Please help me with the model of my van

[clivematthews1975]

Good afternoon everybody,
I recently purchased this little caravan that I was going to renovate but I have no idea of the model.
on the registration it says 1960 Olympic caravan.
on the front of the caravan I can see an old label and it says “Contessa”.
I cannot find any photos on the Internet and any other information about this van.
I can not find any other marking or vin numbers
I would really appreciate somebody’s help thank you.

Clive

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[Don Ricardo]

Hi Clivematthews1975,

Welcome to the forum and thanks for showing us the pics of your van.

There are two manufacturers I can think of in the vintage caravan era who had models which they called ‘Contessa’. One was Olympic, but we can ignore that one because their Contessa models were all fibreglass.

The other was Miami which produced aluminium clad caravans in South Australia. You can read more about Miami and see some photos of Contessa models if you click here.

There are some photos in the link I have given you that show the stickers on the front of Miami caravans which look to be identical to your sticker. So that means that word above ‘Contessa’ on your van is ‘Miami’, and a comparison of your sticker to the others seems to confirm that.

The problem with identifying your van as a Miami Contessa, though, is that it doesn’t look like any of the Miami Contessas caravans we’ve seen, as illustrated by the photos in the link. You can see for example that your van doesn’t have the little lips overhanging the front and rear windows, etc. That either means that Miami produced some vans which looked different to the ones we know - which is quite possible - or that your van was built by someone else and that somebody has put a Miami Contessa sticker on it. That last suggestion is quite possible - it is not uncommon for someone to put a non-original sticker on a van, either because they believe it is correct or because they just want a name on the van.

The cladding on your van is the same as used on a lot of caravans built from 1964 through to the late 60’s, however my guess is that your door is not original and has probably been fitted later on, perhaps the late 70’s or even after that.

I am hoping that someone else may be able to help us by telling us whether your van is a Miami or not. Hughdeany may be able to help us when he sees this post.

Hope this helps you on your quest to identify your van. Hopefully someone else may be able to provide some further info.

Don Ricardo

[hughdeany]

Hi Don and Clive,
Nice little van!
The door is a Starlite,which was the forerunner to the Trimatic which was sold alongside it for a few years,Adelma/ Roadmaster made some little vans like this one,from memory Kingswood had pictures of one nearly the same,when he reads this he might remind us ,it could even be in DHL section.
Other than that I can’t help,good luck with your search.
Cheers
hughdeany

[Don Ricardo]

Hi Hughdeany and Clivematthews1975,

I thinks the Adelma caravan Hughdeany was referring to is this one which was owned by Kingswood (who also went under the forum name Olfarts at one point).

Perhaps Hughdeany can confirm if I've found the right van?

It does look like Clive's van at the front but the rear profile is different.

Don Ricardo

[kingswood308]

Guilty of being the owner of the little Adelma, I'm sorry, but I don't recall the above van.

It looks to be a nicely preserved little van.

Dave

[hughdeany]

Hi Don,
Yes that was the van I meant.
Cheers
Hughdeany

[clivematthews1975]

Thank you so much for your help.

I know the questions I asked have not been fully answered but I’m getting somewhere.

Don Ricardo, you are right about the sticker on the front of the caravan. It look the same as the one on the front of the Miami caravans.

Kingswood308 and Hughdeany, thanks for your help as well.

I think its a cute little van and its in great condition for its age.
I think I will just sell it to some one who wants to restore it to its former glory.

once again thanks heaps.

Clive