Fleetwind caravans

[Franklin1]

FLEETWIND HISTORY

Fleetwind were made in Sydney until they closed shop in the latter part of the 1960s. Their factory was near Canterbury Rd and King Georges Rd. They were an alloy clad timber frame van and generally 6'6" wide instead of the customary 7' of the day, and also a little longer than equivalent models by other makers.
(source: forum member groovy , 28 Jan 2006)




Year: Late 1950s/ early 1960s. The stove and table leg are from that period, although the sail slide on the stove counter top is late sixties. (source: forum member groovy, 28 Jan 2006)
Model: Unknown
Construction material: Aluminium
Dimensions: Unknown
Weight: Unknown

[Franklin1]

Year: 1962
Model: Unknown
Construction material: Aluminium
Dimensions: Unknown
Weight: Unknown

[willyn]

Great pictures and a great post keep up the terrific work
Franklin 1
the site is going from strength to strength
with this kind of input
Will and Lyn

[Don Ricardo]

(Source: posted by rtcruiser, 20 November 2006)

Year: 1960
Model:
Construction material: Aluminium
Dimensions: 9 ft
Weight:

For more information on this caravan, including photos of the interior, see here

[mad]

We have a "Fleetwind Gazelle" does anyone know what the Gazelle would mean It also has 3 stars before the Gazelle name.
Thanks Mad.
P.s. trying to insert a photo can anyone tell me how? pleaseeeeeeeeeeeee

[mad]

Thought i might as well add to the collection of "Fleetwinds" this is a bit different it's a "Fleetwind Gazelle".

 

Our grandson Talen came to help!

[Don Ricardo]

Some additional photos of Mad's Fleetwind Gazelle posted on 7 April 2009, including some "after shots" (the last two):

Hi everyone
This is a few of the photos of the Fleetwind before we started, inside and outside. We got it on the 9th March 2009.


And a month on this is the updated photos:


Our grandson came to help! She's comin up real good. Painted the cupboards the same colour. But not before they had a good scrub and all stripped down, taking all the door handles and hinges off and cleaned. You know what they say 'if a jobs worth doing' could here my dad telln me that one. Were giving her a beachy theme from back in the 1960's. Mark surfs we spend a lot of time at the beach! So that's why we decided to stay with the blue have picked out the curtains but havn't done them yet. Still a lot more painting to do and some.

---

...and 9 April 2009:

We have decided to do the same colour as the inside around the middle of the van. The seat cushions are original, had to scrub them really well to see what they looked like. There was no rips only the buttons need replacing a few have been lost but not too bad for the age. I have been collection a bit of memoribilla. Have had every one I know on the look out. Thankyou so much for your comments on the van will keep you posted.
Cheers Mad.

[DC3Td]

Friend of mine acquired this some time ago:




Since owning it, it has been to a bead blaster to clean the A frame & chassis then to a resto paint shop for dent repair & the painting of the old side flashes to 2 tone FC Pastel Green.More pics & info as made available to me.
gordon

[Swellwillys]

Thats way kool Gordon.
I love it's lines !
Thanks for the share!

Swellwillys

[DC3Td]

Hi Swellwillys. Not too shabby eh. Used to belong to my council at one time (see old signage) & is still local. Ironically i used to pedal past Fleetwinds factory all those years ago on my way to work. gordon

[rustyracer]

Hi,

Long time reader... not much of a poster, BUT I bought my first VV over the weekend. It's actually the 17ft Fleetwind shown in the photos by Gordon.

Thought photos of the inside might be of interest. As mentioned it was owned by Liverpool Council Park Rangers (you can still see some of the branding on the sides and back) but it also has the original sign!?

We're going to give her some love and you'll see her on the again road soon!

[rustyracer]

Oh, and she's still going to be local! She now lives 30min from where she was made

[DC3Td]

Great score Rustyracer. And Eric even gave you the sign too. Sweet. Happy renos.

[seeshell]

Hi Rustyracer -

Welcome and what a way to get out of the gate! Your new van looks lovely inside with the original harlequin colours and all that storeage! The whole van seems to be in very good condition (including the cushions!) - I'm sure a good clean will be most of what it needs inside.

The exterior decoration is really unique and gives it a look of movement even standing still. Wonderful too that it has a documented history that you can add to.

What a score - can't wait to see how you put your mark on it.

Cheers
Seeshell

[mezmo]

What a classy looking Caravan - even in its unrestored state !

I hope you keep the tri-color and the graphic looks it gives. It has a
distinctive profile, in itself - it does seem to be in motion, almost-
and that color scheme just really does it justice.

Good luck restoring...

Cheers,
Norm/mezmo

[Don Ricardo]

10 ft Fleetwind Minor caravan listed on Ebuy, September 2014:











In a bit of a sad condition unfortunately.

[Don Ricardo]

10 ft Fleetwind Minor van listed on Ebay, November 2015

This van is similar to the Fleetwind Minor shown in the post above, and is in better condition having been refurbished.

[Don Ricardo]

Hi all,

A little bit of extra info about Fleetwind...

Photos of this van were posted higher up on this thread by DC3Td and Rustyracer (the van is owned by Rustyracer):



As it happens, this model Fleetwind was also branded and sold as a Hunter caravan, most likely for sale by Carapark after that company ceased production of its own caravans:



The Hunter in the photo is owned by Bozhunter, and more photos of the van, as well as discussion about Hunter caravans, can be found here.

The serial number on Bozhunter's caravan is 'F210'.  My working assumption is that 'F' stands for 'Fleetwind' and that the digits indicate the build number rather than a date.

Interesingly, the February/March 2018 edition of Roam magazine (edition no 31) contains photos of quite a large tandem Fleetwind of the same design/model, which has the serial number 'F217', so it was built fairly soon after Bozhunter's van.

Don Ricardo