New Member Interview with Gary Pikarsky

Can you tell us about how you got into the vintage trailer hobby?

I stayed in a vintage Airstream camper for three months while we were building our house in 2013. It was charming, quirky but also very cool! In 2019 we decided to look for a vintage camper to remodel and use for both an Air BNB rental and also take camping. We bought an Aristocrat Lo-Liner ST sight unseen in California and had it delivered to our home in New Mexico. 

What type of trailers have you owned and what do you have now? What is your dream vintage trailer?

The Aristocrat is our first and only vintage trailer. My dream trailer would be a Kencraft. They are so cool and well built…

What do you tow with?

We tow our trailer with a 2005 Toyota 4Runner Sport, 6 cylinder. I added a transmission cooler after driving some mountain passes on an extended trip in California Spring of 2021.Our transmission fluid began to overheat, but luckily I pulled off the road and waited an hour….thankfully we didn’t have any problems afterword and added the cooler as a precautionary measure. 

Do you attend rallies and what do you like the most about attending a rally?

We haven’t attended any rallies yet. We plan on going to Arizona when the Arizona Vintage Trailers group has one hopefully next year.

Why did you decide to join the Tin Can Tourists?

I had heard of the group and a friend who helped work on our trailer belonged to the group. After checking out the website, it looked like a great way to meet and access information of various trailers.

What are your camping plans for this year?

This year we took a 3,000 mile inaugural trip with our trailer when we picked it up after having some plumbing and other needed repairs done and also painted by Rudy Hernandez who did an amazing job on it ! Recently we went to City of Rocks state park in New Mexico which was a about a 700 mile round trip. Right now, (Late October) we are winterizing it and planning for some trips next year. One will be the Great Sand Dunes NP where we have tent camped several times and look forward to staying in the camper our next trip.