Owen Bailey Caravans (Hawthorn, Vic)

[Don Ricardo]

OWEN BAILEY CARAVANS

Manufactured or sold by Owen Bailey Caravans
609 Burwood Road, Hawthorn Vic

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Photos of an Owen Bailey Caravans branded 10 foot van listed on Ebuy, August 2015

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Looking at the photos above, it appears that the 'Owen Bailey Caravans' nameplate has been placed over a previous nameplate, suggesting that the van may have been re-branded along the lines that vans were re-branded by Norm Reeman and Doug Thorley.

But who or what was Owen Bailey Caravans? Some clues are provided by the following adverts from Melbourne The Age newspaper from 1960 & 61.


(Source: The Age, Saturday, 3 December 1960, page 64. NB the blue band shown on the advert was applied by Google Search.)

This advert indicates that Owen Bailey was a caravan dealer operating in Hawthorn, and sold new vans and hired out vans which were branded under his own name.

A bit more info is provided by these adverts:


(Source: The Age, Saturday, 12 August 1961, page 44)

The larger of the adverts indicates that Owen Bailey sold brand new vans under the Owen Bailey Caravans name, ranging from 12 feet to 18 feet. The implication from the wording of the adverts is that the vans were built by his own company in his own factory. However there are numerous examples in the vintage era of caravan dealers implying that they built their own vans when we have discovered that they were actually badge engineered versions of vans built by somebody else - think Playtime, Greythorn, etc. So whether Owen Bailey actually built his own vans or just put his name on somebody else's is yet to be discovered.

Note also the reference to the availability of 10 foot to 14 foot used vans. It is unclear whether these were 'Owen Bailey' used vans, or simply vans which had been traded in on new vans. Perhaps the Ebuy van is one of these used vans?

What else can we glean from the newspapers about Owen Bailey? One is that he apparently had a sense of humour. Read this adverstisment and his reference to a 'German monstrosity' and the price of firewood:


(Source: The Age, Saturday, 24 December 1960, page 29)

One other possibility is that Owen Bailey may have been a racing driver. An Owen Bailey was listed as a driver in the 1956 Australian Grand Prix driving a Lago Talbot. It was certainly not unknown for racing drivers to set up car dealerships while they were still racing, or after they retired, so why not a caravan dealership?

I have a vague recollection that I saw a reference to Owen Bailey Caravans in the list of current caravan makers when I was browsing through some of Austin125's Winser caravan manuals from the mid-60's a couple of years ago. If anybody has access to Winser manuals from that period, it would be great to see if Owen Bailey is in fact listed.

Don Ricardo

[sportsman 1]

My 5 cents worth if I may.

I looked at the pictures yesterday and thought that this would be a dealer/seller's badge and most probably not a van built by them.

The closeup picture of the badge clearly shows it to be fitted where another badge has been removed.

The van looks very "Atlanticish" to me at first glance, but there were a few small vans during that era that looked very similar.

Leigh.

[Don Ricardo]

G'day Sportsman1,

You're more than welcome to contribute your 5 cents worth!

I agree that the 'Owen Bailey Caravans' nameplate has been used to replace the original manufacturers nameplate. That suggests that OBC may have been one of those dealers who put their nameplate on anything they sold, new or second hand trade-in. The impression I get from the adverts is that if OBC did produce/sell their own range of new vans, they were larger than this one - ie 12 ft 6 in and up.

I've done a comparison of this OBC van with the Atlantics, and am pretty sure that's not where this one came from. Different side profile, different shaped wheel arch, porthole (Atlantic didn't use porthole windows), opening back window on this one, different set up for overhead cupboards inside, etc. So it's still a bit of a mystery.

Feel free to throw in some more 5 cents worth. We'll crack it at some stage.

Don Ricardo

[shesgotthelook]

Very Phoenix or Huntsman like but not quite! Cupboards & stove alcove are different.

[Don Ricardo]

Hi SGTL,

My thoughts ran in the same direction, but I concluded that the front of the van does not quite have the 'leaning forward' look of a Huntsman.

Don Ricardo

[Don Ricardo]

Afternoon all,

Owen Bailey Caravans was a caravan dealer selling both new and used caravans in Hawthorn, Victoria during the 60's, and perhaps earlier. But over time we haven't been able to discover much about his/their activities. It appears in some cases that - like several other caravan dealers in those days - he used to put his nameplate on every caravan he sold. However, we haven't been able to work out who might have supplied his new vans.

The following extracts are from the 1962 Winser caravan manual:




(Source: Keith Winser, Australian Caravan and Touring Manual for 1962, 1962, page 126-7)

Apart from telling us a bit more about Owen Bailey's activities, the photos also indicate that Owen Bailey's new caravans were almost certainly sourced from Franklin.  The overall shape and front windows of both vans, the side flash and shape of the wheel arch on the single axle van, and the shape of the spats on the tandem are all characteristic of early 60's Franklin vans as shown in this post.

Judging by the Rolls in the first photo, Owen Bailey obviously targetted a 'superior' type of clientele!

The above (apart from the comment about the Rolls!) suggests that the little Ebuy caravan shown in the first post on this thread may have also been a Franklin van.  It has some of the Franklin features.

Don Ricardo

[robbailey]

My father Owen Bailey who is still alive ran his caravan business from various sites including Burwood road Hawthorn ,this site went all the way through to Queens pde,to the front door of Harry Firth's workshop.
Latter on when dealing in Viscount caravans his business was located the top end of Nepean Hwy Elsternwick ,next door to Reg Hunt Holden . Till 1965/6,when he retired.
You are correct in that he retail named his caravans after his own name ,for the most his caravans were Franklin,from the early 1950s to now in fact ,he has always had a close mateship/friendship with G.H Robertson of Franklin fame..