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Post by Don Ricardo on Jan 14, 2024 15:46:33 GMT 10
ALAN MARSHALL’S SUNLINERA number of Forum members will remember the name of Alan Marshall, Australian author, story teller and political activist, who was born in Noorat in the Western District of Victoria in 1902 and died in 1984. One of his most famous books was I Can Jump Puddles which told the story of his childhood in fictionalised form and included the details of Marshall dealing with a disability resulting from contracting polio. It was the effect of polio on his ability to walk that made jumping puddles such a momentous event in his life. In 1920 the Marshall family moved from the Western District to Diamond Creek, which is now an outer suburb of Melbourne, but was then a country town. Alan Marshall maintained a connection to that area for the rest of his life, and from 1955 to 1981 lived in Eltham a leafy suburb adjoining Diamond Creek. Marshall became very involved in defending the area's natural and cultural heritage, and also wrote a history of the Shire of Eltham. But there's also a connection between Alan Marshall and caravanning. According to information on an Eltham District Historical Society Inc page on the Victorian Collections website: "Alan owned land at Research and often lived there in his caravan while he was writing. A story about this land is told by John Morrison in "The Writer and the Swagman", which appears in his book "Australian by Choice."
"Local people also remember Alan living in his caravan beside an old house occupied by his friend, artist Neil Douglas, which was situated on the site of the present-day Eltham College oval and owned by the Pelling family at that time. It is understood that the land owned by Alan Marshall was nearby in Cassells Road.
"Vivienne Turner of Eltham recalled that her family had a photo of Alan and his caravan at Research and a copy was provided to EDHS in 2003."
Research is a township adjoining Eltham. It turns out that Alan Marshall's caravan, referred to in the extract above, was a Sunliner. The photo of Marshall with his caravan is dated c1962 and is from a private collection courtesy of the Eltham District Historical Society Inc: (Source: Victorian Collections victoriancollections.net.au/items/598ff0b821ea680974e6e0dc ) Thanks to the Eltham District Historical Society Inc for kind permission to reproduce the photograph here. Don Ricardo
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Post by Don Ricardo on Jan 14, 2024 14:55:14 GMT 10
Hi Iris, Welcome to the Forum. Regarding the colour of the Crusdader sticker, there are a couple of stickers to be seen on caravans shown in the Crusader thread in the Down History Lane section. You’ll find it if you click on this link. The stickers seem to be mainly black and grey but possibly with a gold ribbon on one of them. Hope that helps. Don Ricardo
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Post by Don Ricardo on Jan 8, 2024 22:40:57 GMT 10
Hi Pippas,
Welcome to the forum.
I’ve checked Twocutekelpies’ Viscount register, and the serial number E9223 indicates that the van you are looking at was built in 1969.
The’E’ at the beginning of the serial number would normally indicate that it is an Ambassador with an aluminium frame. Ambasssadors with a wooden frame had a serial number beginning with ‘D’. However a way you can check is that if the cladding is attached to the frame with rivets it has an aluminium frame, but if the cladding is attached with screws, it has a wooden frame.
I wouldn’t expect a 1969 Ambassador to have a wooden frame. I think the wooden framed models stopped in 1968.
Hope that helps?
Don Ricardo
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Post by Don Ricardo on Jan 3, 2024 21:01:51 GMT 10
Hi Jrhappymeal,
Welcome to the Forum and thanks for telling us the background to your grandfather’s van. I’m so glad you found this post and provided the information you have.
As you will have picked up from this thread the origins of this van have been the source of a lot of conjecture over the years, and I personally had come to the conclusion that it wasn’t a Rowvan, and in one sense it isn’t, because your grandfather rebuilt the van effectively to his own design. But the point is that the van started life as a Rowvan and was based on the Rowvan design. So that is excellent to know. Mystery solved!
I hope that Sheppy sees your post. I’ll email him to let him know.
Don Ricardo
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Post by Don Ricardo on Jan 3, 2024 20:52:10 GMT 10
Hi Nevin11,
Thanks for your post and resurrecting this thread about the LIl Hampton caravan.
Fascinating to hear about your connection with the van and your grandfather building a few vans. Were they all for personal/family use or did he produce some for sale? It would be interesting to hear more about his caravan building activities.
Are all the facts about the van in this thread - including the date of construction - correct?
With you having posted on this thread again, I’ll go through and re-post the photos without the watermark so people can see them properly (although I won’t be able to do that for a couple of weeks).
I’m not sure where the van went after Cruz had it. Hopefully she passed it on to somebody who is looking after it.
Don Ricardo
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Post by Don Ricardo on Jan 3, 2024 20:40:41 GMT 10
G’day RS 1990,
Great to see the pics of your grandparents’ caravan. Thanks for sharing them.
Did you holiday with them in the van?
Don Ricardo
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Post by Don Ricardo on Dec 27, 2023 18:28:18 GMT 10
Hi Jdazzle, I'm reasonably certain that the number shown against VIN for your caravan on the PPSR website isn't actually a VIN as such. I've explained why I think that's the case on the 'Caravan Regulations' thread. This post is just giving you a heads up to read the post on the other thread - see here. Don Ricardo
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Post by Don Ricardo on Dec 26, 2023 22:24:29 GMT 10
Hi Jdazzle,
Having done a bit of investigation, I'm reasonably certain that your Coronet does not have a VIN as yet. The number '669375' shown against 'VIN' for your van on the PPSR website is not a VIN but is actually an 'SN' (serial number) allocated by the Victorian Motor Registration Branch (MRB, the predecessor to the current VicRoads) at some point during the period of years that your van was currently registered in Victoria. The SN/serial number may have been a precursor to the VIN's, but it is not a VIN as we know them now. VIN's have 17 characters which are a mixture of numbers and letters.
The reason I know this is because I've done a check for our caravan, and the number shown against 'VIN' for it on the PPSR website is also the MRB/VicRoads SN/serial number. In our case the number is '256363' which is the same number shown on the last registration sticker we had for the van (before they stopped issuing them). '256363' is the complete number, it's not just part of a number (although on the registration sticker there is a leading '0', ie '0256363'. Our van doesn't have an actual VIN because it hasn't had to be re-registered since when it was first registered in December 1967 (see further explanation below), so the 'SN' isn't a VIN despite what the PPSR website seems to be saying.
The interesting thing is that our van has a serial number which is stamped on two serial number plates on the van, but when the van was registered in 1967, the MRB wouldn't accept that as a valid serial number. I think that would also have been the case for your van, and that's why on the PPSR website the 'Serial' is shown as 'XXXXXX' - because the MRB didn't record that information and therefore it isn't in their records.
What all this means is that I don't think the number '669475' listed on PPSR for your van is going to get you very far, because it isn't actually a VIN, although it might be interesting to hear what VicRoads says. But it also means that, according to the info in my post above about the 2023 regulations, you may be able to get a VIN issued for your van that includes your van's actual serial number of '718'.
Now going back to the point about our van being first registered in December 1967... Compulsory separate registration for caravans was only introduced in Victoria in 1967. Prior to that they just need to show the registration number of the tow vehicle. Our caravan was built in 1949, but obviously didn't need to be registered at that point. When compulsory registration was introduced, my mother (who then owned our van) left getting the van registered until fairly close to the end of the 'grace period', hence the van was registered in December 1967. Our registration plate is G65-579. As the plates now mostly are, general issue registration plates/numbers were issued sequentially. Your van has the number plate G47-827 which is 18,000 or so numbers before ours. That means that it would have been first registered well before our van in December 1967, although I'm not sure how much earlier. However, that is an extra bit of evidence to confirm that your van was built before 1969, and is certainly pre-1989 by a long way.
Hope all this helps, although it does mean that apparently you will need to obtain an actual VIN. I will also be interested to hear what the implications of 'significantly modified' are for getting the van registered. It's a bit a catch 22 isn't it? You need to have brakes fitted to be able to legally tow your van on the road, but fitting brakes then means that the van no longer meets the criteria for an 'older vehicle'. There are plenty of others who must be facing the same issue though, because most caravans now require brakes, so you'd think the rego authorities will have a process worked out for registering the vans.
Don Ricardo
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Post by Don Ricardo on Dec 23, 2023 14:27:59 GMT 10
2023 Caravan Registration Requirements
There has been a bit of discussion on the Forum, as well as on various Facebook sites, about the changes which have been recently introduced in relation to the registration of vintage caravans. After a bit of investigation, I've come up with the following information that may be useful for people trying to navigate the new system.
I've highlighted and commented on the most important sections relating to vintage caravans, but if you are going to follow the procedure outlined it would be wise to read through the full text. When it comes down to it, the procedure isn't all that complex, it just involves filling out an online application form before registration, but you will probably need more information and photos than were required previously.
There is a link under each item which will take you to the webpage concerned to read more or click on the links in the webpage.
The first item dated 14 April 2023 is from the TrailersRUs website advising that new registration laws applying to all unregistered caravans and trailers were to come in to effect on 1 July 2023. As part of the new laws "...it is mandatory for all light trailers to have an entry in the Register of Approved Vehicles (RAV) in order to be eligible for registration or sale in Australia". 'Light trailers' includes caravans: The TrailersRUs website provides a link to a webpage of the Australian Government department which governs the Register of Approved Vehicles. (It's the Dept of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts, since you asked. ) An extract from the Department's webpage states that the "...details of each vehicle approved for road use will be entered on the RAV". That sounds a bit intimidating, but the page also refers to "concessional RAV entry approval" which offers a glimmer of hope to vintage caravanners:
Following the link to 'Concessional RAV entry approval' leads us to this webpage which tells us that:
- Concessional RAV entry approval provides a pathway for vehicles that meet the requirements for exemptions from certain national vehicle standards but are otherwise suitable for road use, including
- Vehicles that are 25 years or older, providing that the vehicle meets the eligibility criteria for that particular category (in the case of vintage caravans, 25 years or older).
- Any individual person can apply for 'Concessional RAV entry approval'.
- Applications are submitted through the Department's ROVER online system.
The following webpage explains more about the RAV procedure for 'Older Vehicles', ie vehicles that 25 years or older:
- The webpage heading refers to 'importing' vehicles, but the text also mentions vehicles that have "...been lying dusty and forgotten in a garage for years" - that's us!
- To be eligible for Concessional RAV entry approval the vehicle must have been orginally built or significantly modified 25 or more years ago.
- RAV applications are submitted under the 'Single Road Vehicles Approvals' RAV form.
- There is a list of information required for the RAV application.
- Significant modifications to a vehicle include:
- Body modifications; - Chassis modifications; and - Braking modifications.
- The information required includes your caravan's VIN OR CHASSIS NUMBER - note this reference to a chassis number, or what we often refer to as the serial number.
- If your caravan has been 'significantly modified' in the last 25 years this is a bit of a kicker, because it is no longer considered an 'older vehicle'. However, it may be eligible to be considered as a 'significantly modified' vehicle' which can't be added to the RAV but may still be eligible for 'restricted registration' under state regulations.
- Obtaining a Concessional RAV Entry Approval doesn't guarantee that you can get your vehicle registered - it's up to each state and territory whether they will register it.
- If the vehicle doesn't have a VIN then it will be issued one by the Department as part of the approval process.
- The VIN has to be permanently marked on or affixed to "...an integral part of the vehicle".
And here's some information on VIN's (Vehicle Identification Numbers). The highlighted sections particularly relate to 'Concessional RAV Entry Approval' vehicles, including those 25 years or older. Note that the Department has the option of incorporating a chassis/serial number into the VIN that is issued for the vehicle, providing the original number doesn't include any prohibited characters.
There are a few take-aways from the above:
- The procedure for registering a vintage caravan does seem to be more complicated than it was, and may now involve a Commonwealth Department as well as a State or Territory agency or department.
- If your caravan is already registered, don't let the registration lapse under any circumstances. It may cost you a few dollars to register a van that isn't being currently used, but that's a minor cost compared to going through the hoops to re-register it later.
- Think carefully before making any 'significant modifications' to your caravan, as defined above. Significant modifications mean that your caravan no longer qualifies as an 'older vehicle' and means that it has to be treated as a 'significantly modified vehicle' to which different rules seem to apply. Obviously some modifications must be made to some caravans, such as the addition of brakes, but find out what that may mean in terms of the procedure to be followed before going ahead. Some 'significant modifications' may not be worth the effort or cost.
PLEASE NOTE that I am not an expert on this matter and am not presenting myself as one. Nor should any of the above post or my comments be taken to be legal advice. I have only collated information that is publicly available. Moreover I do not know how each State or Territory has or will interpret or implement the new requirements.
The intention of the post is just to:
- Give people a heads up about what might be required in registering a vintage caravan;
- Help people know what information they may need and the questions they may be asked;
- Help people know what questions they should ask the registration authorities in their State or Territory; and
- Enable people to challenge the authorities (politely) if they seem to be less informed about 'older vehicles' than you (it does happen!).
If anyone has additional information or wishes to correct anything above, that will be welcomed.
Don Ricardo
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Post by Don Ricardo on Dec 19, 2023 18:09:37 GMT 10
Hi again Jdazzle, I can provide a few comments about your first question, but will have to leave the second question to someone else. Until very recently, the general rule about caravans built before 1989 was that they only need to meet the requirements for caravans that were in force when the van was built providing that the caravan has not been significantly altered or modified. I say 'until very recently' because there have been some recent changes to the requirements for pre-1989 caravans, and I don't know how extensive those changes are. For example, pre-1989 vans could use their manufacturer's serial number for registration purposes instead of having to have a VIN, however now all caravans have to have a VIN if they are being re-registered apparently. Subject to the above qualification, your Coronet was built in 1964 and you have registration papers for 1969 (which is excellent in terms of the info below). That means - at least according to the previous requirements - that the van only needs to comply with the requirements in existence in 1964 (or 1969). As it happens we have a document here on the Forum - click here - which sets out the requirements for caravans in NSW as they were in April 1969. I know you are in the ACT, but I'd hazard a guess that the ACT requirements in 1969 were not much different from NSW. Further, I'd be even more certain that if your caravan met the 1969 requirements it met them in 1964 or 1965 when it was built. So what do the 1969 NSW rules say about tail lights, etc...? "A red "tail" lamp, visible in darkness for 600 feet, must be affixed at the rear of the trailer in the centre or on the right-hand side and not more than three feet six inches above the ground...
"A brake ("stop") lamp visible at 100 feet either by day or night either in combination with the "tail" light light or separate therefrom is also required...
"Amber flashing turn signals must be fitted to the rear of trailers registered for the first time after 1st June 1963..."Then there are also additional requirements referred to about reflectors and clearance lights as you can see. Your caravan meets all these requirements, and importantly is not significantly modified, and in fact as far as I can see is not modified at all. It will now have brakes, but I don't think that counts as a modification as such. You have proof that your caravan was registered in 1969, so clearly was manufactured by then and arguably earlier. There is evidence that there were some lights on each side of your van where the indicator lights now are. But based on your comment about the wiring there, I reckon you can argue that they were just an earlier pair of indicators, not stop and/or tail lights. There is the issue that your van was originally registered in Victoria though, which complicates matters if your rego friends want to argue that point. Each annual edition of the Winser Australian Caravan Manuals included a summary of the caravan requirements. I've just checked the 1967 edition which states that at that point (early 1967) Victoria required caravans to have only one tail light fitted in either the centre of the van or 'to the right of the rear', as well as 'at least one but not more than two brake lamps affixed at the rear'. However the 1968 edition states that new regulations were introduced in Victoria in May 1967 which required that caravans must have two rear lights, and at least one but not more than two brake lamps, and traffic indicators when the caravan is wider than the towing vehicle. This means that the lights on your van met the requirements in Victoria prior to May 1967, but not after that! I'm not quite sure what you do with that last lot of information about Victoria, but it looks to me like you've got a case if you stick to the 1969 NSW rules. It just depends on how hard you want to push it and are able to argue winsomely with the rego people on the other side of the counter. You probably need to find out what regulations applied in the ACT in 1969. Were they the same as NSW? The other side of the ledger is that it depends on how safe you feel with only one tail/brake light. These days when cars have three brake lights, and sometimes lights that run right across the rear, one brake/tail might be easily missed by drivers expecting a greater level of notification that you are on the road and/or braking. Don Ricardo
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Post by Don Ricardo on Dec 19, 2023 11:41:47 GMT 10
Hi Jdazzle,
As you've discovered, you can always post some photos using the 'Add Attachment' button. That doesn't require any additional registrations apart from the Forum. The only problem is that the attachment photos can disappear over time (because people delete the photos, or change computers, or whatever), so I do post some of them in a more permanent mode if they are historically important.
Anyway, following your request, I have added the other photos of your Coronet from your FB listing to my original post. They do show the way styles and features developed in the first half of the 60's when compared with the photos of Austin125's Coronet.
Good luck with the sale, or with keeping it if, as you indicated, you are feeling more positively disposed towards what looks to be a really quite nice and well preserved van.
Don Ricardo
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Post by Don Ricardo on Dec 18, 2023 19:49:16 GMT 10
G'day Jdazzle, I'm sorry the Coronet is giving you so much grief. It looks like a pretty reasonable caravan. I don't think the caravan is quite as old as 1962. I've copied a couple of photos from your FB Marketplace listing so that people can see what we're talking about. (Not everyone is able to access Facebook, even with the link.) Your van certainly seems to be the same basic design and shape as the early 60's Coronets, for example the bondwood clad sides, but there are a couple of significant differences. One is the profile (ie the ridge pattern) on the front and rear aluminium cladding, and another is the double hopper front window. Both of these features began to be used by caravan manufacturers in 1963 or 1964. The earlier models had unridged aluminium cladding on front and rear, and twin pane front windows (as opposed to the double hopper windows). You can see the differences I am referring to if if you look at this van higher up this thread. It is a very similar - if not the same - shape as yours, but is an earlier model, possibly 1961 or 1962. You'll also see that the fittings inside the van I'm pointing you to are less modern than yours - note the shape of the overhead cupboards and the use of varnished timber rather than the ridged(?) material used on your sliding cupboard doors. When the van higher up the thread was sold, the owner (who I know quite well) stated that it was 1965, but I now think that it is earlier than that. On balance my guesstimate is that your van is 1963 or 1964. Hughdeany will probably have a view on what I've said, and he does know a bit about Coronets. Don Ricardo ADDENDUM: Following are other photos of Jdazzle's Coronet, posted at her request:
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Post by Don Ricardo on Dec 18, 2023 12:14:19 GMT 10
Afternoon all, A number of Forum members will remember the name of Alan Marshall, Australian author, story teller and political activist, who was born in Noorat in the Western District of Victoria in 1902 and died in 1984. One of his most famous books was I Can Jump Puddles which told the story of his childhood in fictionalised form and included the details of Marshall dealing with a disability resulting from contracting polio. It was the effect of polio on his ability to walk that made jumping puddles such a momentous event in his life. In 1920 the Marshall family moved from the Western District to Diamond Creek, which is now an outer suburb of Melbourne, but was then a country town. Alan Marshall maintained a connection to that area for the rest of his life, and from 1955 to 1981 lived in Eltham a leafy suburb adjoining Diamond Creek. Marshall became very involved in defending the area's natural and cultural heritage, and also wrote a history of the Shire of Eltham. But there's also a connection between Alan Marshall and caravanning. According to information on an Eltham District Historical Society Inc page on the Victorian Collections website: "Alan owned land at Research and often lived there in his caravan while he was writing. A story about this land is told by John Morrison in "The Writer and the Swagman", which appears in his book "Australian by Choice."
"Local people also remember Alan living in his caravan beside an old house occupied by his friend, artist Neil Douglas, which was situated on the site of the present-day Eltham College oval and owned by the Pelling family at that time. It is understood that the land owned by Alan Marshall was nearby in Cassells Road.
"Vivienne Turner of Eltham recalled that her family had a photo of Alan and his caravan at Research and a copy was provided to EDHS in 2003."
Research is a township adjoining Eltham. It turns out that Alan Marshall's caravan, referred to in the extract above, was a Sunliner. The photo of Marshall with his caravan is dated c1962 and is from a private collection courtesy of the Eltham District Historical Society Inc: (Source: Victorian Collections victoriancollections.net.au/items/598ff0b821ea680974e6e0dc ) Thanks to the Eltham District Historical Society Inc for kind permission to reproduce the photograph here. Don Ricardo
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Post by Don Ricardo on Dec 14, 2023 10:51:47 GMT 10
Hi Shmaverick,
Sounds like you've got everything more or less under control. Well done - I hope the rego process goes really smoothly for you.
Regarding proof of age, I can point you to Twocutekelpies' Millard/York register. If you use Facebook go to the 'Millard & York Caravan Owners - Australia' page and click on 'Files' on the menu just under the header. The first file is an Excel spreadsheet called 'Millard & York Register...'. When you open it up you will find a list of caravans sorted by serial number.
Twocutekelpies has compiled the register by listing every Millard and York caravan she has come across or been told about over a period of quite a few years. So it's a list of caravans she knows about, not a complete list of all Millards. But the good thing about it for your purposes is that it actually lists M-947, the caravan built immediately before yours. In addition it also lists M-922 and a reference to an electrical certificate in that van dated March 1963. So that gives you a date of 1963 for your van. You'll see that M-1448, which is 500 after your van, has an electrical certificate dated May 1964.
Let me know if you don't use Facebook or can't find the register and I will arrange to get it to you another way.
Don Ricardo
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Post by Don Ricardo on Dec 13, 2023 21:27:20 GMT 10
Hi Shmaverick, Welcome to the Forum. M-948 is the serial number or chassis number of your van, so you do have that. Your van was produced well before there were VIN numbers or compliance plates for caravans. VIN numbers were introduced for caravans only in 1989. Compliance plates may have been brought in about the same time, but I'm not sure about that. According to the Millard/York register compiled by one of our Forum members, Twocutekelpies, M-948 would have been built in 1963, so it is quite an early Millard. Up until a few months ago, if you had a pre-1989 caravan to re-register you could just identify the van with the serial number. However, from reading various posts, it seems that the rules have been changed and tightened up. Part of that is that you will need to get a VIN number from the NSW rego authority and jump through a few other hoops, including getting your van weighed for starters. Here is some basic information about registering an unregistered trailer in NSW which will help you get the process started: www.nsw.gov.au/driving-boating-and-transport/vehicle-registration/how-to-register/trailers-without-vins www.nsw.gov.au/driving-boating-and-transport/vehicle-registration/how-to-register/trailers-built-prior-to-1989 Beyond that I suggest you give the rego authority a ring to check out the procedure. Your biggest problems might be - Proving that you are the legal owner of the caravan and are entitled to register it. I note that you said you have no papers, but if you have a receipt or statement from a previous owner that will help.
- Providing proof of origin, ie manufacturer, model and build date. Hopefully the van still has its Millard Safari signage on it? If so that will deal with the first two points. Proving the date of manufacture is a bit harder. Try looking at the Millard history thread here on the Forum - click here. There are quite a few photos of Safaris about the same age as yours there, plus some dated adverts referring to the Safari model which may assist you. But you may also need to be a bit determined when you're talking to the rego folk - they generally know a lot less about vintage caravans than you do and can be a bit dismissive unless you press your point.
Hope that helps? Feel free to ask more questions. Don Ricardo
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Post by Don Ricardo on Dec 11, 2023 11:48:16 GMT 10
Update posted on behalf of Smiles:Finally got tyres for our Don 100. We are thrilled as they are virtually identical in size & tread to the Olympic Air Ride tyres that were on the Don. They are light truck & bus tyres, 10 ply & didn’t cost an arm & a leg at $240 each.
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Post by Don Ricardo on Dec 10, 2023 17:41:11 GMT 10
Hi Roomum,
Welcome to the Forum. I'm really pleased that you've found this thread about Joytime Caravans and posted that it was your father who was the manufacturer. We are always delighted when we are contacted by the descendants of the people who built caravans in what we term the 'Vintage era', ie pre-1970, and in this case you were actually involved in building the vans yourself, so that's a bonus for us.
It would be great if you could tell us about the history of Joytime and your father, and how and when he got involved in the caravan industry. Perhaps you have some photos of Joytime vans you would be willing to share with us too?
As you can see I've tried to write up something about Joytime based on the adverts published in the newspapers, but that's always like trying to see a jigsaw picture when you've only got a few of the pieces to work with. As a result there's a fair bit of supposition in what I wrote, so it would be wonderful if you can tell us the real story, and correct me where my guesses were in error.
You refer to the photos of the caravan that led to this thread being created, and have commented that it wasn't built by Joytime. As noted in the various posts above, we had come to that conclusion. It was probably built by Franklin in around 1960, but it has been registered in the past as a Joytime and appears to have Joytime signage above the front window. We know that Franklin in Ballarat produced caravans in the 50's and 60's which were then supplied to smaller firms that then placed their own brandname on them. Is it possible that's what's happened with the caravan in the photos? We'd love to hear what you think about that.
It will be great to hear about your father and his activities in the caravan industry.
Don Ricardo
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Post by Don Ricardo on Dec 9, 2023 14:42:56 GMT 10
Hi all, Following is the article referred to Jenwhe in her post above and published on the campingsales.com.au website on 17 June 2015, reporting the death of Ian Farren, the founder of Coronet caravans. The article also mentions the link between the original Coronet Caravans and the current Coronet company: Photo of Ian Farren: One of the Coronet caravans produced by Ian Farren, although not the 30ft model mentioned in the article: A Coronet van produced by the modern Coronet company: All items sourced from www.caravancampingsales.com.au/editorial/details/vale-ian-farren-51913/
Links to the three videos on the history of Coronet can be found here.
Thanks to Jenwhe for alerting us to this article. Don Ricardo
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Post by Don Ricardo on Dec 9, 2023 14:03:59 GMT 10
Article featuring the (unnamed) Brewer caravan and Land Cruiser caravanette published in the Melbourne Argus on Tuesday, 2 March 1937 (page 5):(Source: National Library of Australia nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11046336 ) Note the men sliding the motor-boat into the back of the caravan. The ability to store a boat in this fashion was a particular feature of the Brewer vans. Don Ricardo
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Post by Don Ricardo on Dec 9, 2023 13:50:03 GMT 10
Interview with Neil Chesney, founder of Chesney Caravans about the history of the company in November 2002:
Click HERE to view the video. The interview provides many insights into the development of Chesney and the Australian caravan industry in general, including the fact that in the 70's Chesney had an average of 22 caravans rolling off its assembly line per day. Don Ricardo
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Post by Don Ricardo on Dec 9, 2023 12:06:39 GMT 10
Photos of a caravan and an animal trailer belonging to Sloggetts Entertainers, possibly taken as early as the 1930's:(Source: State Library of Victoria handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/4255854 & handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/4255946 ) The Sloggett family have been traveling entertainers, magicians and clowns in Victoria since at least the early 1920's, and some members of the family are still involved in the entertainment industry. Don Ricardo
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Post by Don Ricardo on Dec 7, 2023 10:13:58 GMT 10
Photos of Georgie's caravan posted on her behalf:
Hi Georgie and Georgie Jnr, The overall shape of your van is generally consistent with the design of first half of the 60's Hilandale caravans, but the cladding on the sides looks more like what was used by some manufacturers in the 70's or later. So I am wondering if your van has been reclad at some point. Possibly the sides were clad in bondwood originally, like some of the vans shown on the Hilandale thread I referred you to previously. It does look like the remains of one of the 'Hilandale by George' stickers with the coach and horses logo under the 'Georgie' nameplate above the front window. This is one for Hughdeany I think. What is your assessment Hughdeany? Don Ricardo
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Post by Don Ricardo on Dec 5, 2023 21:04:13 GMT 10
Hi Glenn66, That's interesting to hear about the cladding on your Viscount. I think it will help if we can see a photo of your van. You can either post a photo of your van - instructions by clicking here - or email me some photos and I'll post them for you. My email is caravanhistory@gmail.com Once we see your van we should be able to help you. Don Ricardo
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Post by Don Ricardo on Dec 2, 2023 17:47:00 GMT 10
Hi SGTL, That is fascinating to see. As you are undoubtedly well aware, masonite was used for a lot of caravans pre and post WWII. I have just posted about P.A.W. caravans produced in WA in the early 50's which proudly stated that its internal cupboards were constructed using masonite. The van in the photo in the book is a 1938/39 Jennison Caravan Cruiser as shown in this post. Don Ricardo
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Post by Don Ricardo on Nov 30, 2023 20:16:23 GMT 10
Hi Rodericksmith,
I'm interested in the 1957 photo of the van at Walhalla. Do you know anything about the van, or was it just a (more or less) random shot your father took?
The reason I ask is that it almost looks like the rear window has diamond shaped leadlight. If so, that and the shape of the van would indicate that it is a Don.
Don Ricardo
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