Tru-Line Caravans (WA?)

[Don Ricardo]

TRU-LINE CARAVANS

Manufacturer unknown

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Up to this point the only reference we've had to Tru-Line caravans has been in some notes on one of the caravans in the Powerhouse Museum collection in Sydney, stating that Tru-Line vans were built in Western Australia:

"...Between 1950 and 1953 there were at least 60 registered caravan manufacturers in Australia including Viscount and Millard in NSW, Franklin and Coronet in Victoria, Chesney in Queensland and Tru-Line in Western Australia..."

I have not been able to find any other reference to Tru-Line caravans (but see later comment about the Franklin Truline), so I don't know what the basis is for the Powerhouse statement regarding their WA origins. Furthermore, as we've built up information about the history of caravanning in Australia, it has become clear that some of the information in the Powerhouse notes is incorrect. So that does possibly put a question mark over the comment about Tru-Line caravans, but at this time a possible connection to WA is all we've got! 

For this reason, it was exciting to see some photos of a Tru-Line caravan recently posted on Facebook by Robi Warden here. (Note: There are two photos which you can access by pressing 'Previous' and 'Next' near the top right hand corner of the photos.)

Based on the shape of the van and the combination of the aluminium front, back and roof and bondwood sides, I would hazard a guess as to the van being early 60's.

It should be noted that Franklin produced a model called 'Truline' from the late 70's to the early 80's (and possibly extending before and after that), but I feel fairly sure that there isn't any connection between Franklin and the earlier Tru-Line vans.

Thanks to Dale Bates and Our Touring Past for sharing Robi Warden's post on Facebook - credit where credit is due! It is fantastic when several of us are able to work together to make the connections that enable us to gradually fill in some of the blanks in the history of Australian caravanning.

Don Ricardo

[Don Ricardo]

Photos of a Tru-Line caravan seen in May 2017 at 'Jack & Kacs Bric a Brac' in Ovens, Victoria:









Scissor style stabilisers:



The internal colour scheme suggests that the van may have been used as a bedroom by a teenage girl at one point in its life?







The space around the van in the shed was very tight, so the scope for photos was quite limited.

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In a discussion about this van here, Hughdeani suggested that it was a badge engineered Franklin, and compared it to Smlewi's Franklin here. He also referred to the Truline models produced by Franklin in the 1970's.

This Tru-Line does have the "Franklin Shelf" in the galley (with the single support in the centre), but otherwise is different to other Franklins we've seen on the forum. One significant difference is that, when looking at it side on, the front wall of the Tru-Line was straight up and down, whereas the front wall of the similar 1958 and 1959 (and 1960?) Franklins (before they added panoramic wrap around windows - 1961?) slanted forward, as it does on Smlewi's van.

Don Ricardo

[Don Ricardo]

10 ft Tru-Line caravan listed on Gumtree in November 2017:





















This Tru-Line is the same model as Robi Warden's caravan referred to in the first post on this thread, except this one appears to be a foot or so shorter.  Robi Warden's van has a window to the left of the door, whereas this van has only  porthole, suggesting the shorter length.

Don Ricardo