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Post by beadybugs on Jul 6, 2008 9:21:54 GMT 10
Prior to 1966, every Labor Day Weekend and Easter my family including my uncle and two other families would trek to Lake Eppalock, near Bendigo in Victoria and free camp at a little place called Lyall Glen. The two tone grey caravan towed by the chev ute at the rear my uncle Bob built in the back yard at Grandma’s. The blue van in the foreground on the left was owned by Harold and Peg Albiston and their 3 children. The van on the right hand side was two tone green and owned by Keith and Jean Elms and their family. This photo was taken in the main street of Heathcote on our way home after one of the weekends. We always stopped for a break at Heathcote. Missing from photo is an EJ and an EH holden towing two wooden boats that also went with us. We formed quite a little cavalcade of holden cars, bond wood caravans and wooden boats.  The photograph below is of Uncle Bob’s van at McCrae on the Mornington Peninsula either at the beginning or end of our summer holidays. It had an annex which housed a kerosene fridge for the fish Bob and dad caught. The camp was set up around Cup weekend and left on site until the beginning of the new school year. An 18 x 12 tent completed the camp. The van’s interior was the traditional café table across the front, kitchen in the middle with wardrobe opposite and double bed across the back. Dad also towed this van with an FC Holden on a holiday to Warrnambool, Portland, up to Balranald then onto Horsham, I think around 1962 which was a huge adventure for us then. We’ve dated this photo between 1964 & early 1966 as the Chev ute was traded in for a HD station wagon.  |
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Post by Don Ricardo on Jul 6, 2008 18:10:26 GMT 10
G'day Beadybugs, Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your first post!  Some great photos there, and I bet those days at Lake Eppalock and Macrae are amongst the most treasured memories of your childhood. Your Uncle Bob's van looks like a pretty nice unit and very nicely finished. Not too many vans in that era had a curved top to the door, so that's an unusual feature. Do you know whether he built the van using plans or a shell purchased from somewhere, or just built it 'out of his head'? Got to ask as well - are any of those vans still around? Don Ricardo |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 6, 2008 18:25:42 GMT 10
Hiya Beadybugs. Great pictures. Thanks very much for posting them. Always great to look back at photos of old caravanning and camping trips. i bet they bring the memorys flooding back whenever you bring them out. Gotta love them old Holdens ( and chevs)  Reddo |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 6, 2008 19:06:57 GMT 10
Vintage caravans & Holden cars ........now thats music to my ears  Great pics beadybugs, you can't beat old caravanning pics that come out of the family album ......we 'vintage vanners' try to recreate these scenes, but there ain't nothin' as good as the original Interesting that the Chev ute was traded on a HD Holden wagon ......I guess many of the larger old cars from the early 1950's were traded on mid 1960's Holdens .......I'll bet it was traded for next to nothing too  Mark
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Post by firefighter on Jul 6, 2008 22:08:42 GMT 10
  Hi beabybugs .....you would not want to camp at lake Eppalock now no water great photos from the good old early days Marks statement Interesting that the Chev ute was traded on a HD Holden wagon ......I guess many of the larger old cars from the early 1950's were traded on mid 1960's Holdens .......I'll bet it was traded for next to nothing too yer mark just an old chev ute who..... would want it any way ;D ;D ;D ;D wonder where it is now........(probable in W A ) ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D f/f ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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Post by beadybugs on Jul 7, 2008 20:02:32 GMT 10
Thanks Don, Reddo, Mark and
We’re into vintage, a family owned vintage car, access to an HR in original condition (family owned) and a couple of vintage boats! Hubby found the vintage caravan site and in the Memorabilia publications the one titled RACV Caravan & Camping Guide, Flynns Caravan Spares (Blue publication) the address, High Street Thornbury jumped out at us.
Flynns was directly opposite where my grandfather, his sons (my uncles) and my dad ran a licensed grocer.
Uncle Bob purchased the bowed (steam bent) timber from Flynns. A Jack Flynn ran Tasmanian Timber Benders(ing) and we think became Flynn’s Caravan Spares. (I googled TTB and came up with an address in Echuca).
The grey caravan was built from the ground up in the carport at the back of Grandma’s property in East Preston. We have slides of the van in frame stage but as they are not very good photos, being partly obscured by a tree, I didn’t post them. Both uncles are a bit vague on how the chasis came to be, however Mick built his own van in the late 60’s including the chasis and concludes “that we were into all that back then” so they probably built the chasis as well. Quote: 'No plans were used, we just knew what we wanted in the van'!
The story goes that my uncles built several vans and rented them out. They sold them all when the business wasn’t profitable. I might add that at the time their ages were around 21 and 16-17!
We also came across a photo of my grandparents in an older chev ute towing an even older van, but for the life of us we can’t find it again. This was apparently around 1948/49 and Mick (aged about 10-12) flew up to Canberra in a DC3 to meet his parents. They then did a trip down the Murray Valley Highway. The van was owned by a friend.
Mick built a van for his family in1968/69 which is still in his possession today. I will take a photo of it. Bob’s last van he built 30 years ago. We don’t communicate a great deal (families!), however when I rang him today, he had given it to some one 10 days ago who was planning to restore it. It was used once! Has sat in his carport in Preston for 30 years – complete with annex! OUCH!!! One day we’d like to add vintage van to our collection!
Both uncles were adamant that no plans were used to build any of their vans. Neither had any formal training at the time, although Mick became a plumber and Bob could build anything out of wood.
The uncles (my dad was also a part of this after he married my mum) also built their own fishing boats, again in Grandma’s garage!
The Chev ute wasn’t traded in, it was actually bought by a friend who was from memory a plumber or builder. Don’t know what happened to it after that.
Are any of the vans in the photo around today? I have no idea. All vans were used at McCrae for many, many years and we have lost touch with the families. Some one out there may know or recognise them
Question: Returning from Echuca on Queens Birthday weekend we saw two vintage vans coming or going somewhere one towed by a 30's Chev or Ford Roadster. Any ideas?
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Post by firefighter on Jul 7, 2008 21:32:35 GMT 10
Hi Beadybugs Tasmanian timber benders from Echuca was sold a few years ago to a bloke in daylesford now called The Timber Benders 37 East st Daylesford and they still have all the antique machinary that was bought over from Tasmanian f/f ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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