Harvel Caravans

[Don Ricardo]

HARVEL CARAVANS

Manufactured by Harvel Furniture Pty Ltd
221 Forrester Street, Kingsgrove, NSW

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In the history of the Jones Dolly Wheel written by Boblor here, he mentions the following:

"The Dolly Wheels were fitted to all Harvel Caravans produced at the time, built by Harvel Furniture, about 6 units in total."

Boblor doesn't have any information about Harvel caravans, other than the above. Given that Jones Dolly Wheels was based in Sydney, and Harvel only produced a small number of vans, Harvel may also have been located in Sydney somewhere, but that's just a guess.

Does Harvel ring any bells for anyone on the forum?

(Googling doesn't help either! There's a Harvel town or city in both the UK and the USA, and both have furniture stores and connections to caravanning. Hard to find whether there's any wood amongst the trees... )

Don Ricardo

[Don Ricardo]

Feb 18, 2016 20:55:54 GMT 10 boblor said:

Hi All
I contacted Ray and Merle Barlett today, in order to clarify a couple of areas in my report.
Harvel Caravans, these vans were built by Harvel Furniture down a laneway next door to the Jones Springs factory. They only built 6 caravans. Here I have to correct my report where I stated all were fitted with the Jones Dolley Wheel. This is incorrect only one was fitted with the Wheel.There is another peace of info here Jones made all the chassis for the Harvel caravans.Perhaps these vans were built for private clients of Harvel Furniture factory ...

Cheers boblor

Boblor's reference to Harvel in his report can be found here

[Don Ricardo]

Hi all,

Boblor introduced us to Harvel caravans built by Harvel Furniture in Kingsgrove, NSW, early last year (see higher up this thread). Apparently they only built six vans, with the assistance of Jones Springs Pty Ltd (of Jones Dolly Wheel fame), who built the chassis. Information on the Harvel caravans is scarce, but there were a few advertisements placed in 1961 and 1962 that tell us a little, thanks to www.newspapers.com

The first advert for Harvel that I have been able to find was published in the Sydney Morning Herald [SMH] in October 1961.  It tells us that the vans were available as shells or as completed vans:


(Source: SMH, Saturday, 7 October 1961, page 36)

An advert placed in the following December, tells us that Harvel vans ranged in size from 10 ft 6 in and three berth, to 15 ft and six berth.  The vans also had an inbuilt step (which may help to identify one of the vans if we come across one!).


(Source:  SMH, Saturday, 9 December 1961, page 38)

The last advert that I have been able to find was placed in June 1962, and also refers to a 12 ft 6 in van:


(Source: SMH, Saturday, 16 June 1962, page 36)

Thanks to forum member Polly for alerting me to these adverts.

Don Ricardo