Montgomery Ward & Company Montgomery Ward & Company

Montgomery Wards appears to be one of the early retailers of the Single Wheel trailers, as there are a couple examples of mid to late 40's trailers here. There were at least 2 different trailers and 3 different body styles sold by Montgomery Wards. From one of the newest entrys into this page, at least one was built by the LA Young Spring and Wire Corporation, out of Oakland Ca. The trailer with the loop spring-steel spring, seen here is the Trailaway model 8.
While this seems to resolve the mystery of where at least one of these trailers was manufactured for Montgomery Wards, knowledge is still extremely limited and as of yet, the underlying manufacturer of the other trailer may still be unknown. It is possible that the models,wheel assemblies,and bodies may have changed through the years or with a different manufacturer. If you have any info, literature or pictures of any other Montgomery Wards trailers, drop a line and tell me about it.  
I have had this single wheel trailer sense I was 12 or 13. I found it at the ruins of a house across the street from my parents house in the high desert of california. I have been unable to find any info on the trailer on the net. The tag says LA Young Spring & Wire Corporation Oakland Ca. Trailaway model 8 750 lb load capacity ser# is y8755. Here is a couple of pics. The last one shows the logo with almost visible writing that says trailaway. The plan is to drag it around behind my panel.
Hello,My name is Kathy Bergh. I have a '58 Metropolitan and was recently given a trailor in need of restoration. Gary Moen sent me to this site. I am currently in Auto Restoraion classes at a tech college. My teacher identified the box trailor as a home built with no usable pieces but the wheel is manufactured, and I will restore from the wheel up. I have attached several pictures. The part numbers (hard to read, but we are pretty sure) are as follows: brace from axle to joint - 1065-13 large plate above rubber cushion - 1065-13 plate that bolts to under side of bed - 1065-12. Here is my Met (May B. Knot) before I started a frame up restoration. Her seats and door panels are out at the moment, OK, for the rest of the year or so, becoming more Celtic. I didn't think to get a photo of the part of the trailer I was not going to use, but (as it is going to become my new welding table) I can pop it back together for a photo. Thank you for a very useful site, and the ID on the wheel. Owned by Kathy and Phil
Howdy, I picked up this old trailer and your web site about old Allstate trailers is about the closest I've come to identifying it. Any ideas or information would be great! Thanks.......Rod

Now owned and beautifully restored by Larry & EllieWinther Hi, I noticed on your site you have some pictures sent to you of my trailer by the previous owner. They are on the Montgomery Wards page. I now own the trailer and did some work to bring it back from the dead. It is a Wards trailer that had some extra bed length added. It had the original wards tires on it when I bought it. One of the wheels was rusted beyond repair so I got some new 8 inch trailer tires, rims and hubs. Stripped the bed off and blasted the frame. This frame is super heavy duty. Came with 2 kick stands. This Trailer is unusual in that it has 2 wheels instead of one and the arms have springs in addition to the springs on the wheel assemblies. I believe it was designed for heavier loads. Most other trailers I've seen don't have the suspension on the arms. I decided to scrap the bed and start from scratch as it was pretty heavy and a bit on the rusty side. I put down new steel bed and covered with birch door skin.The bed was custom made to resemble the westfalia roof rack on my bus. The gates are aluminum with steel posts. The gates are aluminum and the tail lights are '28 Ford. I fabbed the hitches out of square tube steel and mounted them under the stock bumper brackets. No holes or scratches to the bumper. It pulls nice, looks pretty cool behind my 65 Westy and holds plenty of camping gear. Thanks for the great web site. Feel free to use the photos. Keep up the good work with your website. I found it very helpful in identifying my trailer. Cheers, Larry & EllieWinther
Hi, Here are some pictures of my one wheeled trailer. I think it is a Monkey Wards. It gets used daily and I recently took it on a 300 mile trip at 70mph with no trouble at all. Feel free to use the pics on your website if you'd like. Also...some more pictures are posted at... http://www.rokonworld.com/greentruck/greentruck.html I really enjoy your web site...Thanks! Bob Rokon World Trail-Breaker, Ranger, and Scout 2-Wheel-Drive Motorcycles www.rokonworld.com

One wheel trailer. This trailer started out life as a Montgomery Ward. The frame was repaired, blasted, and powdercoated its original green color, the box is a gray/blue. Deck is aluminum tread plate. Tailgate folds down and is held in place with lox-all pins. All pivots have been refreshed, and it has a real tire and wheel on it with timkin bearings rather than the wheelbarrow style they normally come with. No goofy strap-on bumper pivots, just a plain ol' 2" reciever hitch......... plug it into ANY reciever and off you go. Has two safety chains and is wired with with a standard plug. Owned my Mr. MotorHead

I later found this listed on Ebay.  Montgomery Ward single wheel trailer Ever wanted a single wheel trailer to tow behind your classic car,but all you could find is trailer that needs a ton of work? Here's a very nice Montgomery Ward trailer that has been totally gone through with all hardware updated. The tub and frame are both powder coated,as is the wheel pivot. Bottom and tail peice are .100" aluminum tread plate. Axle is machined out of type 316 stainless steel to accept a real trailer hub with 1" shaft timkin bearings.New tire and wheel. Custom hitch was made to fit ANY 2" reciever hitch.Fold down tail gate with lox all pins to hold it in place.Wired for 4 pole universal connector with early bubble tail lights and front running light.Modest reserve,local pickup only.

I found your sight from Vintage Vacations' website and I am stoked to see all the SW trailers on your site. I just bought what I think is an old Montgomery Ward trailer and I need the bumper brackets/hitches to attatch it to my VW. I drive a 65 Notch and have looked everywhere for the bumper hitches like the ones at the bottom of your home page on the bug. Do you know where to get them? I will send you pics of my trailer to add to your archive this week after I get them uploaded to my computer. Thanks in advance, - Jim in Seattle
Found this on The Samba. Owner believed it to be a Montegomery Wards trailer which it dows appear to be.
 Found this on The Samba. one wheel trailer new tire tube homemade tub needs brackets for bumper please call with questions
Found this on The Samba. Old Vintage Montgomery Wards single wheel bumper mount trailer. Popular with the vintage VW crowd. This trailer needs paint and sandblasting in some places as there is surface rust. It isn't bad-just pitting rust so there is plenty of paintable trailer there for your project. The only attention spot is at the bottom of the left side panel. Any competant body man or paint shop will weld in a replacement panel for you. The wheel assembly pictured is included. It's about 3 1/2 feet by 4 feet and the sides are detachable. The bumper arms are there with what looks like the bumper mounts but I am no expert so don't quote me on the mounts. Individual castor wheel assemblies are for sale in a separate post.
Montgomery wards metal bodied single wheel trailer. newer tire in excellent condition with low miles. bearings were greased when the tire was replaced. no modification have been made to the body to mount the funky wood, it has factory stake pockets at all four corners. bed is solid. the lights are broken, but they're all just aftermarket trailer lights anyway. no lights required in the state of OR. for this trailer. no bumper brackets, but they should be easy to fab. with a little prep and paint this could be a very nice trailer. Owned by Ronnie Chase.
I added my info to the registry, but thought I would send off some pics of the new trailer I picked up.  A bit on the steep side, $350, but I just wanted one behind my bus. No plate information, sorry. Great site. Raul

Check out the pics, but there is surface rust, pitting in areas, and a few of the welds on the frame will need to be reinforced. The wheel is also cracked and should be replaced. Light is not wired. Glass on reflectors and light is scratched. Still, a good base to restore from. Thanks.
Found this on E-bay. "This is and old vintage trailer for volkswagons I think, helite, coffman, harris, this trailer is 54"x54" square there is no mounting hardware, it has leaf spring on it, not sure what make, there is stake pockets on the sides, looks like it was rear ended at one time but that should be an ez fix replace the one piece of anle and smooth out the tin and you got it. It's a little rusty but very restorable in my opinion." Owned by Arts Parts.
My buddy Mark sent me these pictures from the Wolfsburg Wickedest show in Oct 2003 in Northern California. I really appreciate his pictures. If this is your trailer please drop me a line.
Found this on E-bay and sold for $269. You are bidding on a vintge Montgomey Wards utility trailer from the 50's or 60's.  I don't know anythind about this trailer other than it has no rust and is complete.  It looks like the front hitch has been modified at some point.  It has wing nuts that hold the sides and rear tailgate on that can be removed. Owner unknown.
Tag states MONTGOMERY WARDS TRAILORLITE can't make out rest Found at an older couples house I was doing computer work for. Asked how much they wanted for it and was told if I wanted it I could have it. I am in need of the mounting brackets. I will try and get the paint off the tag and get you rest of the info. Owned by Bart Daugherty
Owned by Greg Banfill of Vintage Warehouse. Montgomery Ward and Company One Wheel trailer MODEL 64-KYG-13236-B SERIAL #M8490. Previously owned by Salvatore Scolaro.

These Pics are from Greg's site. Thanks greg.
The trailer had openings for, what I'm guessing to be, wood staked sides and had a tailgate at some point.  The owner was extremely attached to the trailer and wouldn't part with it, as his father had owned it. The plate in the first picture was a metal badge for Montgomery Wards. Submitted by .
Found this add on Ebay, don't know if it sold. Montgomery Wards single wheel luggage pull trailer. 1946 Vintage! Black with Blue pin stripping. Interior is fully carpeted. Approximately 4 x 4 foot box area, one foot deep. Oak Stake Sides add ANOTHER foot of depth to cargo space. Excellent condition, restored several years ago. VERY little use since restoration. Chromed tail light housings, Chromed rear Bumper. Spares include tire and tube, replacement spring, axle and misc. hardware. Cargo Tie Down Cleats around entire perimeter of floor area. Varnished oak stake sides under toneau cover. Now Owned by Gerald Martin.
All sides unbolt to make it a flatbed. Identity tag located on drivers side body mount. Montgomery Wards & Company Model# 64-KYD-13236-B Serial# M11233 Capacity 750lbs Owned by: 'G-man' Of Phoenix AZ Submitted by Wade, check out his site http://dropgates.com. And a couple I took from the classic, before it sold. Previously owned by Randy Pickton.
This is Nate's 1950 one-wheel (bumper-clamp type) teardrop luggage trailer. He has rebuild the Teardrop box out of aluminum and is being completely restored. Wheel assembly appears to be a Montgomery Wards.  Check out NatesWaterArt

I found Nate hanging out by his bus at the 2002 OCTO meet and got a couple pics.

Click Images to enlarge!!!!