As it turned out, the wait...
As it turned out, the wait to find a hand-built teardrop was over the moment we met Mike Pari and his son Gabe of SoCal Teardrops. We knew we had come to the right place. The SoCal Teardrops' Rover on site at the Raney Ranch.
It has a curvaceous body, is light on its feet, and is an affordable companion for weekend getaways. We're talking about the teardrop trailer of course. Although some details to its origin remain sketchy, Louis Rogers of Pasadena, California, is often credited with being the first to introduce the unique teardrop concept in a 1939 issue of Popular Homecraft magazine.
By the 1940s, a similar design became the Kit Kamper trailer, and America's love affair with the teardrop took off. Its popularity continues to this day.
Finding an original teardrop from that era is proving more difficult as time passes, and restoring one is anything but easy or cheap. However, there are several manufacturers in the U.S. that are spinning off turn-key designs inspired by the original teardrop trailer, and the ones we've seen are mostly quite good. If you're inclined to build your own, there are teardrop plans and kits available, too.
What we learned in researching this story is that not all new teardrops are built the same way. The materials and workmanship vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, so it pays to ask around or get in contact with a teardrop user group before making a buying decision.
The Element EX is an ideal...
The Element EX is an ideal runabout for low-impact stays, and it can get in and out of tight sites with relative ease.
We learned about a father and son team from Upland, California, that has been manufacturing teardrop trailers the old fashioned way for nearly a decade, so we decided to pay them a visit. Knowing that we've seen more than our share of duds and dead-ends, we crossed our fingers and hoped for the best. What we got was a look at a completely hand-built version of the teardrop trailer.
As it turned out, the wait to find a hand-built teardrop was over. The moment we met Mike Pari and his son Gabe of SoCal Teardrops, we knew we had come to the right place. Both are veteran finish carpenters, and the business sprang from an initial one-off design they built on a whim.
" My dad was an artist and doing quite well, and I'd been a craftsmen working with wood, plastic, and every type of material for years. Then about eight years ago, we met a fellow in Sequoia National Park who had a trailer, and we really thought it was cool. It was a teardrop design," Gabe says.
"So we took pictures and asked the guy what he thought about it. The guy said he was bombarded constantly by people wanting to know more about it, so on the way home we decided to build one just to see if we could do it," he adds.
The single-axle Rover can...
The single-axle Rover can be outfitted with many accessories like a propane/electric fridge, TV, and more.
The Element EX comes with...
The Element EX comes with an optional four-pin connector/hitch; however, we added a seven-pin connector to tow the Rover since we wanted to charge the on-board battery on the road.
The Element's in-line four-cylinder...
The Element's in-line four-cylinder engine puts out 166 hp at 5,800 rpm-more than enough to tow a light trailer like the teardrop.
"It sold immediately, and that got us started. Our design is not a rehash of the original scribbled on a piece of paper-the entire design is created from the ground up using modern conveniences that are incorporated for more than aesthetics."
With a degree from Cal Poly Pomona in material engineering and a degree in mathematics under his belt, Gabe, along with his father, has put a lot of years of experience into each and every trailer that leaves the tidy facility in Upland, and they have been able to produce about 30 to 50 teardrops per year. Each trailer that leaves their facility is built to order and pricing starts at about $7,000 for a bare-bones model.
The fit and finish of SoCal...
The fit and finish of SoCal trailers is among the best we've seen.
After a brief tour, we hooked up the smallest of their models, called the Rover, and treated ourselves to a weekend in the wilds. Yes, it was small, no bigger than a twin bed inside, but you don't feel like a sardine in a can. Rather, it makes one feel nostalgic.
We headed to a 120-acre ranch in San Diego, California, owned by Steve Raney, a professional hunting dog trainer. We often visit the Raney Ranch because of its pristine views of a nearby lake and surrounding mountain range, which is still as rugged today and it was 100 years ago.
The main difference between a teardrop-style trailer and a conventional trailer is size, and this particular Rover could be pulled by something as small as a four-cylinder passenger car. So, we hitched it up to a 2010 Honda Element and took off for a few days of relaxation high above the city noise.