I thought you guys might like to see this trailer that a British microcar enthusiast has just purchased. It is a 1959 PEKA made, probably in Germany, by Nord-Sud-Plastik and is much like a scaled-down Eriba Puck. It's 12.5 feet long overall and the 66" tall owner can just stand up inside without raising the pop-top. Impressively, it weighs just 240kg empty - that's 530 pounds.
Sorry, I don't think there will be any more info about this trailer. It has been bought by a guy who specialises in microcars (think BMW Isettas) because he found it and it needed saving, but it needs fiberglass work to replace some internal stiffeners whose failure is causing a partial collapse - that blue string is actually reinforcement for the tow home!
So he'll be selling it on to someone who can do the necessary work and I expect contact will be lost. But it's good to see what may be the only remaining example of this trailer saved from a worse fate.
I have to say, I love European trailers! FG and even non FG, the shapes & curves appeal strongly to me! Thanks Andrew for sharing, this is a really neat trailer & I'm glad that it will be restored & appreciated!
It's a Companion, that was some time and several trailers ago.
We move from that house a couple of years ago.
I thought it looked like a peep that someone put in the microwave!
It looks like it would be cool to do it in an Art-deco/goth style, like out of the 1927 silent SF film "Metropolis"
Here's what the thing looked like in the daylight!....
This is the excuse to repost yet again this lovely old picture of a Bond Minicar towing a Weferlinger stickie. The Bond is 200cc 10hp single cylinder two-stroke - the long hood is because the entire motorcycle power unit is hung off the front of the single front wheel, and turns with it! The Weferlinger is all of 9 feet long (including tongue) and even at 620lb max weight is probably a bit much for the Bond - which is probably what the bicycle is for - 'double heading' the Bond on hills.
This is the excuse to repost yet again this lovely old picture of a Bond Minicar towing a Weferlinger stickie. The Bond is 200cc 10hp single cylinder two-stroke - the long hood is because the entire motorcycle power unit is hung off the front of the single front wheel, and turns with it! The Weferlinger is all of 9 feet long (including tongue) and even at 620lb max weight is probably a bit much for the Bond - which is probably what the bicycle is for - 'double heading' the Bond on hills.
Well I have been trying to get permission to join a board where the fellow who owns this little trailer posted to ask about it. I want to ask him to join us here if he wishes... I would also love to prod him for more pictures!
Edited; Andrew I found his link to another posting, you should ask him to join us here.
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1979 Boler B1300 | 1987 Bigfoot 5th Wheel | 1988 Bigfoot 5th Wheel | We officially have a collection!
The owner has posted the photo below of the interior, though there's not that much to see. As there seems to be such interest, I'll repost his comments on the trailer:
Quote:
What is a Peka? Well difficult to say other than what I know. It is a very lightweight non folding pop top 2 berth GRP caravan from 1960. Much along the lines of an Eriba Puck but only weighing 240 kg! That means it can be towed by cars of about 600 kg or 12 cwt in old money. That is truly nudging the larger sort of cars acceptable as a Microcar which would never be able to pull an Eriba. As if to add to the fun it is a distinctly odd looking caravan having a pointed front with no windows as the cupboards, cooker and niff naff is all in the front. The rear has a large rear screen and two opening side windows. The pop top is full length unlike most of this time.
The chassis is a Walter Winterheim construction from 1959, sort of German Brian James who made underpinnings for many a trailer maker. The chassis plate states the caravan as a PEKA and that the constructor was NORD-SUD-PLASTIK. No information has so far turned up searching for these. I am assuming it is German but unless a German speaker can come up with a 'translation' I can only get a Swedish translation, which is Peka - point or pointed. That makes sense, as it is. But would a Swedish firm be called that? The rear lights are Hella and the light switch is early Messerschmitt headlight switch, very German. So my guess it is a German Baltic boat builder attempting to enter the caravan market using their new GRP skills to steal a march on the competition. Such a lightweight caravan would struggle to survive 50 years and it could be the only one left.
Quote:
As I said it is just 240 kg in weight. It will be 52 inches wide as it only just went on my trailer. It will be 12 1/2 ft long including the drawbar and I can stand up in it at 5 ft 6in without opening the pop top. So it is close to the Eriba Puck but slightly wider. The owner, the eccentric inventor and green before it was fashionable Captain Seddon, used it behind either of his early self LPG converted 1200cc VW Beetles or his larger motorcycle combo. Incongruously also behind his 1930's LPG converted Rolls Royce as well. As with all his things it had a windmill which was mounted on the front when parked, see clips. The Captain would have used his electrically heated garments, he sold these to motorcyclists as a business, via a plug or two to keep warm on colder days. We like Captain Seddon. Amazingly he new Fritz Fend and there is, somewhere, a tapped discussion between Seddon and Fend. Will it turn up?
The construction appears to be a two part GRP moulding joined down the middle. The pop top as another moulding. The door is wood and ali. Inside there is a wood frame covered with light grade veneered ply. Quite what was used on the upper area I am not sure but it looks like a substance like polystyrene, but not, covered with material. These lightweight interior fixings were enough to stiffen the thin GRP shell which had a thick exterior grade ply floor bolted and screwed on to create the floor - like a Nobel. The whole then sitting on the Walter Winterhiem trailer frame and torsion bar axle without brakes.
As Richard has noticed the caravan has begun to sag a little as the floor has degraded round the edges. Not aided by the modified wheel arches and 12 inch wheels I feel might not be original. So the unit is rather more oval than it should be around the waste, I know the feeling. That and the failed outrigger under the door area have seen that part unsupported and sag enough to strain the roof into a short tear. The bit of string was the only defence to this slow spreading of the shaped GRP. Fortunately the caravan was rescued in time as another year or two and I think it would have failed totally, split open and died pretty fast thereafter. So as it stands the major repairs are in fact woodwork and all the parts are there as patterns. That done the structure will be stiffened again and a couple of GRP repairs will see the remaining task of recreating a good outer surface finish. Much as I would love to do this it might be better to allow someone with more time on their hands to do it. My motivation was to rescue something I see as slightly bonkers and yet useful and very probably the last of its kind.
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