Kennedy caravans (Glen Waverley, Vic)

[griffin]

Interesting, I'm sure the Sunliner version would have been far more attractive

George

[seeshell]

Well there you go.

I've seen pictures of my Dad near those - he went with ANARE down to Antarctica in the early 70s.

Very interesting - thanks for posting that.

Cheers
Seeshell

[Don Ricardo]

G'day Shaneandsimoen,

What a thrill to meet the son of one of the Geelong fibreglass caravan makers, and what a double thrill to see the moulds and all the equipment. To think that it still exists is amazing!!

To quote "The Castle", it should go straight to the poolroom! Or at least to a museum - the bloke with the shed at Beverley in WA, or Museum Victoria, or someone who will recognise its significance. Seriously! I just can't believe that it's still sitting there!

There are a couple of really interesting angles to what you have seen and heard:

1. As Tucky has said, the moulds look more like they produced Franklin/Kennedys than Sunliners. Here is an advert for the Geelong Sunliners:


(Source: Keith Winser, Australian Caravan and Touring Manual 1961, p 165)

You'll note that the pillars between each of the side windows and the front and back windows respectively are much wider than was the case on Franklin/Kennedy vans, as shown here:



Unless there's something about how the moulds are used we don't understand (which is entirely possible in my case), I reckon Tucky is correct.

2. It appears that there may have been a link between Filam and Kennedys (in addition to what the moulds already suggest). On 22 January 2010, Bubbles64 posted:

Hi fellow Kennedy Van enthusiasts.
After purchasing a Kennedy Van in October last year I decided to see if I could find out any further information on Frank Kennedy and his own brand of vans.

Prior to xmas I did a mail out to every Kennedy in Glen Waverley and after some false starts , made contact with Ian , Franks Son.

Ian remembers his fathers business well , which was a caravan yard for the sale and hire of vans. Around the mid 60’s Frank commissioned his own range of fiberglass vans and produced between 2 and 4 a year until 1974. The chasses were built in Geelong and the fibreglass shells fitted at the yard. Customers could then custom order the fitouts that were installed by a local carpenter / cabint maker

One of the last vans made was a special order for an antarctic expedition. A orange fluorescent paint was added to the fiberglass shell mix for contrast against the snow and the wheel base was replaced with skids!

Who knows -its probably still down there for some intrepid vintage vanner to recover!!!! ;D ...

Bubbles 64

So the Kennedy chassis were built in Geelong - I wonder by whom? And who made the shells? Could it have been Filam at some stage?

3. As you have seen, Frank Kennedy's son said that Kennedys were also used in the Antarctic, and there was a bit of discussion about this on the DHL Kennedy thread at the time.

So does that mean that both Kennedy vans and Sunliner vans were used in the Antarctic? Or is the bloke you met in fact referring to the Kennedys which Filam had a hand in building?

4. At the time the Kennedy/Antarctic connection was raised, I did a bit of searching for further info, and came up with this article from The Age on 18 May 1965:


(Source: The Age, 18 May 1965, p 6)

This at least gives a date by which the caravans were down in the Antarctic - before May 1965...

I am guessing this may have been one of the Kennedy or Sunliner vans we are discussing...but what was it? Kennedy or Sunliner?

There's only one thing for it! We'll have to give Seeshell's Dad a crash course in 'Advanced Identification of Kennedy and Sunliner Caravans 205', and see what he can tell us. Regrettably Mrs Firefighter's Dad won't be able to help, being no longer with us.

Thanks for sharing the story of your meeting and the pics. Very exciting, even if a little confusing about what it all means!

Don Ricardo

[humpty2]

I'm with Tuckey here.............its a Kennedy mould.
Give you $5 for it and take a chance ;D ;D ;D

[shaneandsimoen]

Hello Don,

yes after posting pictures and looking at the Kennedy thread it looks like a Kennedy, I agree with Tucky.

Reading the Kennedy thread both being similar about having van made for the Antarctic, interesting.

The mould is quite safe where it is and wont be destroyed or dumped. Been in family for a long time.

Another part of the puzzle on fibreglass vans and caravaning history.

Should the pictures be put to the Kennedy thread?

Shane

[hilldweller]

There’s a Caravelle listed on Trademe this week (they seem to come up at the rate of about two a year) and anyway the seller was kind enough to photocopy their copy of the original brochure for me. So here we have, as Boblor wrote about, a Caravelle looking remarkably at home out on Auckland harbour in the ‘60s…

… behind a Beetle…

… and floor layout and specs …


Pretty cool eh? Wonder if that’s my one in the harbour?

[babe899]

Jan 22, 2010 21:50:25 GMT 10 Don Ricardo said:

Info posted by Bubbles64 on 22 January 2010:

Hi fellow Kennedy Van enthusiasts.
After purchasing a Kennedy Van in October last year I decided to see if I could find out any further information on Frank Kennedy and his own brand of vans.

Prior to xmas I did a mail out to every Kennedy in Glen Waverley and after some false starts , made contact with Ian , Franks Son.

Ian remembers his fathers business well , which was a caravan yard for the sale and hire of vans. Around the mid 60’s Frank commissioned his own range of fiberglass vans and produced between 2 and 4 a year until 1974. The chasses were built in Geelong and the fibreglass shells fitted at the yard. Customers could then custom order the fitouts that were installed by a local carpenter / cabint maker

One of the last vans made was a special order for an antarctic expedition. A orange fluorescent paint was added to the fiberglass shell mix for contrast against the snow and the wheel base was replaced with skids!

Who knows -its probably still down there for some intrepid vintage vanner to recover!!!! ;D

Ian believes that the finned van range was actually a fully imported van and that Frank only ever ordered two.

Following the death of his mother last year ( Frank died in 2002 ), Ian has been checking through some of the memorabilia and is confident of finding further information on the vans that will be of interest.

Will keep you posted,

Bubbles 64

[Don Ricardo]

On 29 November 2011, Linpet commented here on Richard's Kennedy "finny" as follows:

Hi just looking at the van - I love it, we have a kennedy but not a finny.
The tail lights you got are off a Zephyr ute. I have only seen 1 finny in the flesh but it had series 1 Zephyr sedan lights , have put a photo of a tail light for reference and a photo of the finny we saw down on the Murray...

---

Note that Linpet's photo is of the Kennedy van shown in this post  above.

Out of interest, can anybody tell me what the chromed word on the tailfin near the tail light says? It can also be seen on Exocet's van (now Richard's) below, and can be seen on both Kennedy "finnys" and the Wayfarer versions, such as Richard's:



Don Ricardo

[JBJ]

Hi Richard

Looks to me like " Special" which was a badge used on the Holdens of the time period.
Also the Zephyr's in the photo's were mark 2 , being late 50's, not mark 1 as stated, which was a rounded shaped more in line with early 50's when it was made. From memory the mark 1 had a small rectangular tail light, mounted about halfway down the end of the fender.

JBJ

[Don Ricardo]

Hi JBJ,

Thanks for that. I can see you're right on both counts.

Now that you've pointed it out, I can see the badge on the vans does say 'special'.

And I should have been able to work out about the Mk 1 vs Mk 2 Zephyr for myself - my uncle had a MK 1. I just didn't know it was called a MK 1. You've taught me something. (Although I guess it wasn't actually called a Mk 1 until the Mk 2 arrived? Would that be right?)

Interesting to know that the Zephyr Mk 2 station wagons and the ute which many of us would remember from seeing on the roads when we were kids were Australian only models! Something else I learnt today! Yes, I know all of the rest of you already knew that...

Don Ricardo

[LinPet]

Quoting myself as above: "The tail lights you got are off a Zephyr ute. I have only seen 1 finny in the flesh but it had series 1 Zephyr sedan lights , have put a photo of a tail light for reference and a photo of the finny we saw down on the Murray..."

You will notice it says SERIES 1 Zephyr sedan - NOT Mk 1. (you gotta read the fine print! ) A series 1 Zephyr IS a Mk2 (1956 to 1958), then came the series 2 Mk 2 Zephyr (1959 to 1961). The Mk 1 was always called a Mk 1 (1951 to 1956), but they never had any series. And that's correct about the Mk 2 wagons and utes, the wagon equivalent in England was called an Estate, but was actually a sedan modified by Abbott and Farnham Coach Builders. Abbott and Farnham made 'Estate' cars out of all the Mk's (1, 2, 3 & 4), but Australia only manufactured station wagons and utes from the Mk 2 model. Hey, want more history - just ask - I got my first Zephyr when I was 17 and went through about 30 of them over the years. Only recently had a sea change and now on to a lovely VC Valiant.

And that badge, I blew up our photo, and though blurry, it does appear to say Special.

Peter.

[Don Ricardo]

Hi Linpet,

Thanks for that important clarification. I did miss the rather obvious distinction between 'series 1' and 'mark 1', and I guess JBJ did as well!

Just goes to show what you can learn from the forum!

A bit of speculation - I would assume that Kennedy would have used new Zephyr tail lights on his vans, not second hand ones from the wrecker. If that's the case, then the fact that the Series 1, Mark 2 Zephyr was sold from 1956 to 1958 would lend credence to the idea expressed by some of the posters above that the finned vans were sold around about 1958.

Don Ricardo

[3dpan]

Hi everybody, just wondered if "bubbles64" or anyone else had any further contact with Ian Kennedy on the history of the Kennedy caravans ?
Also wondered if the moulds were still safe in Geelong ?
Cheers, Alec

[Don Ricardo]

Jan 22, 2010 21:50:25 GMT 10 Don Ricardo said:

Info posted by Bubbles64 on 22 January 2010:

...One of the last vans made was a special order for an antarctic expedition. A orange fluorescent paint was added to the fiberglass shell mix for contrast against the snow and the wheel base was replaced with skids!

Who knows -its probably still down there for some intrepid vintage vanner to recover!!!!

Hi all,

Over the years there has been discussion in a number of posts about the Kennedy and/or Franklin Futura fibreglass caravans which were used in Antarctica.  The information posted by Bubbles64 above refers to a van built by Kennedy.

Recently I came across this post on the Classic Caravans forum about vans apparently built by Filam (who built chassis and other components in Geelong for Kennedy - see above) or Franklin in Ballarat for use in Antarctica in the mid-70's:

Nov 12, 2014 11:14:46 GMT 10 tim said:

Aug 18, 2011 22:58:09 GMT 10 shaneandsimoen said:

... Couple of years latter someone got the mould off Franklin and asked his father to make a couple of fibreglass vans; they were then taken to the Antarctica. Best way to describe them was they were like an esky, bright orange, and 2 inch thick walls for insulation and on skids.

Shane

Hi I'm new here but have been picking my way through, reading up on Franklin's as I go. I work for the Australian Antarctic Division, so I had a quick look through our image archive to see what I could find. There are a few photos, but none of them are much good.

This is a van being unloaded at Mawson Station in January 1976



This one is captioned "Franklin caravan being prepared for Autum traverse to Moore Pyrimid" Mawson 1977


And this is the latest picture from the vicinity of Davis station in 1985. The tracked vehicle towing it is a "Hagglunds BV206"


I can't say how many vans there were, they were probably modified and shifted around at various times as needed. I have no idea where they went, probably disposed after they wore out. We have some very old plywood vans in storage (part of our extensive 'heritage' collection), but I don't know if we have any of these still.

Tim

I know that these vans are apparently from the Classic era, although perhaps one of them is the original Kennedy from the 60's?  Who knows?  However, the Kennedy and Franklin Futura fibreglass caravans are two of the models which straddled the Vintage/Classic "divide" (which doesn't really exist as such ), and we have so often discussed the Antarctic vans on the forum, and the photos are so fantastic, that I thought it was worth re-posting them. At least we now have confirmation that they did exist.

An intriguing comment in Tim's post about "some very old plywood vans in storage". Now that raises a whole lot of other questions...like: Wouldn't we all like to know what they are?

Don Ricardo

[pawnee]

Just came across this thread and it raised some memories.I knew/worked with a bloke named Lew Smith,who had a brother Keith Smith.Keith began a company called Uticolor,a vinyl repair operation which he subsequently franchised.Lew also raced speedboats.

Keith also had a fibreglass manufacturing business at Fyansford,Geelong,in an old mill building.He built FILAM boats,and I now realise he also built caravans.

The other coincidence is that I raced one of his FILAM hulls.(photos attached).I did not notice the van in the background until a couple of years ago.

I always assumed that Sunliners were built in a factory at Moolap,an eastern suburb of Geelong,but I may be wrong.

Cheers

John

[Don Ricardo]

Hi Pawnee,

Great to read your post. Thanks for telling us about your connection to FILAM and showing us the photos of the racing boat. That second photo of the boat in full flight is pretty spectacular.

It is quite ironic to see that the caravan in the first photo is a Sunliner. As far as I understand it, FILAM were only involved in producing parts for Kennedy and Franklin vans, and apparently in using the Kennedy moulds to build some vans for use in Antarctica. It'd be great to hear more about FILAM's activities if you have access to any info.

You mention about Sunliners being produced in Moolap, which is interesting information as well. The Geelong Sunliners were produced by Auto Assemblers. Were they based in Moolap? We have very little info about the Geelong Sunliners apart from an advert here, and the fact that some of them were branded as Skylines. The advert gives a Moorabool Street address, but that would obviously be a showroom I would think.

Don Ricardo

[pawnee]

G'day Don,

I grew up in Geelong and remember a fairly modern building housing the Barrabool Shire offices on one side of Moorabool street,and a Shell service station on the other.

What was there prior,I have no recall. 

Cheers

John

[Don Ricardo]

Hi Pawnee,

446 Moorabool Street (the address given in the Sunliner advert) looks to me as if it has now been incorporated to become part of Kardinia Park. As far as I can work it out, it would have been the property on the corner of Park Crescent and Moorabool Street. (I have Geelong family roots as well.)

It's strange what Google turns up though. When I googled the address I came up with an item currently for sale on Ebuy, which is a 1948 advertising flyer:



So Syd Baker, motor body builder and engineer, had a business on the site in the late 40's which presumably would have included a factory or workshop.  I wonder if Syd Baker had anything to do with Auto Assemblers and/or building the Sunliners.  Certainly sounds possible - he was in the right trade at least.

Don Ricardo

[catscrack]

This is Steve's Caravan, cool as hell.
I believe he's still towing it yearly....  

Jun 29, 2014 23:37:26 GMT 10 Don Ricardo said:

On 29 November 2011, Linpet commented here on Richard's Kennedy "finny" as follows:

Hi just looking at the van - I love it, we have a kennedy but not a finny.
The tail lights you got are off a Zephyr ute. I have only seen 1 finny in the flesh but it had series 1 Zephyr sedan lights , have put a photo of a tail light for reference and a photo of the finny we saw down on the Murray...



Note that Linpet's photo is of the Kennedy van shown in this post  above.

[Don Ricardo]

Hi all,

At the Vintage Caravan Nationals at South West Rocks I was delighted to catch up with the Linpet duo and see their beautifully restored Kennedy fibreglass van, as well as talk about the history of Kennedy caravans. They have been in touch with Ian Kennedy - son of Frank Kennedy - about Frank's caravan building activities, and as a result have been able to clarify some of the historical details. Based on that information, Frank commenced building caravans in 1964 and finished up in 1975.

Linpet have established that Frank was responsible for the production of the finned Kennedy vans. Higher up this thread it has been stated that the finned Kennedys were built around 1958 because they use Zephyr tail lights from that date. However that is not correct because Frank Kennedy only started building vans in 1964, so the finned vans were built after that date. The 1958 Zephyr tail lights were only used because they fitted the design of the caravan boot. The actual boot lid is also based on a Zephyr boot lid, although upside down.

During our discussion, we also talked about Frank Kennedy's aluminium clad vans and the fact that we have not yet seen an aluminium Kennedy on the forum. According to a Kennedy sales brochure in Linpet's possession, Kennedy produced aluminium vans in lengths ranging from 10 ft to 30 ft. The only photo we have of an aluminium Kennedy is the one included in advertisements in various editions of the Winser caravan manuals in the mid to late 60's, such as this one from the 1967 Winser - quite a handsome caravan to my mind:


(Source: K Winser, Caravan Manual & Tourist Park Guide, 1967, page 172)

For good measure, here is an advertisement for the Kennedy fibreglass caravan from the 1969 Winser:


(Source: K Winser, Caravan Manual & Tourist Park Guide, 1969, page 225)

I am sure that Linpet will correct the above information if I have included any errors, and hopefully at some stage will tell us some more about what they have learnt from Ian Kennedy.

Don Ricardo

[Don Ricardo]

Apr 10, 2016 21:24:33 GMT 10 Don Ricardo said:

(Source: K Winser, Caravan Manual & Tourist Park Guide, 1967, page 172)

Hi all,

I've just discovered that the exact same photo used in the Kennedy Caravans advert above was also used as an illustration for the Chesney Silver Cloud model in a Chesney advertisement. The livery also matches the paintwork on other Chesney caravans. So it looks as if Frank Kennedy may have been an agent for Chesney, or perhaps sold some Chesney caravans under the Kennedy name.

Thanks to the Our Touring Past 2016 calendar for including the Chesney advert for the month of July!

Don Ricardo

[Don Ricardo]

Kennedy brochure provided by Linpet in 2016:









Note the reference to the use of Kennedy fibreglass caravans in Antarctica as referred to higher up this thread, and also the mention of Kennedy's aluminium clad caravans.

Don Ricardo

[lindsaysmith1]

Hi folks,
I am the son of Keith Smith (dec) who along with Doug Russell (dec) formed and co-owned the Filam Manufacturing Company in Papermills Rd. Fyanford, Geelong
I vividly recall there being two older caravan moulds at that factory in Fyansford.
There was one without fins which was stored inside (as pictured previously) which did nothing but gather dust for many years but in 2016 I ran into Scott Russell (son of Doug) and he then told me he had recently sold it to an older gentleman in Point Lonsdale who had plans to somehow make more compact version vans from it.
As far as I am aware Scott still works doing fibreglass from the same building in Fyansford, so he might know more about the who bought it.
Then there was one with fins which was stored out the back with about 50 or so other superseded moulds. I'm pretty sure our finned mould did not have the fine horizontal ribs running along the whole lower sides but was more like the van in the photos with the panels painted dark green. The boot lid on this also looks more familiar to me.
When Franklin Caravans / Freighter Trucks purchased Filam in late 1972 they took some of the moulds to Ballarat (which included anther flat sided caravan mould Filam made exclusively for Franklin) Keith then set up and ran their truck body manufacturing section where they began to make the long single panel semi trailer freezer panels that are still common on the roads these days.
As far as I am aware, Doug and Keith as part of there dissolving Filam, had all the unwanted and superseded old moulds outside crushed and sent to landfill so I'm pretty sure that was how the old finned mould would have met its demise.
Also, we need to keep in mind that in those days it was very common to "flop" other people's products and reproduce them without expecting much more than a nasty letter from the original designer/builder and therefore its quite possible there were several moulds and slight adaptations of the same that could have been made anywhere.
Filam were about very first Fibreglass manufacturers to make anything in Australia and they made a large variety of items for a large variety of customers, most of which were fitted out by whoever placed the order. As an example, their most successful line the SKI SPORT, (which was flopped and adapted from a Lewis timber hull) can be found all over Australia with at least 10 different brand names on them and no serial numbers. Mass production of shells was what they did best and they would make anything for anybody so its hard to figure exactly what came from them.
Lastly, regarding the orange antartic versions in the photos, I don't recall Filam making these but I only went there on weekends so its quite possible they may have made the shells.
In 1974 after Keith left franklin/freighters he built 2 or 3 orange fibreglass accommodation sled vans for ANARE but there were a totally different less wind catching design from a mould supplied by ANARE. We heard recantly that they are still in use as mobile storage rooms.
I hope this helps.
Cheers, Lindsay Smith.

[Don Ricardo]

Hi Lindsaysmith1,

Welcome to the forum, and thanks so much for telling us about your father's role in producing the fibreglass caravans built by the Filam Manufacturing Company. It is always wonderful to connect with a member of the family of one of the people involved in producing caravans in the vintage era. Even more so when there are some mysteries surrounding the vans in question, as there have been with the Filam vans.

Over the years, there has been quite a lot of confusion about the vans produced by Filam in conjunction with several caravan manufacturers, which has resulted in some of the vans being misidentified, etc. You will have noted that some of this confusion is reflected higher up this thread with some vans being identiried as Kennedys which were actually sold by other manufacturers/dealers.

In an attempt to clear up some of the confusion, I have tried to distill the information we have accumulated over time, and a while ago tried to write a history of the Filam produced vans. You can find that by clicking here. I have actually modified today what I wrote in the link I've given you, based on your post. However, I would be interested to hear any comments you may have about the 'combined history', and am quite willing to make further amendments if that is appropriate. I also need to 'clean up' some of the information presented above!

If you are agreeable, I would like to move your post today to the 'combined history' thread, because it is very relevant to what is there. However, I will wait to hear if you are happy for that to happen.

I was also interested to read your comment that the ANARE vans were a modified version of the 'Kennedy' shell, and am interested to know a bit more about the production and finishing of the the ANARE vans. I actually have some material on those vans which I will try and dig up and post. You'll note that the Kennedy leaflet above seems to imply that he was responsible for the ANARE vans.

I am looking forward to further conversations with you.

Don Ricardo

PS Another question while I think about it... We know that some Sunliner fibreglass caravans were also built in Geelong. Do you know if Filam was also involved with that exercise?

[Don Ricardo]

Photo of an original Kennedy Caravans sign posted by Penny G on the Caravan Renovations Facebook page here on 17 March 2022: