Barbara Milazzo is a go-getter. While traveling, she picked up a couple of books to read on her airplane ride—books about vintage camper trailers. She was instantly hooked on the idea of traveling with one. Before she even made it home, she had already searched Craigslist, found a unique teardrop for sale, made an offer, and bought a 1940 homebuilt teardrop from the family of the original owner and builder.
Many of the galley items were original, including tin plates and pots, a kettle, and the Coleman stove. The builder’s nephew recalled using the trailer during visits to his great aunt and uncle in San Francisco, CA. Unfortunately, the barn where the trailer had been parked for over forty years had leaked, damaging the canvas top and causing some delamination in the plywood. But that didn’t stop Barbara.
She hadn’t told her parents about her spontaneous purchase and decided to break the news after the trailer had already been delivered. She called and told them she had a confession. As it turns out, her father had already seen the trailer being hauled on a flatbed through their neighborhood—and had nearly driven off the road trying to get a better look! He had muttered under his breath that someone was very lucky to have scored such a great piece of history. When Barbara revealed that she was the lucky new owner, her parents raced over to see her latest treasure. Her father told her it was one of the best things she had ever done—and that’s saying something, considering Barbara is a well-known teacher and peace activist who helped halt the nuclear arms buildup in the U.S. and Russia in the 1980s.
Wanting to maintain the trailer’s originality, Barbara studied how it was first built. She duplicated several of those techniques and even made her own stain and wax using turpentine, beeswax, linseed oil, and alcohol. She researched methods to stop mold from spreading and carefully patched and sealed the canvas top. A lucky eBay search turned up new old stock bearings and races from a barn in Nebraska to fit the 1932 Chevy truck axle. Barbara even kept the mattress authentic by stuffing a canvas bag with cedar chips and straw.
After finishing the restoration, Barbara brought the trailer back to the original builder’s family. They were moved to tears, saying it looked just like they remembered.
Designed and built by Alfred Araldi in San Francisco, CA, circa 1939, this little stake-side teardrop trailer—affectionately nicknamed “Alfie”—is once again ready for adventure.
