Posted 2007-09-12 1:23 PM (#67756) Subject: Miley trailers
New User
Posts: 3
Location: Washington State
Miley Trailers
Does any one have any information on this brand of trailer? I haven't heard of them but I am from the west coast and they may be more popular on the east coast.
I am looking for an affordable trailer. This trailer won't be used a lot so I have a hard time justifying 10,000 and more for a trailer that may be used once or twice a year.
Posted 2007-09-12 2:25 PM (#67769 - in reply to #67756) Subject: RE: Miley trailers
Elite Veteran
Posts: 644 Location: Odenville, Alabama
I owned one for 27 years. I loved it! They have been around since the 50's, then went away for several years. My trailer was 30+ years old when I sold it. You won't be sorry.
Posted 2007-09-13 10:12 AM (#67811 - in reply to #67756) Subject: RE: Miley trailers
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 335 Location: Decatur, Texas
But the Miley trailers built now are by a completely different company than the old ones because the copyright on the name "Miley" had expired and another company copyrighted the name and starting building trailers. Not rebuilding. So, it doesn't automatically mean that the trailers are the same quality as the old Miley Company trailers. As I stated on here once before, the original Miley Company was shut down and the assets seized by the Drug Enforcement Agency back in the 80's.
Posted 2007-09-19 12:44 PM (#68104 - in reply to #67756) Subject: RE: Miley trailers
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 489 Location: CA
My old Miley was 31yo when I sold it. Got aluminum since I'm on the coast. Too bad about them going out of business. What did they do? Stuff the frame with drugs? Haul horses with lots of "hay" storage?
Posted 2007-09-19 1:20 PM (#68105 - in reply to #67756) Subject: RE: Miley trailers
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 335 Location: Decatur, Texas
Rex Cauble, owner of Miley back then, was called the godfather of the Texas mafia by the US attorney prosecuting the case. Mr. Cauble was charged and convicted of using new trailer deliveries to other parts of the country to smuggle drugs, mostly Colombian in nature. The DEA seized his trailer factory, huge ranch beside IH35 just north of Denton, TX, and his Cutter Bill Western Wear stores. He also owned the famous palomino cutting horse Cutter Bill, but as I remember, the horse had been syndicated when this happened. Mr. Cauble had been a large benefactor and contributor to several charities and organizations in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, among them one in which at the time, I was a volunteer leader. The Boy Scouts of America.
Posted 2007-09-19 11:27 PM (#68143 - in reply to #67756) Subject: RE: Miley trailers
New User
Posts: 1
Location: dayton, ohio
Dear Sir, I quit teaching college to go to work for Rex Cauble, the last "true" owner of Miley Trailers. I worked for him from the middle 70's to the very early 80's. I eventually came to manage his western store Cutter Bill's, as well as manage his Miley Trailer business. I eventually came to be on the Board of Directors for Miley Trailer. In additon I was responsible for servicing all the dealers in Texas that were south of Fort Worth. I also set up new dealers including several in Mexico. I also worked for Rex at the same time several of his empolyees decided to get in to the marijuana smuggling business. Yes, he did forfit Miley Trailers and Cutter Bill's Western Wear and his ranch on I35 among his other holdings to satistfy the governments conviction as forfiture for his one third portion of Cauble Enterprise. I would probably tend to strongly disagree with the former Boy Scout volunteer leader about new miley trailers being involved in smuggling. I was there and worked with and personally knew all the involved players. I was not involved in the drug problems and left during that time and went back to teaching college.
Miley... Started life in the early 1950's with the partnership of Sam Miley and Mack McQuerry. They named thier company "Cirlce M" Trailers. By the very early 1960's they had manfacturing plants in Fort Wayne, Indiana (where only 2 horse side by side were made), Sacramento, Cal. and the home base of Fort Worth, Tx. locate on the corner of Decatur Ave and 28th Street. By the middle 1960's Sam and Mack disoved their partnership and Mack moved two doors down on Decatur Ave. and started McQuerry Trailers which went belly up in the middle 1980's (I think becasue of his death and family estate problems). Sam Miley changed the name to "Miley Trailers", and was later sold to Rex in the very late 1960's.
During that time Mcquerry and Miley Trailers were the best in the country. In the middle 1980's Rex leased the name to a group in California which manufactured trailers for several years. It is my understanding form reading the brochure that Universal trailers bought the rights to the Miley name from a family member!
I still am the proud owner of a very prestine 2 horse Miley inline gooseneck and a totally renovated 2 horse McQuerry inline bumper pull. And they still pull as great as they did when new!
When I saw the current trailers carrying the Miley name, I thought they were "Pile of Junk" and made the comment that they looked like those Haulmark cargo trailers with windows punched in it! Then a trailer manufacturer owner told me that, "I guess so, they are owned by Universal trailer", which in turn owns Haulmark and that is exactly where they are made, at he Haulmark plant! If Rex Cauble were alive, he would surely die! For Miley was his pride, joy and pet toy!
Posted 2007-09-20 10:47 AM (#68162 - in reply to #67756) Subject: RE: Miley trailers
Regular
Posts: 77 Location: Burleson, TX
Caution - long and slightly off topic.
I have lived in or near Ft Worth all of my life and believe most of his "facts" about Rex Cauble, Sam Miley, and Mack McQuerry are correct. I just don't know about all of Rex Cauble's problems, so can't validate all of those facts. But I do agree with jcarmen about the quality of original Mileys and McQuerry trailers. The only two-horse trailers I have ever owned were built by one or the other. Even the 1974 McQuerry bumper-pull in-line I have now, which needs some serious cosmetic work, is still structurally sound and pulls great. I'm trying to find time this weekend to go look at an '85 McQuerry GN in-line to try to buy.
Can't resist sharing story of the best McQuerry in-line I had. In 1965 as I was driving out in the country, I spotted a 2-H bp McQuerry in-line setting in a pasture with a FOR SALE sign on it. This one was a custom job with a 4' dressing room on the front and tandem axles in the rear. I convinced my non-horsey wife that we (I) needed this trailer. Surprisingly she agreed and I bought it. Pulled it with a '64 Chevy Impala Super Sport Coupe. Later bought a new '66 Pontiac station wagon to pull it with. Got drafted, sold trailer before going to Viet Nam. Came back and went back to college in Huntsville, TX (close to Houston). Three years after selling the trailer in North Texas I was driving through the piney woods of Southeast Texas and what do you suppose was setting in a pasture with a FOR SALE sign on it. Yep, same trailer - still in great shape. Bought it again and kept it until traded it off several years later for a four-horse. I often wonder whatever happened to that trailer. I'd probably buy it again if I were to stumble on it. Oh yeah, non-horsey wife sent me a Dear John letter while I was in VN. Met present wife at a stable there at college and we're still horsing around today. Our first date was using that McQuerry in-line to go to the first of many horse shows together.
Posted 2007-09-20 12:28 PM (#68171 - in reply to #67756) Subject: RE: Miley trailers
Veteran
Posts: 148 Location: South of Dallas
How odd to see this thread. Just a few weeks ago, a friend and I drove past the old Cauble place and commented on how sad it was that the place had gone under and we wondered what had happened. When we were just kids we used to drive by that place and just drool. It was so big and awesome. Of course by today's standards it wouldn't have been all that cool. But back then.... and knowing that Cutter Bill was just inside....
Posted 2007-09-21 4:56 PM (#68245 - in reply to #67756) Subject: RE: Miley trailers
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 489 Location: CA
A walk down memory lane.........I used to pull my '61 Miley (1st trailer)with a Pontiac LeMans stationwagon (1st car). Those were the days! I hauled all over the place with that combo.
Posted 2007-09-21 8:06 PM (#68250 - in reply to #67756) Subject: RE: Miley trailers
Veteran
Posts: 202 Location: White Pine, TN
Got our first Miley in mid 50's. Attended a clinin at Cauble's with Sheila Varian in early 70's. What a place. Bought a 4H in line McQuerry later. Those trailers were serious tanks going down the road, impervious to just about anything.
Posted 2007-09-26 7:15 AM (#68392 - in reply to #68143) Subject: RE: Miley trailers
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 335 Location: Decatur, Texas
Well we had some other people here in Texas that were convicted "wrongly" by the Feds, too. They didn't have a clue as to what their underlings were doing or involved in. Remember Kenneth Lay? Prosecution rests.
Posted 2007-11-15 11:20 AM (#71253 - in reply to #67756) Subject: RE: Miley trailers
New User
Posts: 2
FIRST LET ME START BY SAYING THAT J.W. "MAC" MCQUERRY IS NOT DEAD YET, HE IS 90 YEARS OLD AND NOT IN GOOD HEALTH. THE HORSE TRAILER BUSINESS DID NOT GO BELLY UP, IT WAS SHUT DOWN BECAUSE HE RETIRED AND WANT TO SPENT TIME WITH IS GRAND CHILDERN. HOW DO I KNOW THIS BECAUSE I AM ONE OF HIS GRAND CHILDERN! THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE PULLED ONE KEEP HIM IN YOU PRAYERS, AND THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE NOT PULLED ONE WELL THEN "JUST ASK A MAN WHO PULLS ONE"! THEN KEEP HIM IN YOUR PRAYERS. LOOSING HIM IS GOING TO BE A LOS TO THE HORSE TRAILER AND CUTTING HORSE BUSINESS FOR EVER.
Posted 2007-11-18 6:01 AM (#71411 - in reply to #67756) Subject: RE: Miley trailers
New User
Posts: 4
Location: Slightly North of Missouri in the Tall Corn State
So, Can any of you tell me about advantages and disadvantages of pulling and inline trailer, Gooseneck or otherwise? I am thinking about replacing my small trailer with one to save fuel. Do horses like them? Do they pull easier because of less wind resistance? Any help would be great, Thanks.
Posted 2007-11-18 10:28 AM (#71424 - in reply to #67756) Subject: RE: Miley trailers
Elite Veteran
Posts: 602 Location: md
Very Interesting history. Especially for those who choose to re hab an excellent product. Back in the 70.' a friend of mine bought a used Miley. This was in Maryland. I think they eventually traded it off on some other brand.
Posted 2007-11-18 5:20 PM (#71436 - in reply to #67756) Subject: RE: Miley trailers
Elite Veteran
Posts: 644 Location: Odenville, Alabama
I find this interesting too. I owned a 1958 Miley. My parents bought it approx. 1972 or 73'. We had it repainted several times and put 2 new floors in it over the course of 20 years. I sold it in 1995. I may do some investigating, and see if I can get it back. My mom was shocked when I sold it, as I sold it for $600 more than what she paid for it !!
Posted 2007-11-18 9:10 PM (#71454 - in reply to #67756) Subject: RE: Miley trailers
New User
Posts: 4
Location: Slightly North of Missouri in the Tall Corn State
Did some poking around online about this story and found books, a website, and a possible movie about all this. I even ordered one of the books on amazon. The website is www.cowboymafia.com same name as one of the books and here is a photo of the other book.
Posted 2007-11-27 2:02 AM (#71873 - in reply to #67756) Subject: RE: Miley trailers
Member
Posts: 28 Location: Portage, IN
Anyway, Back on topic. We own a 06 Miley 2H slant, and we love it. Bought it in CA when we were planning on moving to Missouri. Needed something to move our horse, and also act as a little more storage. I towed it from CA to MO with my 06 F-150. We lived in Missouri for 5 months then loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly...... Um Indiana. Again it towed very well and we have not had any problems with it. http://www.horsetrailerworld.com/forum/thread-view.asp?threadid=677...