck with your trailer planning. I just wanted to point out with planning you can make a smaller, more aerodynamic trailer just as functional space wise as a larger trailer. I am in my mid 70s (one of the old folks), so good car access and ease of loading are also important to me.

It was nice weather yesterday and we took our BJ8 out for a drive and to a restaurant (British ) for lunch. Its still a work in progress. Recently, we installed KoolMat, the hardtop and are now waiting for John Skinner to ship a new interior.

We drive the BJ8 as much as possible and I installed a T-5 five speed transmission several months ago.

Regards, Bill

 

[PHulst]

For Corvettes (my other hobby) we put 2x10 or 2x12s screwed into the floor to raise the car. Often 3 on the driver's side, 2 on the passenger's. Bevel the entry end of each board to allow easier movement of the car. This then lifts the car off the floor of the trailer, tips the driver's side up to incline the door away from the hump, and also makes it a lot easier to get under the car and attach any straps.

 

[LAW75]

Hi LAW75,

Thanks for the nice comment.

Good luck with your trailer planning. I just wanted to point out with planning you can make a smaller, more aerodynamic trailer just as functional space wise as a larger trailer. I am in my mid 70s (one of the old folks), so good car access and ease of loading are also important to me.

It was nice weather yesterday and we took our BJ8 out for a drive and to a restaurant (British ) for lunch. Its still a work in progress. Recently, we installed KoolMat, the hardtop and are now waiting for John Skinner to ship a new interior.

We drive the BJ8 as much as possible and I installed a T-5 five speed transmission several months ago.

Regards, Bill

Bill. Your car looks so fine, especially as a "driver" and even if you were to show. Did you install and ac? I assume that is what is on the right side (as sitting in car) near the firewall? Thanks for sharing.

 

[LAW75]

For Corvettes (my other hobby) we put 2x10 or 2x12s screwed into the floor to raise the car. Often 3 on the driver's side, 2 on the passenger's. Bevel the entry end of each board to allow easier movement of the car. This then lifts the car off the floor of the trailer, tips the driver's side up to incline the door away from the hump, and also makes it a lot easier to get under the car and attach any straps.

Great idea PH. Like it and helps with the inside trailers that have the wheel box. I was also told by a member of our forum to back the car in so that the proper weight displacement occurs. This may make it still easier to tie down. An "escape door" near the front on the left side also would be helpful. Thanks for your input.

 

[PHulst]

My trailer has the left-side escape door. I consider it mandatory.

 

[Patrick67BJ8]

Great idea PH. Like it and helps with the inside trailers that have the wheel box. I was also told by a member of our forum to back the car in so that the proper weight displacement occurs. This may make it still easier to tie down. An "escape door" near the front on the left side also would be helpful. Thanks for your input.

I don’t back my BJ8 because I wouldn’t get the needed 10% to 15% of total gross weight on my hitch tongue for safe pulling. I also added a “weight distribution hitch assembly” too. I guess it might depend upon the size of a persons trailer too.

 

[WHT]

Bill. Your car looks so fine, especially as a "driver" and even if you were to show. Did you install and ac? I assume that is what is on the right side (as sitting in car) near the firewall? Thanks for sharing.

Hi LAW75,

No, no AC. You probably see part of the breather system. I am playing with it now and will eventually connect it to the exhaust.

Regards, Bill

 

[dougie]

I've haul #414, my '57 vintage racer across the USA multiple times with a 23' Car Shuttle trailer. Large enough for the car and all the race spares needed for a competitive race event.