Post by Don Ricardo on Jan 27, 2013 16:37:43 GMT 10
COACHCRAFT & TRAILCRAFT CARAVANS
G H Olding & Sons Pty Ltd
47 Parramatta Road, Glebe NSW
and later at 290 Great Western Highway, Wentworthville NSW
Hi all,
During my recent holiday I was re-reading the August/September 2012 edition of Vintage Caravan Magazine when my attention was drawn to a letter to the editor regarding a 1950's 10 ft Coachcraft caravan recently acquired by the letter writer. Based on the photo of the van in the magazine, my guess is that it is from the early 50's. A search of the forum revealed that there had been no mention of Coachcraft caravans previously, however a search of the newspaper archives on Trove turned up two items.
The first is an advertisement including a photo from the Sydney Morning Herald published on Saturday, 16 December 1939 (p 10):
(Source: National Library of Australia nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17624723 )
The second was an earlier line advertisement printed in the Sydney Morning Herald on Thursday, 23 December 1937 (p 3):
(Source: National Library of Australia nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17437144 )
These items indicate that Coachcraft was one of the firms building caravans in Sydney in the late 30's. Judging from the photo in the advert, at least some of their vans were quite large - four berth and maybe 14 or 16 ft? They also featured 'running water' (a tank presumably?), electric lights and leadlight windows.
The letter to VCM seems to indicate that Coachcraft was also one of the caravan building firms which survived WWII and continued building into the late 40's or early 50's. I assume it is the same firm involved, although the address provided in the letter for Coachcraft was the Great Western Highway, Wentworthville.
I have since been in contact with the letter writer to VCM, and was delighted to discover that he is a member of the forum under the handle Kav028, and that he will provide some photos of his little 10 ft Coachcraft when he gets a chance.
Don Ricardo
G H Olding & Sons Pty Ltd
47 Parramatta Road, Glebe NSW
and later at 290 Great Western Highway, Wentworthville NSW
Hi all,
During my recent holiday I was re-reading the August/September 2012 edition of Vintage Caravan Magazine when my attention was drawn to a letter to the editor regarding a 1950's 10 ft Coachcraft caravan recently acquired by the letter writer. Based on the photo of the van in the magazine, my guess is that it is from the early 50's. A search of the forum revealed that there had been no mention of Coachcraft caravans previously, however a search of the newspaper archives on Trove turned up two items.
The first is an advertisement including a photo from the Sydney Morning Herald published on Saturday, 16 December 1939 (p 10):
(Source: National Library of Australia nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17624723 )
The second was an earlier line advertisement printed in the Sydney Morning Herald on Thursday, 23 December 1937 (p 3):
(Source: National Library of Australia nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17437144 )
These items indicate that Coachcraft was one of the firms building caravans in Sydney in the late 30's. Judging from the photo in the advert, at least some of their vans were quite large - four berth and maybe 14 or 16 ft? They also featured 'running water' (a tank presumably?), electric lights and leadlight windows.
The letter to VCM seems to indicate that Coachcraft was also one of the caravan building firms which survived WWII and continued building into the late 40's or early 50's. I assume it is the same firm involved, although the address provided in the letter for Coachcraft was the Great Western Highway, Wentworthville.
I have since been in contact with the letter writer to VCM, and was delighted to discover that he is a member of the forum under the handle Kav028, and that he will provide some photos of his little 10 ft Coachcraft when he gets a chance.
Don Ricardo
