Carapark question

[Don Ricardo]

Hi everyone,

We are all familiar with the Carapark aluminium caravans - the ones Reddo lovingly refers to as 'toasters'. We have also seen examples of the later Carapark Zestliners. However, while I was reading through some old posts earlier this evening I came across the following Carapark advertisement:



I think the magazine is dated 1954 (Cobber posted this advert originally so can probably tell us). However the ad is for a very different style of Carapark...possibly aluminium, but looks more like a bondy from the shape. The address is given as Paramatta Road, Summer Hill whereas the address we currently have listed for Carapark is Paramatta Road, Leichardt.

Are we talking about the same Carapark company here, and if so where does this model fit into Carapark history? Is the caravan pictured in fact a re-badged Sundowner caravan, and if so how long did Carapark sell them for? (See: vintagecaravans.proboards30.com/index.cgi?board=chat&action=display&thread=1195534754)

Anybody know?

(Incidentally, I note that this Carapark advert has also borrowed - knocked off - the Don slogan: "follow the sun in a Carapark Caravan". Is nothing sacred!! See the Don slogan quoted below. )

Don Ricardo

[Franklin1]

Hi Don, over in the Carapark thread in the History section, sportsman1 (Leigh) posted a magazine article about the history of Carapark caravans. Seems they started up in Newcastle originally, and then moved down to Sydney (the article is difficult to read clearly). Looks like they might have set up in Summer Hill before later moving to Leichardt (or maybe had two factories - one for ali and one for bondy). Leigh's article also shows rounded Caraparks known as the "Voyager" model, and carapark (member) has his 1957 Carapark "Cardman" which also has the rounded "bondy" shape.

The Outdoors and Fishing magazine was published in Melbourne, so I think the slogan "Follow the sun..." would have been a bit lost on Melbournites, given its weather reputation. Wouldn't people have asked: "What's a sun?"

cheers,
Al.

[Jikah]

I can assure you that it is a plywood caravan built by Carapark and that their yard was on Parramatta Road, Summer Hill.
I know this because I grew up in Ashfield and my Dad built his own caravan in 1955. We frequented Carapark for a few parts but mostly for inspiration and ideas to use in the van building.
Carapark was never in Leichhardt to my knowledge, certainly not in the 50's or 60's.
I attended High School 1957-1959 at Parramatta Road, Petersham, and passed Carapark daily.
Have a picture of Dad's homebuilt caravan somewhere and will drag them out sometime.
Basically it used a 1928 Erskine front axle (welded up stubs), springs, brakes (mechanical), but not the wheels (wooden spokes), but did use the tyres on a pair of steel wheels off a mid-30's car of some sort. The chassis main rails and draw bar was new steel but the remainder of the chassis was bed irons scrounged at the tip. The chassis was bolted together with 1/4" high tensile bolts, washers, spring washers and nuts
The main frame bows were an unclaimed order from a caravan builder in Newtown, and the coupling a Henderson over-ride unit with the screw down nut. The tow ball had a stud sticking out the top of it.
Dad used 2nd hand timber, ripped down to required sizes using a 1/4" Wolf Cub electric drill with a saw attachment (he bought this specifically for this job). He built everything else including windows, cupboards, furniture etc. We used an front loading ice-chest (2 doors) like we used to use at home before we got a refrigerator. That was my idea. Worked very well as it was insulated with cork and a block of ice lasted three days.
It was four berth, double bunks at front folded down to a sofa, and dining table folded down to double bed across the back.
The van was covered with sheet plywood which came in rolls which were about 8 feet wide and as long as you needed. There was just one piece of ply from the floor at the front up and over the top to the floor at the back and on piece on each side. We covered the roof with canvas and painted it with Silverfross aluminised paint. The floor was one piece of 1/2" ply painted on both side with bitumen paint. Home made hopper windows. There was no lining on the inside. I think the van was only 6 feet wide as this was dictated by the axle.
We towed this caravan with a 1946 Studebaker Champion which was ex-US Army surplus, repainted and sold by Needham Motors straight after WWII, before the front and back Studebakers came on the market. Dad bought this car in 1954. He traded the caravan and Stude in on a his first brand-new car, a Hillman Minx, in 1961.
We went on many trips with this caravan from Sydney to Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane, Broken Hill, Rockhampton and to the very top of Mount Kosciusko one summer. (Can't drive there any more only walk!)

[Don Ricardo]

Hi Jikah and Al,

Thanks for your posts.

Jikah - Thanks for confirming that the van in question was plywood. Great to hear about your memories of passing the Carapark factory in the 50's, and also telling us about your Dad's van. Sounds as if he was a very enterprising and creative fellow. I'm sure we'd all like to see photos of his van if you can dig them up at some point.

Al - I obviously didn't read as far through the thread as I should have, did I!! I note that a caravan which appears to be very similar to the one in the advert above can be seen in the 'Paradise Park' photo on page 53 of the Caravan & Motorhome article Sportsman1 posted, although it may be another brand of caravan which just happened to be pulling into the caravan park at the time.

The Voyager caravans appear to me as if they may be aluminium, but whether they are or not, they are certainly more conventional in style than the 'toaster'-style or Zestliner Caraparks. The Voyager photos are obviously from the early 60's. The Wolseley shown in the picture of the Voyager Fifteen was first released in 1960 (or very late 1959), and the Hillman (or is it a Humber Vogue) shown in the picture of the Voyager Twelve-Six was released around 1963 or so, I think.

Carapark's (member) Cardman indicates that Carapark (the manufacturer) did apparently sell a diversified range of vans during their time. Cobber's post on Sundowner caravans indicates that Carapark purchased Western Caravan Company which made the Sundowner, and then drew attention to the fact that the van in the advert above bore a strong resemblance to a Sundowner. I wonder if that means that over the years Carapark re-branded and sold other brands of caravan so that they had something to offer people who didn't want to buy an all aluminium van?

As an aside I thought the comments by the author of the Caravan & Motorhome article to the effect that Carapark was "Quite possibly responsible for the caravanning lifestyle in Australia...", and "I'd hazard a guess and say that most C&M readers were bitten by the caravanning bug in a Carapark" were a slight exaggeration! But then the article was written in 2003 and the author didn't have the V V forum to refer to, did he?

Don Ricardo

[exocet]

Hi Don R, my '56 KW mag has a small photo of a ply Carapark [from the front it looks very similar to Dorothea] disembarking off a river barge, CARAPARK clearly emblazoned above the front windows.

Cheers Exocet

[Franklin1]

That's some really interesting and useful information provided by Jikah and exocet above...thanks guys!

Don Ricardo, that advert you've posted above would be a good addition to the Carapark thread (meaning...what's taking you so long to copy it over there!! ) I'm going to modify the "Carapark History" box to include some of the stuff from Jikah, but then copy the full Jikah and exocet stuff over there as well.

thanks,
Al.

[Deleted]

Hi there historian types

This van i brought home from lake Macquarie has "Carapark" stamped in the tow coupling. it has hinge out front and back windows. might not be as big as the one in the advert (12 or 14ft that one) but definitley very similar in style. It was only about 10 foot long so not enough room for a window in front of the door. The window frames where timber.
also note in the advert photo what appears to be a "Skirt" along the side which is seperated by the step. Then have another look at the my photos ;D




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Reddo

[aussieambo]

Hi All,
Attached to a nostalgic wall (for displaying bygone advertisements) at Melba's Chocolate factory near Woodside in the Adelaide Hills is none other than one advertising 1951 Caravan Park (Carapark) caravans. The address on the bottom of the ad clearly shows the address as 70 Parramatta Rd, Summer Hill. So Jikah was quite correct. I have posted my photos on the Down History Lane Carapark thread for all to enjoy. You can clearly see the Carapark trend toward a new shape and aluminum van with the Superb De Luxe in the background of the ad. Please that I could contribute to this topic.
Cheers
Graem

[Don Ricardo]

G'day Graem,

Thanks for posting the Carapark ad on the Carapark thread in the DHL section. It is a really useful addition which confirms that Carapark has sold quite a diverse range of caravans over the years.

The history of Carapark obviously has a number of chapters and is just crying out for someone to do some research to put the whole picture together...

Don Ricardo

[scootman]

Thats gonna be nice when you do it up reddo, or is it going to the same was as poor old fugly?

[Jikah]

As I mentioned in my post above on 19/1/08 I have posted the pictures of Dad's caravan I mentioned in Members Photo Albums for anyone that is interested. Thanks.