jewlgurl
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Late 40's/early 50's Canned Ham
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Post by jewlgurl on Jul 22, 2014 5:39:27 GMT -8
It was sold to us with no original title, we can find no identification numbers on frame or body. By doing visual comparisons we think our canned ham is either an early Jewel or a Terry. We've been renovating her for the past year. The previous owners found her in a weed field where she'd been out to pasture for many years. She was full of water damage due to leaky roof and seams. They completely gutted her down to the frame - the only two interior parts they saved were the closet, a couple of wave edged shelves and they kept the original aluminum skin and windows. They did a basic rebuild and within 5 months had her on the road. When we bought this trailer, we found several build/safety issues that needed to be addressed. We decided to completely rewire her, re-plumb due to a live outlet box the previous owners had situated directly under the sink - oOooo what would happen if that sink area ever leaked? We moved the AC unit, updated the gas lines and then started on the interior. We're big fans of the design of the Deco Era - have been collectors of this era for many years. Because our trailer has very little original interior left and is vintage enough to be from or near this era, we decided to outfit her with a Deco theme. We've named her Baby Can. She rolls with us to sell at art shows and is our stay pad/office central for classic car events. We've recently found the perfect hauler for her and are in the beginning stages of resto-moding the vehicle. You can read more about our trailer/hauler progress and see more pix here: radmasterandbabycan.wordpress.com/
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Post by vikx on Jul 22, 2014 21:50:09 GMT -8
Can you post another photo or two? I have a Terry but can't tell from your picture. The door appears to be wrong for a Terry. Also, the door is on the wrong side?
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jewlgurl
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Late 40's/early 50's Canned Ham
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Post by jewlgurl on Jul 23, 2014 6:11:58 GMT -8
Hi Vikx, The above image is part of a series of ongoing images for our blog series, "The Never Ending Roadtrip" a fun visual romp around the globe in which all the images are heavily photo-shopped. The above image has been reversed, so the door does appear on the wrong side. Here's a few more images. Our trailer has an interesting bumper and attachment - under and curved up, which I've only seen on a couple other Jewels. Also has small air vents on both side skins, near the roof line. I don't know if the style of this latch design is fairly standard, but the lift-up tongue latch mechanism is identical to the Terry latch. We don't know for sure the extent of the modifications the previous owners did on this trailer, so identifying it has been a challenge. Although we've looked on the frame - on the tongue - we can't find the vin number. I appreciate you taking the time to help us identify her. Thnx!!
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Post by vikx on Jul 23, 2014 20:30:58 GMT -8
Jewlgirl, the photos have disappeared... Please re-post if you can. Note that once you post a photo here from Photobucket, it has to stay in the same album for it to remain visible here...
I think with a "normal" photo, I can tell you if it's a Terry or not. I also have a good friend with a Jewel, so might be able to compare.
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SusieQ
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'62 Shasta Compact
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Post by SusieQ on Jul 23, 2014 22:24:55 GMT -8
Could it be a custom build, seeing how the door appears to be on the street side? Or maybe foreign?
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jewlgurl
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Post by jewlgurl on Jul 24, 2014 5:17:31 GMT -8
Sorry.....I re-set my image album to public and forgot to re-insert the new image urls.
SuzieQ, the door is on the correct side. I photo-shop reversed the image with our old car, so it's not an accurate representation of the trailer. It's an artsy photo - lol.
The trailer has a 12 ft interior - 14' with the tongue.
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SusieQ
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Post by SusieQ on Jul 24, 2014 6:07:34 GMT -8
Sorry.....I re-set my image album to public and forgot to re-insert the new image urls. SuzieQ, the door is on the correct side. I photo-shop reversed the image with our old car, so it's not an accurate representation of the trailer. It's an artsy photo - lol. The trailer has a 12 ft interior - 14' with the tongue. Ah, now I can see!
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Post by vikx on Jul 24, 2014 11:09:20 GMT -8
Ah, thanks for the pictures.
From what I can see, the trailer is not a Terry. At least not a 54. The door doesn't appear to have a starburst pattern, which Terry did, plus no window. Terrys do have the vents near the roof line; very common in the 50s. The wheel well on a Terry is the same front and rear, no little swoop in the front, so that seems off as well. Window placement is similar as is the skin pattern.
Hadco made the cool art deco coupler and is common on many, many canned hams.
The 57 Jewel I have is not as rounded as your trailer, so yours might be an earlier model. I'm guessing 55 or before. The tail lights are newer, so no help there. Is there a photo of the stove? Almost all 54s have the same stove...
The VIN should be on the door side tongue, on the top. It's really a pain to find them; usually involves stripping to bare metal. It might be on the coupler, but that is rare. My Aljo was stamped on the coupler as well.
Hope this helps.
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jewlgurl
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Post by jewlgurl on Jul 25, 2014 7:52:47 GMT -8
This is the stove that was in the trailer when we bought it , but I don't know if it was original to the trailer. We'll take a closer look at the tongue, it has several layers of paint on it and it does look as though they replaced the tail lights. The Jewels are the only trailers we've found that have a similar shape, window type and placements, skin, storage openings and that unusual bumper. We're wondering if it's an early pre-production Jewel. Is there anyone we might contact who has info about the CA company that produced this line of trailers? Thanks again for your help.
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Post by vikx on Jul 25, 2014 9:34:13 GMT -8
Here is a Jewel; if I remember correctly, it is a 56 maybe 57: It's not quite as round as yours, but that could be the year differences. I would definitely strip the tongue and try to find the VIN. Many brands had a unique way of stamping VINS. Hanson, for example, used the year first (52) the length (17) and the series #: 5217288. Also be careful when stripping the paint. It's possible to remove the VIN if you're too aggressive. The stove top is in nice condition but hard to tell what it actually is. Any pix of it in the trailer originally? The knobs might make it an older unit. I would enjoy seeing close ups of your bumper. It is very different for sure...
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jewlgurl
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Post by jewlgurl on Jul 25, 2014 10:55:45 GMT -8
This was the interior rebuild done by the previous owners. When I cleaned up the cook top to resell it, I found major rust on the interior and rusted away pinholes on the bottom. I spent a few hours sandblasting to remove all the rust. As water damaged as they described the trailer to be, there is a good chance this was the original cook top. They had not hooked it up to the propane - must have cooked over the campfire. None of interior wood, cabinets (other than the closet) are original. and I don't know how closely they followed the original inner designwork. I know the later Jewels had that beautiful curve corner woodwork....
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jewlgurl
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Post by jewlgurl on Jul 25, 2014 11:32:23 GMT -8
This is a Jewel spec sheet I found....very similar in appearance to the smaller version, although missing the front doorside window. Our trailer originally had outer skin white and red paint. This is the unusual bumper style and I have no idea if it's original to the trailer.
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Post by vikx on Jul 25, 2014 21:28:44 GMT -8
Love that cool bumper! Very unique. The stove isn't telling me anything. When POs change things, you never know. I'm still guessing your trailer is a 54 but no way to tell for sure.
Keep hunting for the VIN.
And thanks for the brochure!
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jewlgurl
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Post by jewlgurl on Jul 26, 2014 6:40:38 GMT -8
You're welcome! Yes...that rear shape of the Jewel is not quite like our more rounded back. This is the only other trailer I've found that is close in appearance. It's a 14 ft Happy Home made by Modernistic Industries (they also made the Aljoa - which has a similar body shape as our trailer). This is a well known vintage owned by a Sister on the Fly. Not many of the Happy Homes left - a rare bird, for sure .
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Post by vikx on Jul 26, 2014 21:55:32 GMT -8
One of the few "sister" paint jobs I like...
My 56 Aljo had a jalousie window in the door. Not the same at all.
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