Donate a vintage canned-ham trailer to someone who wants to restore it

Where donated canned hams come from

People who bought one intending to restore it. That is the single most common story in this category: the trailer was rescued, parked, admired for a few years and never touched.

Estates and family properties. A canned ham that has sat behind a barn since the seventies belonged to somebody's grandparents, and the family would rather it go to someone who will use it than watch it collapse.

Owners of finished restorations moving on. Those are the valuable ones, and they sell into a devoted market that knows exactly what things are worth.

Towed carefully, because they are old

A canned ham tows behind a pickup or an SUV, and it is an inexpensive move. The caution is that everything on the trailer is sixty years old: the tires, the bearings, the coupler and the lights.

Tell us the tire condition and whether the wheels turn freely. Seized bearings are common on a trailer that has not moved in decades and they change the pickup from a tow to a haul. Tell us whether the frame is sound where the tongue meets the body, because that is where old trailers fail.

Leave everything original: the stove, the icebox, the jalousie cranks, the original upholstery and the interior birch or wallboard, even if it is damaged. Originality is the value in this category, and a stripped trailer is worth much less than a rough complete one. Take your own property and nothing else.

What decides what a canned ham brings

• Originality. The first thing a restorer asks. Original skin, original windows, original interior fixtures and original stove and icebox all matter more than condition.
• Skin condition. Dents are acceptable and expected. Corrosion through the aluminum, previous bad patch repairs and replaced panels lower the value.
• Frame and floor. A sound frame with a rotted floor is a project. A rotted or bent frame is much harder, and we will tell you if that is what yours is.
• Windows and trim. Original jalousie or awning windows with intact glass and working cranks are hard to find and genuinely valuable. So is original belly-band and corner trim.
• The name on it. Certain makes have devoted followings and bring noticeably more than an unbadged or obscure trailer of the same era.

Makes we accept

This is the most name-driven part of the RV category, because restorers collect specific makes.

• Most sought: Shasta with the wings, Serro Scotty, Airstream and Avion for the aluminum crowd, Aljo, Field and Stream, Holiday House, Aloha, Boles Aero.
• Also collected: Kenskill, Terry, Trotwood, Yellowstone, Nomad, Frolic, Winnebago and Roadliner early units, Comet, Corvette, Vagabond, Spartan.
• Fixtures buyers ask about: original Princess and Dixie stoves, Marvel and Norge iceboxes, Hehr and Kinro jalousie windows.

Manufacturer names appear here so you can find your own coach. No manufacturer sponsors, endorses or is affiliated with this program.

The paperwork, and what you can deduct

Old trailers are the category where the paperwork is most often missing, and that is the thing that can genuinely stop a donation. Many states require a title or at least a registration history to transfer a trailer, and a 1960s trailer that has sat unregistered for forty years may have neither. Some states have a bonded title or abandoned property process; some do not. Tell us what you have before anything is scheduled, and we will check your state. The state title rules page covers the general shape of it.

Giving Center sells the trailer and your deduction is the gross sale proceeds on Form 1098-C. A complete, original, sought-after canned ham can land between $500 and $5,000 even in rough condition. A finished restoration can clear $5,000, where the IRS requires a qualified appraisal at your expense. A stripped or frame-rotted trailer may sell under $500, where the deduction is the lesser of fair market value or $500 with a written acknowledgment.

This is one category where we would rather you not strip anything out first. The parts are worth more attached.