Hi hilldweller,
It's hard to say 'exactly' what a 1930s caravan [aka as trailer, travel trailer, camper (over here)],
looks like since there is quite a variety of shapes and styles, hybrid styles of those, and original
and unique designs, even back then. It's one of those "you know it when you see it" things -
just like if you've seen a few 1930s autos you get the feeling for what a 1930s car is - in general.
I'll try to give a few links so you can start to get an idea. The 1920s was a starting time for trailers here,
but they really took off in the 1930s.
Our vintage trailer types here are generally referred to by enthusiasts by these 'categories':
Canned Hams - the body's front and rear walls [roofs too at times] are curved when looking at
them from the side and they don't have any compound curves. Side walls are flat. The name is
taken from how a canned ham can looks like if tipped on its side. The edges where wall and
roof panels join are usually sharp, i.e. 90 degrees, later on there was some minor 'radiussing'
on some brands at the panel joining edges. This style was around from the get-go until about
the 1970s.
Bread Loafs - the body's panel joins definitely have a large curve or radius in the transition
from walls to roofs, sometimes also on the vertical wall corners/edges too. The trailer body
resembles a loaf of baked bread in its general shape. This style generally died out by the mid
1950s.
Aircraft style - With these the trailer body resembles an aircraft fuselage, very self evident.
most were built with aluminum framing and skins, but there were some early ones that used
the early aircraft technologies of wood trusses and wire and doped fabric skins , most notably
the Curtiss Wright Aero Car Fifth Wheel trailers by the airplane pioneer. A lot of compound
curves show up in these. Aircraft techniques and material were used at times by some makers
of the other styles, but not commonly. The fuselage shape is the main identifier here.
Modern Style - These started from the 1950s on, generally flat sides and roof planes with
fewer curves on the front and rear walls, often using a couple or more flat sections angled
instead of or with a small to moderate radius curve at the top front and rear wall joins. The
wall panel edges/joins would often have small radiussed profiles at the edge/join, generally
less than a 3in radius - i.e., the upper side wall does not itself curve into the roof, just the
outside edge bears the radius.
And there were various combinations/hybrids of these main styles, but the above are the most
common or prevalent. And there were also some very original/unique designs but these are
usually more of a one-of-a-kind thing. There were plenty of home-built units too, as trailer
plans were plentifully advertised in the How-To magazines of the day in the early years. That
seems to have declined by the 1940s. The advent of commercially manufactured units had the
effect of generally simplifying designs to ease assembly/build. WWII saw trailers used as
housing, both pro curred by the government for the war effort, as well as by private individuals
in the course of their life/job seeking or requirements. By the 1950s, the trailer industry here
split into the travel trailer[and other RVs] industry for travel/camping use and the house
trailer/mobile home industry for housing purposes.
The oldest organization over here from that era, and continuing up to today, is the Tin Can
Tourists. They have a lot of info going back into the beginnings of trailer travel here.
www.tincantourists.com/ www.tincantourists.com/wiki/doku.php?id=vintage_trailer_websites#.UPDyNG9EGSrThis is a web site done by Juergen Eichermueller who has an extensive collection
of trailer brochures/mags etc. and sells CDs of them. Truly well worth the price if you are
into American vintage trailers etc.. [He may have other country's brochures too.] Probably the
fastest look at early US trailers in one place.
www.allmanufacturedhomes.com/www.allmanufacturedhomes.com/html/juergen_eichermueller.htmwww.allmanufacturedhomes.com/html/vintage_trailer_cd_collections.htmCovered Wagon was the first large US travel trailer manufacturer. It's first unit was basically
a small box with a drop down rear floor after the axle. This is a later version of that. They
generally built more traditional style units for the most part.
1930s or 40s unique Covered Wagon, Breadloaf style:
oldietrailer.shutterfly.com/ An interesting summary look by the biggest antique/vintage vehicle magazine publisher here
from their old "Special Interest Autos" magazine:
blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2008/06/15/sia-flashback-the-1930s-trailer-boom/A blog with a short history:
thevintagetraveler.wordpress.com/2011/07/10/the-1930s-travel-trailer-camping-craze/ A restoration website for home restorers, has trailers from all eras:
repairingyesterdaystrailers.yuku.com/topic/2573/1930s-Home-made#.UPDb5W9EGSpArticles from a How-To magazine of the past:
blog.modernmechanix.com/new-comforts-for-trailer-travel/#more 2/1938
blog.modernmechanix.com/hitch-your-wagon-to-a-car/#more 12/1936
blog.modernmechanix.com/trailer-life-lures-more-thousands/#more 11/1936
blog.modernmechanix.com/the-trailer-grows-up/#more 8/1939
The website for the Bowlus, the predecessor of the Airstream. It was gone by the mid 1930s.
It was the most advanced travel trailer of its time. Airstream's founder, Wally Byam, had
worked for them, and bought their assets at the bankruptcy sale and rehired some of their
workers to start Airstream. [This had a server error when I tried to open it, hopefully it will be
resolved as it is very interesting.]
www.openthinkinc.com/bowlus/index.htmlThese should keep you busy if you want ! Ha !
I'll try to see if I can find anything on the old NZ TradeMe posts, since you described how to
search there. 'Can't promise anything though !
Cheers,
Norm/mezmo