Hi all,
A bit more info on Airlite caravans, thanks to Trove and
www.newspapers.comThe first time Airlite caravans turns up in the newspapers is this advert published in the
Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) on Wednesday, 24 November 1937 (page 21):
(Source: National Library of Australia
nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17397975 )
1937 is also the date of the Charlavan caravan brochure posted by
Cobber here. Charlavans were also manufactured by Caravans (A'sia) Pty Ltd, and seem to have been last advertised in the press in 1937. That suggests that in that year, Caravans (A'sia) decided to change the name of their caravans from 'Charlavan' to 'Airlite'. However, we don't know whether the Airlites were just a carry over of the previous Charlavan Junior and Senior models, or involved a whole new range and/or design.
The advert makes a point of stating that Airlites were 'scientifically designed' and 'built to factory mass-production standards of precision'. It also states that there were three models in the range: two luxury models and one collapsible top model built for small cars.
It is notable that for the first year or so, Caravans (A'sia) didn't just take out simple line adverts consisting of a few lines, but instead used more substantial block adverts, sometimes including illustrations.
An advert placed in the
SMH a week after the one shown above, on 1 December 1937, claims that the benefit of the Airlites being mass produced, was that the price of them was reduced 'enormously'. In addition,
'All Airlite Caravans incorporate latest American and English features which have proved successful and have been adapted for Australian conditions'.
(Source:
SMH, Wednesday, 1 December 1937, page 6 )
An advert published in the Sydney
Sun on Tuesday, 14 December 1937 (page 20), contains a drawing of one of the Airlite models on sale:
(Source: National Library of Australia
nla.gov.au/nla.news-article232016705 )
While only a line drawing, it appears to be quite an accurate representation (unlike some of the drawings used in caravan adverts by other manufacturers!). We know that, because the caravan looks to be the same as the one in the photos of the Charlavan caravan posted by Cobber in the post referred to earlier. So, that appears to suggest either that the Airlites carried over at least one of the Charlavan designs, or that the photos posted by Cobber are actually an Airlite rather than a Charlavan.
On 22 January 1938, in an advert in the
SMH, Caravans (A'sia) announced its new lantern roof model caravan, the Airlite No 3:
(Source:
SMH, Saturday, 22 January 1938, page 28)
Some of the features are interesting: 4-berth, a room divider to divide the living area into two rooms, hard board exterior (was that masonite?), and 'lined with handsome wood pannelling' (does that mean varnished wood?). We know what the Airlite No 3 looked like because of an advert placed in the
Sydney Mail on Wednesday, 2 February 1938 (page 58):
(Source: National Library of Australia
nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16622753 )
This is the same advert from a different source that Cobber posted higher up this thread. Cobber wasn't able to establish the date of that advert, but it was probably 1938, the same as the
Sydney Mail advert. So another piece of the puzzle is in place.
An advert appearing in the
SMH on 5 February 1938 referred to the Airlite range including
"...two models designed and built especially for the lower powered class of car":
(Source:
SMH, Saturday, 5 February 1938, page 27)
The advert went on to say:
"Featuring a collapsible telescopic design, these AIRLITE'S (sic) can speedily be made conveniently low for touring...". The reference to two collapsible models seems to be at odds with the advert published in November 1937, which stated that there were two luxury models and one collapsible top model.
Airlites continued to be advertised in the Sydney press during 1938 and into 1939. This one was published in the
SMH in June 1938, and tells us that the model range included 2, 3 and 4-berth vans, and claims that the vans come
"...from the largest caravan factory in New South Wales".
(Source:
SMH, Saturday, 4 June 1938, page 29)
The other interesting thing about the above advert, however, is that there has been a subtle change to the name of the company: 'Caravans (A'sia) Pty Ltd' is now 'Caravans (Aust) Pty Ltd'.
Sometime after June 1938, the Airlite adverts were reduced in size to become standard, brief line adverts , similar to those placed by most other manufacturers. This may perhaps reflect - and this is conjecture only - that Caravans (Aust) may have been suffering from financial constraints, and was reducing its costs. By 1939 they were also being advertised as 'Air Lite' caravans, rather than 'Airlite'.
The last advert for Airlite caravans placed by Caravans (Aust) that I have been able to find at this point was one of the very brief, standard line adverts that appeared in the
SMH on 17 July 1939:
(Source:
SMH, Monday, 17 July 1939, page 21)
There were some adverts for 'almost new' Air Lite caravans placed in the newspapers by Oliver and Gilbert in 1941, as referred to by Cobber above. However, the fact that they were 'almost new' suggests that Oliver and Gilbert were perhaps selling off a hire fleet of Airlites.
As far as we know Caravans (Aust) and the Airlite range of caravans didn't survive WW II, and may in fact have wound up shortly before the War, perhaps for financial reasons if my conjecture above is correct. Certainly they were amongst a large group of caravan manufacturers that didn't re-start after the war.
One other little piece of trivia that I have uncovered during my search, is that 'Airlite' was quite a popular brand name from the 20's through to the 50's, being used not only for Caravans (Aust) vans, but also for products such as felt hats, ranges of clothing, and luggage.
Don Ricardo
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