The 15th International Portafold & Ansfold Gathering) (i.e. 2024)

Our annual gathering will be returning to the Newbury Retrofestival.

So put the dates 9th, 10th & 11th of August 2024 in your diary now and get those dates booked off work early.

Show Address: Newbury Showground, Priors Court, Hermitage, Thatcham, West Berkshire, RG18 9QZ

Don't book direct with the show organisers it will cost you more money, just contact me (07771544419) to get your pitch saved.

Towing the Portafold

Any talk that's not covered by the other forums.
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vforbes
Posts: 16
Joined: Mon, 12 Aug 2013, 8:37 am
Location: Near Brentwood, Essex

Towing the Portafold

Post by vforbes » Mon, 07 Apr 2014, 1:58 pm

Hello

When we first bought the Portafold, we collected it using a Land Rover. We were shocked by how heavy the nose weight was (the spare wheel was on the A Frame), and how heavy it seemed to manouvere. Later that week, we went to Dorset Steam Fair, where we saw a couple of Portafolds. The Owners told us how they had uprated their classic cars with bigger engines etc in order to pull the Portafolds.

This got me worried. I had bought the Portafold specifically to go behind my classic cars (2 Morris Minors and a Triumph Herald), and towing it with these now seemed unlikely as they are original spec.

Anyways, we put these worries aside and started restoring. We didn't attempt to tow the Portafold with one of the classics until it was finished, with the theory that if it didn't work out, we could always sell it in a better condition than we found it!

Well, we've not had any issues at all! The Morris Minors pull it as if it's not there - I can see out of the rear window, I don't need mirror extensions as it's the width of the car, and the speed and performance of the cars doesn't seem to be hampered at all! In fact, they make more fuss with backseat passengers than they do with the Portafold on the back. (Bearing in mind, this is with Spare Wheel and Gas Bottle on board too!)

So, I'm wondering why everyone we spoke to was so nervous about towing the Portafold with a classic? Thankfully seeing some classics at the Retrofestival did make me feel a bit better, but a lot of them were larger engined than the Minors.

Am I mad to be towing the Portafold with my Triumph Herald?

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Admin
Posts: 856
Joined: Sun, 05 Nov 2006, 8:53 pm
Location: Christchurch, Dorset

Re: Towing the Portafold

Post by Admin » Mon, 07 Apr 2014, 2:15 pm

Not mad at all! Whilst my Anglia is slightly modified... I have used standard (997cc) Anglia's before to tow my Portafold with, and at the National Gathering I can introduce you to a chap called Paul (Paul~3) who tows his with a Reliant Rialto, and Stuart who tows his with a 2CV, both of which are much lighter than a Herald or an Anglia.

As for the nose weight, you can do something about that with clever loading. Get all your heavy items over the axle, leisure battery, gas bottle, etc. I don't have anything on my A frame, my gas bottle is inside and as close to the axle as possible, and I keep my spare wheel under the caravan when I'm on site and stowed in the footwell, directly over the axle, when folded down. This helps to keep it on a level and reduce the weight pressing down on the back of the car.

We've had a discussion about nose weights already actually, this might be useful to you: viewtopic.php?t=120
Matthew
portafold.co.uk
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Wanted: Any original Portafold, Ansfold or Mini-Motel brochures, adverts or magazine articles.
Also, any chassis numbers for the above caravans!

The Gomersalls
Posts: 23
Joined: Sun, 14 Sep 2014, 8:08 pm
Location: Sheffield, South Yorkshire

Re: Towing the Portafold

Post by The Gomersalls » Tue, 23 Sep 2014, 4:02 pm

So glad I found this earlier post as we are currently looking for a Portafold and have a Morris Minor which we will probably have a tow bar fitted to at some point, we were reminded of these little vans recently after joining our local Minor club by the chairman who has just bought one.

Although another member tows an original folding Rapido and after owning one of them many years ago I would have thought the Portafold would be much lighter.

Marie

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