Post by Don Ricardo on Jun 5, 2020 16:18:21 GMT 10
TRAVEL MASTER
Sold by Fair Deal Car Sales Pty Ltd
210 Great Western Highway, Westmead NSW
Advert for the Travel Master 3-berth caravan published in the Sydney Morning Herald on Saturday, 8 August 1959 (page 39):
This is the first advert I can find for Travel Master, and the use of the word 'Announcing' suggests that it may have been a fairly new brand name. The announcement continued with the same wording for a number of months in 1959. Not sure if you'd get away with the sales pitch 'Make a woman's work light and a man's driving easy' today?
Note that the distributor was Fair Deal Car Sales, and a GMH dealer. This probably indicates that caravan sales were a sideline, and I'm therefore guessing that the caravans were built by another caravan manufacturer and re-branded as Travel Master.
The last couple of adverts for Travel Master in the Sydney Morning Herald appeared towards the end of 1962 and tell us a bit more about the caravans. This one on Saturday, 24 November 1962 (page 48):
Note that the Travel Masters were now 4-berth. The fittings include Vinex covered mattresses, laminex bench tops and stainless steel sinks. The fact that it appears the vans were being sold at a discount may indicate that Fair Deals had decided to stop selling caravans.
The final advert was published on Saturday, 15 December 1962 (page 56):
This van may have been the last for sale and was being sold along side a Henderson van? Note that the advert tells us that the Travel Master was 12 ft in length.
The Travel Master name has been used several times by different manufacturers in the caravan industry. Apart from these Travel Masters sold between 1959 and 1962, the Travel Master name was used by Pathfinder (Jennison) in 1967 for a year or two on what were possibly re-branded Franklin caravans. Then from 1975 onwards the Travel Master name was used by Avondale Campers for one of their camper trailers.
Don Ricardo
Sold by Fair Deal Car Sales Pty Ltd
210 Great Western Highway, Westmead NSW
Advert for the Travel Master 3-berth caravan published in the Sydney Morning Herald on Saturday, 8 August 1959 (page 39):
This is the first advert I can find for Travel Master, and the use of the word 'Announcing' suggests that it may have been a fairly new brand name. The announcement continued with the same wording for a number of months in 1959. Not sure if you'd get away with the sales pitch 'Make a woman's work light and a man's driving easy' today?
Note that the distributor was Fair Deal Car Sales, and a GMH dealer. This probably indicates that caravan sales were a sideline, and I'm therefore guessing that the caravans were built by another caravan manufacturer and re-branded as Travel Master.
The last couple of adverts for Travel Master in the Sydney Morning Herald appeared towards the end of 1962 and tell us a bit more about the caravans. This one on Saturday, 24 November 1962 (page 48):
Note that the Travel Masters were now 4-berth. The fittings include Vinex covered mattresses, laminex bench tops and stainless steel sinks. The fact that it appears the vans were being sold at a discount may indicate that Fair Deals had decided to stop selling caravans.
The final advert was published on Saturday, 15 December 1962 (page 56):
This van may have been the last for sale and was being sold along side a Henderson van? Note that the advert tells us that the Travel Master was 12 ft in length.
The Travel Master name has been used several times by different manufacturers in the caravan industry. Apart from these Travel Masters sold between 1959 and 1962, the Travel Master name was used by Pathfinder (Jennison) in 1967 for a year or two on what were possibly re-branded Franklin caravans. Then from 1975 onwards the Travel Master name was used by Avondale Campers for one of their camper trailers.
Don Ricardo