Wayfarer caravans

[Franklin1]

WAYFARER HISTORY: (to be compiled)

[Franklin1]

1958 advertisement:



(source: RACV Royal Auto magazine, April 1958)

[Franklin1]

1960 advertisement from Motor Manual magazine:



(source: part of an article posted by gristy, Jun 25, 2007)

[Franklin1]

1958 advertisement from the RAC Vic Caravan and Camping Guide:



(source: posted by gristy, May 27, 2007)

[Franklin1]

Undated Wayfarer caravan:



(source: posted by Jim, Dec 3, 2006. This caravan was part of a "Big hArt" display in Federation Square, Melbourne, Oct 2006.)

[Franklin1]

Wayfarer caravan:



(source: posted by kingy, Aug 28, 2006)

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reply by gristy: Hi Kingy, I'll see what info I can get from my father in law about Wayfarer history. He worked for someone here in Gippsland that had the agency for Wayfarer in the late 60s or thereabouts.
...Spoke to my father in law briefly this morning. I think I have probably "over promised and under delivered" on the info side. Anyway, he told me his involvement with Wayfarer vans was late sixties. At that stage Wayfarer were building vans in Melbourne - he was pretty sure it was Springvale, as he visited the factory there at the time. Not sure if they built in other states also at the time? Next time he's round I'll show him the pics and ask if he knows anything about the vintage etc of yours (I'm tipping it would be before his Wayfarer days).

[cobber]

These plans for a “Wayfarer” were printed in the first edition of “Motor Manual” which I think would have been April 1946 and reprinted in the first edition of “The Caravan & Touring in Australia” year book which was published in 1948... which is where this copy comes from.
The plans were originally prepared by the Masonite Corporation to promote the use of their product and is obviously a different caravan to the factory produced models that started this thread.





Cobber.

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Editorial note: As observed by Cobber, there was no connection between these plans and the Wayfarer caravans built in Camberwell, Vic.

[Franklin1]

1960s Wayfarer Rambler:



Description: WAYFARER RAMBLER 1960S, classic caravan, gas/elec fridge, stove, grill, double bed, canvas annexe, silver aluminium, 580kg, hydraulic brakes...

(source: Trading Post advert, Dec 2008.)

[Don Ricardo]

Hi all,

Can anyone help sort out this puzzle about Wayfarer caravans.

Cuz wrote on 22 April 2009

...i bought a Wayfarer a few years back, took some pics, looked up Wayfarer in the phone book and got onto a bloke who used to work for them years ago who bought the trading name. After showing him the pics he said mine was a 59 model. Strange thing is that it is exactly the same inside and out as a Globetrotter. He told me that my van was made in Ballarat where Wayfarer farmed out work. I assume two companies produced the same style van. My van has been registered as a Wayfarer from new. It even has the same plaque as Globetrotters used located at the front of the left set of overheads. Strange goings on in those days.
Bill

Then on 20 September 2009, Raym wrote:

Hi all Wayfarer not only built their own van but engaged in badge engineering. They sold other manufactures vans and added their name to them. My father built Broadway caravans but he sold on consignment to Wayfarer who put their name on the vans.These were sold in Warracknabeal victoria. Dad or his partner John would leave Adelaide in either of their 1950 or1951 Humber Super Snipe cars with a van in tow to meet the rep from Wayfarer at 11 oclock in Bordertown for him to take delivery of the van. They would then return to Adelaide and go to the factory pick up the hammer and start work on the next one. Ray

Questions:

(1) Did Wayfarer 'badge engineer' both Globetrotter and Broadway caravans?

(2) Is the caravan in Reply #1 above (the one with an FX balanced on top of it!) a Globetrotter or a Broadway?

(3) Is the Model J Wayfarer caravan in Reply #3 above a Globetrotter or a Broadway?

(4) Did Globetrotter ever produce caravans in Ballarat as Cuz was told, or were they an exclusively South Australian manufacturer.

Answers to any of the above would add to our knowledge base on Wayfarer caravans.

Don Ricardo

[Don Ricardo]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for your comments about your Wayfarer. I agree that your van doesn't look like any of the pics of GlobeTrotter vans on the GlobeTrotter thread in the DHL section, nor does it look like a Broadway. Maybe your Wayfarer was one of the vans actually built by Wayfarer itself and not a badge engineered van from another manufacturer?

As it happens I've done a bit more digging and as a result may be able to throw a bit of light on a couple of questions I asked in my post last night. I reckon that both of the Wayfarer vans I referred to were probably built by GlobeTrotter:

Compare the Wayfarer in this advert posted above by Franklin1...



...with the photo of this GlobeTrotter posted by 313Royal on 27 April 2008...



Same shape, same side profile and roof line (as much as you can tell with an FX sitting on top of the van ), same paint job and side stripe, same placement of logo. One difference is the shape of the wheel arch, but the Wayfarer looks like it's a Globetrotter to me.

Now compare the Wayfarer Model 'J' in this advert, also posted above by Franklin1...



...with this pic of a GlobeTrotter posted by 313Royal...



Same shape, same side profile and roof line, same paint job and side decoration, same placement of logo, same reinforcement of the A-frame with steel tubing. Looks like a GlobeTrotter to me.

According to Franklin1 both the Wayfarer adverts copied to this post were dated 1958, although the design of the first van (the one with the FX on the roof) looks older than the Model 'J' van. Having said that one of 313Royal's photos on the DHL GlobeTrotter thread shows both caravans on display together at what appears to be a caravan show.

But wait there's more! As shown above, Franklin1 magnified the GlobeTrotter logo on the pics provided by 313Royal. The logo on the Model 'J' equivalent clearly says 'Globe Trotter' (see pics above). But, have a careful look at this pair of photos again:



In his post, Franklin1 commented: "the first word doesn't clearly look like Globe, because the 'b' is the wrong shape (looks more like a 'y' or something like that)...".

Looking at the logo in the context of this discussion, the words look very like 'Way farer' to me...

Could it be? What do others think?

Don Ricardo (who perhaps is beginning to see things )

Addendum:

Just after posting the above I came across Winterwood's post showing the original paperwork for his 1964 GlobeTrotter here. The Globe logo on the envelope and the order form consists of a drawing of a caravan with an FX on its roof, as shown in the Wayfarer advert.

Case closed, I guess...

...except that we still have to work out which Wayfarers were actually Broadway vans in disguise. Maybe Raym can tell us more?

[Franklin1]

By jingo, DonR...remind me to never commit a crime in your neighbourhood!!

You should change your log-in name to Sherlock Ricardo! ;D

The thing that doesn't add up in my mind about all these brands from the late 1950s is the number of vans registered Australia-wide back then, versus the number of different brands we've come across.

The archives tell me that there were 3425 caravans registered Australia-wide in 1958, of which 2870 were complete, and 555 were shells and pre-cut kits.

In 1956, Carapark were claiming to be making "more caravans than all the other manufacturers in the Commonwealth combined". So if we assume Carapark was still a force-to-be-reckoned-with in 1958, then lets give them half of the 3425 vans.

Which leaves 1710 of other brands.

In 1959, Globe Trotter claimed they were the leading manufacturer in South Australia. So how many of the 1710 should we give them? 10%? 20%? Let's give them 20% (340 vans), which is about 6 vans made each week.

Which leaves 1370 of other brands.

How many brands have we discovered? A gazillion? What's 1370 divided by a gazillion? Some of these smaller manufacturers can't have been making many vans per week, eh? Or, maybe they weren't making any at all, and were just pinching other builds and whacking their name on them.

It seems like the South Australian industry, being somewhat remote from the Victorian market (the largest back then) and the NSW market (the second largest), were only too keen to see their vans infiltrate those two states. The Globe Trotters, the Rowe vans, and the Broadway vans apparently pop up in disguise in a number of places, it seems.

But...I digress.

Nice bit of detective work there, DonR! ;D

You haven't seen my glasses anywhere, have you??

cheers,
Al.

[Don Ricardo]

That is interesting, Dave.

Can you provide some links to the photos with the different badges/logos? Maybe even copy the pics to a post on this thread for posterity and future research?

It has occurred to me that the Wayfarer name has been used by a couple of different manufacturers (like Clipper) and that is causing us some confusion... I have no solid evidence for that, just something that ran through my mind.

Don Ricardo

[Don Ricardo]

As recorded in the posts above, Wayfarer placed its nameplate on vans produced by several manufacturers. Amongst these was a fibreglass van produced by Kennedy. The following are photos of a Wayfarer badged Kennedy van owned by Exocet:







Additional photos of this van can be found on the Kennedy thread in the Down History Lane section here.

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Editorial note - August 2020: For more information about the history of these fibreglass van sold by Wayfarer click here. Don Ricardo

[Don Ricardo]

1965 Wayfarer offered for sale on Ebay, July 2010:

[boffasnr]

G'day all,

Gave a mate a hand with his Classic Caravan a few days ago, found this site researching the Wayfarer Road liner range and thought it only fair to chuck in a few piccies here as this old girl is unlike anything here.

The only ID marks found on her so far is a 3 digit number welded into the inside of the draw bar.

Any info on her appreciated.

[boffasnr]

Whoops, piccies here.

Went for a run with her behind the ute and she tows like a beaut even on rough roads.

Original Electrolux Fridge and Gas stove AND she even has her original annex!

Timber sides (They look like Masonite but im not 100% on that) with exposed framework inside, single skin and aluminium front, rear and roof plus 2 pop up hatches.

She also has most period interior bibs and bobs, clock, lovely 12 volt lighting and basic 240 lights but no battery holder that I could see.

I will take some interior pics when im next over there.

Cheers,
Boff

[Roehm3108]

That is one chunk of a decent tandem van you have there! Congrats, it will look a treat!!

Dor Ricardo, I wonder if the "Wayfarer" badge on the Kennedy merely indicates the model, rather than the manufacturer? I notice that the knight's head is missing, which seems to be their trademark.

Ray

[boffasnr]

Cheers Ray!

[Don Ricardo]

Dec 2, 2010 9:54:00 GMT 10 Roehm3108 said:

Dor Ricardo, I wonder if the "Wayfarer" badge on the Kennedy merely indicates the model, rather than the manufacturer? I notice that the knight's head is missing, which seems to be their trademark.

Ray

Hi Ray,

I can see what you're driving at. The helmet does seem to have become part of the Wayfarer logo during the 60's - maybe the mid-60's? However, the earlier Wayfarers don't seem to have used the helmet symbol. The ones sourced from Globe Trotter seem to have used the Globe Trotter kangaroo, for example.

To my mind, the similarity between the Wayfarer nameplate on Exocet's Kennedy is close enough to the Wayfarer name used in advertising at the beginning of the 60's to think that they are from the same company. Check out this 1960 advert (copied from Reply #2 above) with the nameplate on Exocet's van:



From that I think that Exocet's van was sold as a Wayfarer, not that Wayfarer was a Kennedy model name. I don't think that enough Kennedys were sold for them to get to model names.

Maybe we can ask Overlanda at the Victorian VV Christmas do, seeing he now owns the Wayfarer name, etc? Are you in Victoria at the moment and are you coming to the do?

Don Ricardo

[Roehm3108]

Hi Don. I see what you're saying about the signage. Certainly i s a similarity - it was just a thought I had when I saw the pics.

I am presently in Qld and will be till after Christmas, so won't be at the gathering. Best wishes for the season to you all.

Ray

[Don Ricardo]

Wayfarer Road Liner "63" sold on Ebay, March 2011:























This van appears to be the little brother (sister?) of the tandem Road Liner "63" shown in Reply #18 above. In addition, the van in Reply #6 is a Road Liner but not a "63". This suggests that the vans branded Road Liner "63" were built in 1963 or in the 1963 model year (which may be slightly different).

Don Ricardo

[firefighter]

Hi

Ad from ....Racv Royalauto August 1963



f/f ;D ;D ;D ;D

[boffasnr]

Im wondering if there wasnt a bit of badge engineering going on, maybe a rush order for a show or similar?

I must get over and take some interior pics of the Tandem because it is truely a time capsule

[exocet]

That could be a possibility, although there is a moulded position for the badge as you can see in the photo, another possibility is whether the finned Kennedy in Altona in Melbourne has the Wayfarer badge or not, and i love the tandem "63" Wayfarer! Cheers Exocet

[Don Ricardo]

Hi Dave, Exocet and Boffasnr,

My extensive research on the topic ;D ;D ;D has revealed that:

• All of the Kennedys-with-a-boot like Exocet's - but none of the ones without a boot - had the raised mound at the front below the window where the Wayfarer badge is screwed on.
  
• The shape of the mound appears to be (uniquely?) designed to provide the base for the Wayfarer scroll nameplate, which suggests that the booted Kennedys may all have been designed to be Wayfarers...?
  
• There is one booted Kennedy that has Kennedy signage above the window but has clearly had something screwed to the raised mound (see pic below, and compare the placement of the screw holes with the screws on Exocet's van).

My other comments are:

1. I don't think that the fact that the Wayfarer badge on Exocet's van has been screwed on with philips head screws necessarily says much. The van has clearly been repainted and it is quite possible that the original screws have been replaced.

2. The accepted truth is that the booted vans were produced by Kennedy fairly late in the piece (hence the 1963 date you mention Dave), however my research (oh, alright I have been doing some ) makes me think that in fact they may have been produced earlier rather than later. Possibly late 50's, which would fit with the Wayfarer scroll badge being original (and also the Ford Zephyr tail lights).

For what it's worth...

Don Ricardo