1st "wrap around" windowed caravans

[Deleted]

From Judy Cooper:


Dear Mark,

My husband Joe Cooper used to build caravans with his father Osborne Cooper in the late 1940’s early 1950’s located in Hawthorn Road, Caulfield. They manufactured their caravans under the name Paramount. My husband has stated that he was immensely proud of designing the first wrap around window and this was soon copied by other manufacturers. He used to do all the cabinetry for his father as he was a qualified joiner. I have been on the vintage caravan site to see if one of his caravans still exists but have had no luck so far. However I thought it may have been of interest to have given you these latest details.



I have really enjoyed looking over this site and think its great so many people are visiting it also. Keep up the good work.



Kind regards



Judy Cooper.

[1954homemade]

Oh that's nice.

I wonder if Judy has any old photos, paperwork, brochures etc etc. I would be great to have any info for Down History Lane.

But also one we have any photos of the Paramount, we may be able to put a name to some of those caravans that we have seen, but didn't know what it was ?

Regards
Di

[Franklin1]

What an amazing coincidence!! The only reason I started the Paramount caravan thread in the DHL section yesterday was because a longtime friend of mine passed on two boxes of Caravan World magazines last week, covering the years 1998 to 2005. The magazines were kept by his elderly Dad who recently suffered a stroke and was now in the process of getting rid of some of the clutter. I just happened to flick through a few of the magazines on the top in one of the boxes and noticed the article describing the 1937 Paramount van. And then I thought, "Gee, that's a caravan name I haven't heard mentioned in a long time!", ...and here we are now with Judy writing to us about the very same brand. So a big thanks to Judy for getting in touch with us, and passing on some really interesting info about the Paramounts.

MarkT, I'll copy your post over into the Paramount thread in DHL.

cheers,
Al.

[Don Ricardo]

Mark

Fascinating info from Judy Cooper on the history of Paramount caravans. If you're in contact with her, can you ask her about the early history. When did the Coopers start building vans? The quote provided by Al suggests early to mid 30's. If this is the case then it's a bit of added evidence to suggest that there was a little explosion of van building in that period. Historians talk about the 50's as being the time when there was a surge in caravan building, and that is no doubt true, but the early 30's also appears to have been a time of expansion of manufacturers, etc.

Di

I think you're right. The more photos and info we can accumulate the better position we will be in to identify the origins of the different vans which turn up. I'm pretty convinced that at least some (note 'some') of the vans which are around were actually commercially built rather than being homebuilt as we've tended to say (maybe even a certain 1954 homemade? ). A lot of the manufacturers in the 50's seemed to have had their brand names signwritten on to the side or front of the van, so one coat of paint and suddenly the brand name is lost!

There is also a question about what the difference is between home built and commercially built. If somebody builds one van in their backyard, it's clearly a home built. If the person in question then goes on to build three vans of the same design in the backyard is that still home built? Maybe? Probably? If the person ends up building 10 or 15 vans - commercially built? I'm not sure where the dividing line is...

Don Ricardo