Bluebird Caravans [Elsternwick, Victoria]

[Don Ricardo]

BLUEBIRD CARAVANS [Elsternwick, Victoria]

Sold by Mike Collins,
Melbourne, Vic

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Over the years there have been at least three manufacturers or dealers who have sold caravans or operated under the 'Bluebird' brandname. These include caravan manufacturers located in:

• Burwood, Victoria - click here
  
• Belmore, New South Wales - click here
• Elsternwick, Victoria - this thread

It seems unlikely that there were any links between these manufacturers/dealers. If anyone has information which shows a connection between the manufacturers in different states, we will combine the threads.

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In February 2012, Huntsman posted here about the caravans built by his father, many of which were sold under other brand names:

Feb 4, 2012 19:23:33 GMT 10 huntsman said:

Mum and Dad got together yesterday and created a listing of those people that they could remember making vans for. Might be a bit incomplete but some good info came out.

Lylack - Jack and Lyla Kelly - Preston VIC
Roma - 2 vans built.
Phoenix - Don Chrisfield
Bluebird - Mike Collins - Melbourne. Mike went on to operate Vicount Caravans in Vic.
Star - Albert June - Arrarat and Mildura
Lonsdale - Ian Thompson - Melbourne
Classic and Scenic - Barry Nichols - Melbourne
Cedar - George Backan - Melbourne
Bee Keepers - 14' tandems - Maryborough VIC
Private sale to a lady in Melbourne of a 23' tandem under Huntsman banner

Geoff Robinson taught Dad to weld and one of his first jobs was building the chassis for the 37' Franklin for the circus.

A number of the names mentioned by Huntsman were and are unknown to us at this point. One brand from the list which has been a mystery so far is Bluebird. However, a 21 foot van advertised as a Bluebird caravan was listed on Ebuy in February 2015:

























Unfortunately the photos didn't include one of the logo and/or name plate, and there is insufficient info to confirm for certain that the van is a Huntsman-built Bluebird, or even that it was branded as a Bluebird. It looks also as if the van may have had some internal changes during a refurbishment, and it is virtually certain that the external reinforcement shown on the sides of the van are additions, perhaps to pull it back into shape...

Nevertheless this van may be the first evidence we've had for Jim Collins' Bluebird caravans.

Don Ricardo

[bluebird]

In the early 1970's we purchased our first caravan which was a 10' by 7' Bluebird. As I was new to caravans, my father in law helped to replace the canvas on the roof. It had a dinette for 2 in the front which also converted to a single bed. It had a 2 tone flash down the side which had small metal strips enclosing it. The lights inside were powered by a car battery under the seat.In the rear there was a double bed which converted to a divan type lounge. The Bluebird name was on a plaque on the front of the van above the windows. We upgraded to a Swanson 4 birth as Our family had expanded to 2 children.

Ian

[Don Ricardo]

Hi Bluebird,

Welcome to the forum. It’s great to read about your Bluebird caravan, and also about your Swanson which you’ve posted about on the ‘Down History Lane’ Swanson thread.

It would be fantastic to hear a bit more about them, and also wonderful if you have any photos of either of the vans. We know very little about either Bluebird or Swanson, so any info or photos would be valuable.

If you do have photos, there are instructions on how to post them in the ‘Forum Guidelines & Helpful Hints’ section of the forum. If it all looks a bit complicated, you are welcome to email any photos to me at [e-mail] and I can post them for you.

Don Ricardo

[Don Ricardo]

Hi all,

Over the last few months I have been investigating the various Bluebird caravans built in Victoria and New South Wales. As now indicated in the post at the top of this thread, in the 1950's and 60's, Bluebird branded vans were built and/or sold by three different companies. This post concerns the Bluebird vans that we understand were sold by Jim Collins of the Bluebird Caravans dealership that was located at 79 Nepean Highway, Elsternwick.   However the trail is very thin.

As far as we know, Bluebird Caravans was a caravan dealer that sold some new vans that it sourced from different manufacturers, such as Huntsman (see higher up this thread).  The only direct reference I can find in the newspapers to the Elsternwick based Bluebird Caravans is the following advert published in the Age newspaper on Saturday, 15 August 1964 (page 13):


(Source: newspapers.com )

As you will see the advert is for a damaged caravan, however the intriguing element is that it says that the van in question was built by 'Finsbury aluminium', whatever that might have been.  The Chrysler plant in South Australia was located at Finsbury, so there may be a connection there?

The other item of interest that came to light out of my search was the following advert from the Age on Saturday, 25 June 1966 (page 75) for a 6 1/2 cwt 'Bluebird Caravan' being sold by Valiant Caravans:

(Source: newspapers.com )

In 1966 Valiant Caravans was located just down the road from the address of Bluebird in 1964, and I don't know whether the Bluebird Caravan company changed its name to Valiant Caravans. However the reference to a light Bluebird caravan brought to mind the following item about a 6 1/2 cwt 'Bluebird Sandrover' van from the 1967 Winser Caravan Manual and Tourist Park Guide:


(Source: K Winser, Caravan Manual & Tourist Park Guide, 19th edition, 1967, page 146)

In the past I have dismissed the reference to 'Bluebird Sandrover' as being one of Keith Winser's not infrequent typos in his Caravan Manuals. But perhaps Bluebird was responsible for the development of Sandrover caravans, and later simplified the brandname to just Sandrover? Another theory to be investigated!

Don Ricardo