Starlite Folding Caravan (Fitzroy, Vic)

Evening V V'ers,

Last night when I was leafing through the 1960 Winser looking for something else, I came across an article about the folding caravan built by Starlite Canopy Co which provides some more information about the caravan which Firefighter first posted about in 2007. It turns out that the van was called 'Starline' not 'Starlite' as we first thought. (Editorial note: See discussion in post below.)

The Winser article tells us quite a bit (albeit briefly) about how the folding mechanism worked, and the features of the caravan:


(Source: K Winser, Ausstralian Caravan and Touring Manual for1960, 12th Year Book, page 168)

The article led me to thinking about some photos of a folding caravan posted in April 2008 by Adrian here; the van belonged to Adrian's father. The van as it was in 2008:











When Adrian posted the above photos, he commented that that the folding walls were hinged with piano hinges.

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Following some discussion about the van, Adrian explained further on 15 April 2008:

Hi All,

Thanks for all your responses.

The wheel at the back is used to wind the wire cable that lifts the roof up and is removable.

It used to take my dad about 10 minutes to put it all up, it also has a custom annex .

The table is put down for a double bed, and at the other end bunk beds fold out (mattresses are the seat cushions).

It has a water tank and the water is pumped in by a foot pedal in front of the sink.

It used to look like this



The steps fold into the van...

Cheers ;D ;D
Adrian

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Having examined Adrian's photos and the photos in the Winser article, I am pretty convinced that Adrian's father's van is a Starline for the following reasons:

• The overall look and design of the van.
• The shape of the roof and the slight slope from front to back
• The shape of the top part of the door and the placement of the hatch in the door.
• The fold up "awning" over the door, which also forms a "cut-out" in the roof for the door to open and shut.
• The porthole window, and its placement in relation to the roof.
• The wind up mechanism for raising the roof, and the tubular supports for the roof as it's raised and lowered.
• The use of piano hinges for hinging the folding side walls, as mentioned in Winser.
• The fittings in the van which match the description in Winser.

The only things that give me pause in relation to this conclusion are that Adrian stated that his father's van was home made, and that only two were built. In addition - and more significantly - the winding mechanism for Adrian's van was operated from the rear by the steering wheel you can see in a couple of his photos, whereas the winding mechanism for the van in the Winser article is operated by the handle on the column located in the A-frame of the van. The actual winding mechanism may be different, but the principle seems the same, so I am still pretty convinced that Adrian's van is/was a Starline. Maybe there were only two vans built with the steering wheel winder, and that's the info that was passed down to Adrian by his father?

Don Ricardo

Hi Humpyboy,

Yes, quite possible I would say. Maybe somebody from the "Starlite" family will come along one of these days and tell us, eh? Here's hoping. I'm just chuffed that I'm pretty sure I've been able to join the dots in this case. I love it when we can do that on the forum.

Don Ricardo