This trailer is the oldest know Cardinal to have survived many years. We have yet to find one any older, but continue looking. The Cardinal Trailer Company was established in 1951. We found this trailer sitting in a ranchers field, “dyeing” along with many other vehicles and equipment. The ranchers mother was the original owner. She had bought the trailer on March 27,1952 at a dealership down in San Diego CA. for $850. which was a lot of money for a recently widowed mother. The sons had to continue the ranch work that their father once did, and drive the cattle on horse back. The boys would use the trailer as lodging for cattle drives and hunting trips. In the mid 60’s one of the sons lived in the trailer for a few semesters while attending law school at UCSD. Finishing his law degree he made other living arrangements. From then on the 1952 Cardinal had sat in the field, until the day I brought the poor little trailer home on October 30, 2015. The owners were ecstatic to find out that I was one of the granddaughters of their old friend; who passed away several years ago. It is indeed a small world!

we named the trailer Rusty because it is made out of thin steel paneling and had a rusted roof, which fortunately later cleaned up nicely with sand blasting and a new paint job. but not all the trailer was salvageable because the pack rats in the fields had seamed to occupy the trailer for many years, destroying the interior. So it was striped down and rebuilt using fresh new wood. We were able to save some but not all of the cabinet doors. After stripping the trailers exterior rust and silver paint a shadowed outline was reviled of the original paint job and colors which we then repainted.