Linkon caravan

[Don Ricardo]

LINKON CARAVANS

Manufacturer unknown.

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Photos of a Linkon De Luxe branded caravan listed on Gumtree in November 2018:

Note the braced drawbar…



…and the little lip in the floorline near the front of the cabin…and the tiny eyebrow over the rear windows:











The inside of the van appears to have been stripped and some very basic furniture installed:















I can find no reference anywhere to “Linkon” caravans, and it is possible that it is a name given to this particular van by an owner. However the signage ‘Linkon De Luxe’, while looking not hugely professional, is not unlike the signage used by some commercial manufacturers in the vintage era. For this reason I have given Linkon its own thread in the ‘Down History Lane’ section in the hope that we may find some additional information in the future. The South Australian registration plate very possibly points to an origin in that state.

The design of the van itself looks to be early 60’s.

Don Ricardo

[sportsman 1]

Kinda looks Home Made to me - too many things just dont look right.

[Don Ricardo]

Photos of a Linkon Deluxe caravan owned by Marlene W and posted on the Vintage Classic and Retro Caravans Australia Facebook page on 5 January 2022 here:

The tape around the Linkon signage above was placed there as part of a process to replicating the lettering.

At some point a previous owner seems to have been told that their caravan was a Viscount and Viscount Adelaide style signage was placed on the van, as can be seen in some of the photos above. In addition a little 'VIN plate' was created and placed on the drawbar stating that the van was built by Viscount in February 1956.  The van is registered as a Viscount:

According to Marlene W:

"The only info I have now is the chassis is #226 built by viscount Co Adelaide first of series vans built in aluminium cover viscount trademark front "corner cafe windows".  Apparently it featured in the royal Adelaide caravan show on its release to the public. The van toured for around 12 months with the company under the name "Linkon not viscount"...[The] van was purchased in around 1958 and was used for very few family trips until it was placed in storage around 1970. The owner cleaned out inside and replaced newspapers under front squabs in 1976, with a grown family placed it back in 3 sided shed until purchased as a barn find in 2012 after digging wheels and tyres out of the sand...t looks in good condition but we need to replace window seals and a few other things like an annex or awning..."

Marlene W also commented:  "...it was bought by someone in Mundulla, a little place near Bordertown, originally ..."

As it happens, this Linkon van appeared in 'Letters to the Editor' in the Vintage Caravan Magazine in 2013.  The letter was from the owner prior to the current owner (thanks to Marlene W for providing this reference):

(Source:  'Letters to the Editor', Vintage Caravan Magazine, Issue 12, February/March 2013, page 5)

After an online discussion with Marlene W, my conclusions are:

1. The design of the van, and in particular the wrap around front windows, indicate that it is later than 1956, most likely early 60's.  The profile of the aluminium cladding was only introduced around 1962, so that might mean that van was built around that point.  Alternatively, the van may have originally been clad in bondwood and then re-clad in aluminium in 1962 or later.
   
2. The van is not like - or even similar to - any Viscount caravans we have seen, and between those of us on the Forum or the Viscount Facebook page we seem to have all Viscount's models pretty well nailed down at this stage.  That suggests that the Viscount sticker and the name on the VIN plate have been put on by a previous owner (probably Viv who wrote the letter to the editor), possibly based on mistaken advice from someone who told them it was built by Viscount.  And of course VIN numbers for caravans were only introduced in 1988/9, so that means that the little plate has been added after that date.  That doesn't mean that the van wasn't toured around the country in its early days using the slogan 'Linkon not Viscount'.  Given that Viscount was a dominant force in the caravan industry in the late 50's through to the 70's, the slogan could have been a marketing tool to distinguish the van from Viscount's products while also suggesting that it was good as a Viscount quality-wise.
3. The story provided to Marlene W, quoted above, is that the van was amongst the first of Viscount's caravans to be clad in aluminium.  However, while Viscount was a relatively early adopter of aluminium cladding in the late 50's, their early aluminium clad vans didn't look anything like this one, nor did they use cladding with this profile, which was not available (or at least used) in the 50's.
   
4. Previous owner, Viv, commented in her letter to the VCM editor that the front windows look similar to Viscount front windows which is a reasonable observation, but in the early 60's many other manufacturers were installing very similar windows and often times procured them from the same suppliers.  As a result I don't put a lot of weight on this comment.
   
5. The van is most similar in design and style, but not identical, to some South Australian caravans such as Harris Van, King or Gray, so that fits with an assumed South Australian origin and the reference to the van being bought by someone in Mundulla, SA.

So, all in all, any link with Viscount seems improbable and it seems almost certain that the van was built by one of the small caravan builders operating in South Australia at the time.  One of the most interesting facts about Marlene W's Linkon is that the design of the front of the van, including the construction of the wrap around windows and the placement of the windows in the front wall, seems to be very similar - almost identical in many respects - to the Linkon caravan shown at the beginning of this thread.  The 'Linkon De Luxe' signage on the two vans is also extremely similar in style, although not 100% identical.

When the photos of the first Linkon on this thread were posted there was some conjecture that the van was home built with the owner giving it the name 'Linkon'.  Now we have two Linkon vans which suggests that it's not just a case of a person building one van for their own use, but somebody who built at least two.  They may still have been built for personal use, but the story that this current van appeared at the Adelaide Show at some point, and was taken around with the slogan 'Linkon not Viscount' suggests there is more to the story.

If anyone can tell us any more about Linkon caravans it would be great to hear, and Marlene W would certainly like to know more about the origins of her particular caravan.

Don Ricardo