Engel Caravans (Unley and Marden, SA)

[Don Ricardo]

ENGEL CARAVANS

Manufactured by Armand and Bert Engel
66 Edmund Avenue, Unley SA, and later
5 Grivell Road, Marden, SA

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Hi all,

In February 2014, Cobber posted the following article published in the South Australian Southern Argus on 3 June 1938 reporting on a South Australian Caravan Club rally held at Strathalbyn:



The report lists the club members and the brand of caravans that were present, and Cobber noted in particular that a number of the caravans were Aces and Engels. At the time Cobber could only find one other reference to Ace caravans, and no other information about Engel caravans. Since then some more information has became available in the National Library of Australia's Trove newspaper archive, and we now know that Ace vans were built by Furness. But it turns out that Engel was another significant South Australian caravan manufacturer, and one that has not received the recognition that it should have.

The first association between the Engel family and caravanning we know about is in relation to a motor caravan fire reported on in the Kapunda Herald on Friday, 21 February 1936 (page2):


(Source: National Library of Australia nla.gov.au/nla.news-article108398444 )

The article tells us that the motor caravan involved in the fire belonged Mr A Engel, a traveling piano tuner and repairer of Edmund Avenue, Unley. ‘Mr A Engel’ was Armand Engel, and the caravan had been built by Armand and his brother Hermann.  Sadly the cabin part of their motor caravan was largely destroyed by fire caused by a trouble lamp while they were changing a tyre at night.

Fast forward to Tuesday, 11 October 1938, and we find the following advertisement for an Engel ‘Imperial’ caravan placed in the Adelaide Advertiser (page 4):


(Source: National Library of Australia nla.gov.au/nla.news-article36582883 )

The Engel Imperial included ‘every convenience’, including an ice chest, electric light, water and crockery. Note also the address for Engel caravans – 66 Edmund Avenue, Unley.

One interesting sidenote is that the Engel caravan bore the model name of Imperial. This was the same model name used for the largest of the W H Willshire’s Paramount caravans, also built in Adelaide. This may simply be a coincidence, but Willshire’s company was declared bankrupt in 1938, the same year as Engel began to advertise its Imperial model. That does raise the question as to whether there might have been a link between the two?

Engel continued to advertise their caravans regularly through 1938 and into 1939, with many of the vans seeming to have unusual fittings for the time. For example this advert printed in the Advertiser on Friday, 27 January 1939 (page 6), tells us that their four berth caravan was fitted with ‘Monel metal windows’:


(Source: National Library of Australia nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49791999 )

‘Monel’ was a nickel alloy, and it was quite unusual for metal framed windows to be fitted to caravans in 1939, when most windows were framed in timber.

Now this raises the question of how we know that the Engel Imperial caravans had anything to do with the Engel family who lost their motor caravan in the fire? There are a couple of reasons. One is that the 1936 article tells us that Armand, the piano tuner, and Hermann lived at Edmund Avenue, Unley, and Engel caravans was located at 66 Edmund Avenue. But another reason is provided by two adverts. This advert was placed in the Advertiser on Wednesday, 29 March 1939 (page 5), and apparently offers to trade caravans for pianos – an usual trade-in, but perhaps not for a piano tuner and repairer:


(Source: National Library of Australia nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49800297. )

And finally this advert printed in the Advertiser on Saturday, 23 December 1939 (page 7) makes the link even clearer:


(Source: National Library of Australia nla.gov.au/nla.news-article35656701 )

Carl Engel, musical instrument importer, and Engel Caravans, both of 66 Edmund Avenue, Unley, wished their customers the compliments of the 1939 Christmas season. A Trove search reveals that Carl Engel had been working as a music teacher and instrument importer, with his own orchestra, in Adelaide since at least 1904. On this basis I am guessing that Carl was Armand and Hermann Engels’ father.

Although by Christmas 1939 World War II had commenced, Engel caravans continued to trade on to some extent into the war period. This advert published in the Advertiser on Tuesday, 7 May 1940 (page 3) declared that the latest Engel caravan was the finest in Australia:


(Source: National Library of Australia nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47190580 )

So, we have traced Engel caravans into the wartime period. Does that mean that they were another 1930’s caravan manufacturer that did not survive World War II, like many others? Not a bit of it! Engel emerged from the War and continued to produce caravans.

One of the first post-war Engel adverts was this one printed in the Advertiser on Saturday, 12 June 1948 (page 9):


(Source: National Library of Australia nla.gov.au/nla.news-article43770614 )

This tells us that Engel caravans seem to have a standard of fittings above most other caravans of the time. For starters it was 18 ft long by 7 ft wide, so quite a bit larger than most other caravans of the era, particularly in width, when most vans were only 6 ft wide. Then there’s the fact that it incorporated a bathroom, cocktail cabinet and bay windows, all of which were unusual for the time.

This private advert for a second-hand Engel van placed in the Advertiser on Saturday, 25 March 1950 (page 15) indicates that by that point, Engel was producing 22 ft caravans:


(Source: National Library of Australia nla.gov.au/nla.news-article50193784 )

Engel caravans continued to be advertised in the South Australian press, and it appears that the Engel family also continued to be associated with what was now called the Caravan Club of SA. This little item printed in the Advertiser on Monday, 10 November 1952 (page 11) reported on a Club event at Belair:


(Source: National Library of Australia nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47529342 )

The last paragraph reports that a silver cup was won by Mrs A Engel. I am guessing that this may have been Mrs Armand Engel.

In 1952, it is also evident that a new Engel family member – Bert Engel - had joined the business, as indicated by an advert placed in the Advertiser on Friday, 7 November 1952 (page 16):


(Source: National Library of Australia nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47519658 )

Perhaps Bert was the son of Armand, or a nephew?  But note not only the reference to Bert, but also to the chrome windows and venetian blinds fitted to the vans – again fairly unusual features for a van in the very early 50’s.

The Engel caravans in the 50’s continued to include some pretty up market features, as they had in the 30’s. This advert published in the Advertiser on Friday, 13 November 1953 (page 21) refers to a sunroom, chrome dinette, leather plastic beds and ‘beautiful color schemes’:


(Source: National Library of Australia nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48937172 )

And this advert printed in the Advertiser on Saturday, 19 December 1953 (page 24) reveals that the 17 ft super deluxe Engel van incorporated a bath, two dinettes and approximately 40 lockers (cupboards):


(Source: National Library of Australia nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47562837 )

In September 1954, Bert Engel announced - by way of an advert in the Advertiser on Saturday, 11 September (page 28) - that he had moved his business premises from Unley to 5 Grivell Road, Marden:


(Source: National Library of Australia nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47604939 )

Perhaps the Unley site was now too small for Bert’s operations, or he needed to set up on his own for some reason? However, the interesting thing about this move, is that Armand Engel continued to sell Engel caravans from the Unley address. This advert was placed by Armand in the Advertiser on Monday, 12 January 1953 (page 11) and offers ‘The most modern design and engineering in SA’:


(Source: National Library of Australia nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47529447 )

And this advert referring to Armand was printed in the Advertiser on Thursday, 9 September 1954 (page 29) after Bert Engel had moved to Marden. Note the reference to bay windows:


(Source: National Library of Australia nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47597930 )

These adverts take us up to the end of 1954, but we don’t know for how long the Engel family continued to manufacture caravans, because Trove’s archive of Adelaide Advertiser newspapers stops at the end of 1954. I would guess that the Engels continued building caravans after that date, however, because Bert had only just set up a new premises and presumably was expecting to continue in business beyond the end of that year.

Given the Engel family’s quite extended involvement in the South Australian caravan industry for at least two decades, it is surprising that we haven’t seen earlier references to their caravans or seen any examples of them. In fact, perhaps we have seen some Engel caravans but not recognised them as such? Perhaps some of the unidentified South Australian caravans we have seen on the forum from time to time have actually been Engels?

One final point: As I have been researching the history of Engel caravans, I have been struck by the parallels between Engel and Furness. The founders of both the Engel and Furness family businesses – Carl Engel and Hebert Furness - were musicians who began selling and repairing musical instruments in Adelaide in the first decade of the 1900’s. Both gentlemen were involved in the orchestral scene in Adelaide, and both had sons who carried out an itinerant piano tuning trade in rural South Australia in the 1930’s. The sons of both men saw the opportunities available in the developing caravan industry and began to build caravans in the second half of the 30’s. And both the Engels and Furnesses had unfortunate experiences with fire – the Engel brothers lost their motor caravan to fire in 1936, and the Furnesses had two fires in their factory in 1935 and 1937.

Given that the Engels and Furnesses were involved in the world of music, and both lived in inner city suburbs south of the Adelaide CBD, it seems likely that the two families also knew each other quite well.

So another interesting chapter in the history of Australian caravanning. It will be wonderful if anyone can contribute further to the Engel story.


Don Ricardo