Please help identify my caravan

[riker]

Hi. I am wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction in finding out what caravan i have or where to find out. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Also any other info would be great to.
I hope i have done this right it's my first time doing this.
www.flickr.com/photos/162578184@N06/shares/8hx27f

[Don Ricardo]

Hi Riker,

It’s good to hear from you again, and to read that you’re still involved with vintage caravans.

The photos and serial number on the drawbar of the van in your photos tell us that it is a 1966 Franklin Freeway. The serial number is a Franklin number, and the ‘6’ after the hyphen at the right hand end indicates 1966. ‘1136’ tells us that the van was the 1,136th van build by Franklin in that year.

You can read about Franklin caravans and see some photos of other Freeway models in the ‘Down History Lane’ section of the forum here and here.

Hope that helps? Are you intending to refurbish the van?

Don Ricardo

[hughdeany]

Hi Riker and Don Ricardo,
Your van is a Franklin Premier as I stated on a fb site a few days ago,the Freeway has wrap around front and rear windows.
😉
Cheers
hughdeany.

[Don Ricardo]

Mar 3, 2019 21:42:47 GMT 10 hughdeany said:

Hi Riker and Don Ricardo,
Your van is a Franklin Premier as I stated on a fb site a few days ago,the Freeway has wrap around front and rear windows.
😉
Cheers
hughdeany.

Oh, beg your pardon Riker, Hughdeany is quite right. I looked at the front windows, but not the rear. However, the information about the year and serial number is still correct.

Don Ricardo

[4tunator]

Hi guys

Been given this little gem, have no idea, who the manufacturer is or model, any help would be appreciated

[shesgotthelook]

Hello & welcome Fortunator. That is a fabulous looking caravan you have there. Are you in South Africa?

[hughdeany]

Hi fortunator,
Looks like an old South African Jurgens Caravan,of which a few were imported back in the day.
Or as SGTL asked,are you in South Africa?
Cheers
hughdeany

[Roehm3108]

Probably best to start a new thread for this topic as it is really a new subject van

[Don Ricardo]

Hi 4tunator,

Welcome to the forum and thanks for showing us photos of your newly acquired van.

I see that you are in South Africa, as SGTL and Hughdeany have intimated. We are always happy to hear from vintage caravanners in different parts of the world, but the focus of this forum is on Australian vintage vans, so we may only be able to give you limited help in identifying your van. BUT don't go away, we will assist you as much as we can.

I've had a look at the additional photos of your van on Facebook, and as Hughdeany has suggested, your van looks like a Jurgens to me also, but that's based on very limited knowledge. There were a few Jurgens imported to Australia back in the vintage (pre-1970) era, one of which belongs to a forum member. You can see this van here. As you'll see it's a generally similar shape, size and style, although the forum member's van is a later model than yours.

As a side comment, I was intrigued that the forum member's van has a series of reflectors (cats eyes) placed in a pattern on the rear of the van, similar to yours. I'm not hanging anything on that in terms of identifying your van, but I am wondering whether it is a Jurgens 'feature' or related to South African caravan regulations?

Funnily enough, although as we've said, only a few Jurgens vans were imported to Australia in the vintage era and therefore are fairly rare here, more recently (post 2000) Jurgens has set up a factory and dealer network and is selling caravans in Australia. I think there have been a few hiccups in South Africa though, because I see that Jurgens Ci was placed in provisional liquidation in December 2018 and there have been a few rumblings in Australia this year.

You may be interested in the following links that tell you a bit about the history of Jurgens - here and here. The first Jurgens caravan, built in the Netherlands, appears to have been horse drawn!

You might like to post the photos of your van on the 'Classic & Vintage Caravans South Africa' Facebook page or contact the Caravan Club of Southern Africa. Hopefully they will be able to confirm whether your van is a Jurgens or not. Do come back on to this forum and tell us what you find out, though. We will all be interested to hear.

Don Ricardo

[4tunator]

Thank you so much guys
Unfortunately the South African Facebook clubs can’t help me
Only speculation and I’ve checked on researching there opinions, but nothing found
Such a pity the license disc and hitch been stolen off, the sink is of a sprite in 50-60’s era, but can’t find similar designs in sprite, also heard it could have been imported from Rhodesia Zimbabwe , but don’t find any info on them either, it’s unbelievable that it was parked there and hardly used, i think I should only clean it and preserve it as it sits, the woodwork and materials are still in such a good state, even the tyres unperished .
I hope i can find its name tho, would be awesome to know. Truly thankful guys