ID for late 50s? Aluminium Caravan

[lechar]

We have a caravan that we work out if that we rebuilt and restored as well as we could. We had to make significant changes to the front to allow ourselves to work and the height of the ceiling was lifted by the previous owner. The previous owner also ruined the original hinges on the large rear window which was originally meant to open up so you could reverse it and look at the sea and have the sea breeze come through… total tragedy which eventually we aim to have re-made (if we can find a similar image of the original hinges). The frame of the rear window is steel. The only visible original aluminium cladding is on that window and has that unique diamond pattern. The rest of the caravan was gutted when we bought it and we had to re-clad it in plain aluminium sheeting because the amount of holes the previous owner put in the original cladding was disastrous. Utterly ruined a beautiful feature. So here we have a restored but renovated original trailer (full diamond aluminum, curved edge windows (which were damaged so we couldn’t re-use, except rear was square and no idea what shape door or wheel arched were) that we are desperately trying to ID due to registration issues with VicRoads based on their new regulations! If I can figure out how on earth to post pics on this forum I will but goodness me it’s a bit convoluted and I don’t have much faith! If you have any expert knowledge about Australian built caravans pre-1968 please email me at [e-mail]

I’m not sure how to use this forum to its full potential. Really sorry!!!

And I can’t see the “add image” thingy at the top of this …??

[Don Ricardo]

Hi Lechar,

Welcome to the Forum. We'll certainly help you if we can.

Regarding the 'Add Attachment' button, it's a pain that it doesn't immediately show when you looking at our website on a mobile phone, but you need to scroll down to the bottom of the 'Create Post' window and click on 'Desktop' after which the 'Add Attachment' button should appear. (If that doesn't happen, please let me know. The feedback will be help us.)

But to provide you with another perhaps easier option, you can email your photos to me at [e-mail] and I'll be happy to post them for you.

Hopefully we can tell you something about your van when we see it.

Don Ricardo

[Don Ricardo]

Hi all,

I'm posting the following photos for Lechar (see their post at the commencement of the thread):

In Lechar's email she provided the following information about the van:

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"...So we have had to do a lot of work.

I have narrowed down the build of this caravan to between 1956 - 1966. I think it’s either a Victorian or NSW build. We had no info upon purchase. Maybe Don Caravan Co but it does not really look like this Cadet… so not sure!

(See last pic for original shape of front).

Rear window is original. Shape of ceiling is original, windows are from 70s vehicles as they are as close as we could get them. As is the door.

We put reproduction round lights on the back.

Original cladding was diamond printed aluminium. We had to re clad it in plain aluminium due to the extensive damage the previous owner did to that so that’s a big shame we couldn’t salvage it except visible on big large window. (We had to fix it in not make it hinges as would like to restore that feature one day).

Hinges on rear window were just cut straight off. Steel framed. It is a large square and has a small little window in it that is also original.

None of interior existed when we purchased it. It had no floor, no walls, no windows. We have basically built it and tried as hard as we can without any prior experience building or restoring caravans to keep it looking as close to possible.

We had to modify the front so we could work inside as it inhibited the working area of the kitchenette.

The height of the ceiling was lifted 20cm by the previous owner, which is one reason I bought it as my partner is 6’ 3”…

So hopefully… you can help us a little bit!
Any info at all would be invaluable!!"

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The shape including the shape of the original front window suggests a mid to late 50's design, but the fact that it has a steel frame suggests to me that the van was probably home built.  Almost no commercially built caravans in the mid to late 50's had that type of frame.

So does anyone have any ideas or other thoughts? I can say for sure that it is not a Don or Don Cadet of any type.

Don Ricardo

[hughdeany]

Hi all,
It looks to me like a CRB lunch room van,but I can’t remember who built them or if they had a steel frame.
I think it was a company in Brighton VIC but not sure,maybe Don Ricardo remembers?
Cheers
hughdeany

[Don Ricardo]

Hi Hughdeany and Lechar,

I think Hughdeany is thinking of Highway Caravans? If you look at the photos on this thread you can see a photo of a Highway commercial van which looks similar to Lechar's van from the front backwards. However, that van has a wooden frame and the original front of Lechar's van was quite different shape to the Highway commercials.

Don Ricardo

[hughdeany]

Hi Don,
I thought the front had been altered from original,maybe I got it wrong way round!

[Don Ricardo]

Hi Hughdeany,

According to Lechar's email (quoted above) the last photo in the series - showing the caravan on the trailer - shows the original shape of the front. As I said, it looks mid to late 50's to me, but what appears to me a metal frame has me tossed.

Don Ricardo