Baby Can Boutique

In response to people asking about our vintage travel trailer, here’s her story. She was born in 1952, beginning life as a Happy Home Cabin, built in California during the builder boom of small trailers. She’s a rare bird, only a handful of this model are still intact and still rolling down the road. Although there’s been a renaissance of interest in vintage travel trailers, we’ve only come across four others like ours in the years we’ve had Baby Can.

We named her Baby Can as a riff on canned ham, which is the informal name for this style of travel trailer. Canned ham, when it was a thing came in metal tins shaped like this trailer. She’s only 13 feet long – considered a small trailer. She’s lightweight and pulls beautifully, the best dance partner our truck has ever had on the road.

She’s been rebuilt twice – the most recent rebuild done by my husband and I. We bought the trailer from a retired couple who found it parked in a farmer’s weed field, the interior mouldering away from water leaks. We were told, the farmer was reluctant to let her go, as he and his family had her for years and made a lot of memories with her. The trailer was filled with and surrounded by years of accumulated junk. They dug it out, unloaded it and took it home, where they spent 5 months dismantling and reconstructing it. They were it’s adoptive parents for four years before passing it on to us. As a retirement project, they tried to restore her from the frame up, but not being in the business of restoration work, it was a hit and miss re-build.

Sadly, when this old girl was put back together, the original fridge (or ice box) was missing, most likely rusted and discarded and the interior was modified from the original specs. Not a problem for us, we would make her into a comfortable roller with modernized functionality. The rose chintz (cute as it is) had to go…..not our style at all. lol

After deciding to not do a pristine back-to-original restoration on her, we did a fun resto-mod, revamping her interior – deco style. We occasionally get chatter from vintage trailer purists about our re-do, but we love the outcome and we doubly love Art Deco. It’s us!

At 73 years old she is close enough to the 1940s to be considered a deco girl. Bling, bling and bling some more! I didn’t hold back. lol One of my fun finds was the Deco Lady. Made from cast foundry aluminum, she’s our patron saint of travel. I added a set of vintage Manhattan pattern glassware and press patterned aluminum serving platters that we use as our small dining tables. Still need to find those matching drinking glasses.

We demo-ed and pulled out most of her interior. The previous rebuild was cobbled together with used pieces and parts. Over the course of one summer we brought her back to roadworthy condition. Started by installing a completely new electrical system with new panel box to replace the hodge-podge of dangerous wiring. We ran new gas lines, new water lines, a sink drain line and added a small profile fridge with freezer. We built in a microwave above the fridge and set a new/old gas trailer stove in place.

We did new wall treatments, new interior paint and put in new flooring with a full rug. We rebuilt the bed frame raising the height for under-bed storage and added a custom sized mattress. We did a fun kitchen countertop with floating pieces of silver gilt encapsulated in clear resin. Added a new faucet and made a zebra wood sink cover. We also set her up with her own portable solar system: panels and an inverter. It’s great for those locations with no electric service.

Additional resto work was the installation of a repop vintage door lock/handle combo, new axle and springs under the trailer and new tires with fun retro hubcaps. Also upgraded the propane gas canisters, painted them silver with auto paint and welded on a new hitch end. Then we did the outer aluminum skin polish. What a job that was – three separate grades of polishing material. Thankful for our air tools and electric polisher! Almost forgot, we also resealed the roof.

Every now and then, we take Baby Can to summer art shows. The rest of the time, she goes on travel adventures with us and visits family. This little travel trailer transforms into the stylish Baby Can Boutique, a backdrop for selling our jewelry, which we display under her canopy. It’s easy to carry along everything we need to set up for shows. She also serves as a “guest cottage”, a refuge for writing and reading and she’s a great looking yard ornament.

This is my partner in crime and rebuilding! Mr. Resto, himself. As you can see we have a good time on our trips. Although, his wine drinking days are long gone, we still love getting out, exploring and seeing new places. It’s a part of our wanderlust, a necessary escape from the toil of daily life.