Purdon caravans (East Maitland, NSW)

[Franklin1]

PURDON CARAVANS

Manufactured by Arthur H M Purdon
Collinson Street, East Maitland (Tenambit), NSW

---

PURDON HISTORY: to be compiled [I'm temporarily dumping some info here to be sorted out later...]

Oct 21, 2005, humpty2: I was able to get in contact with one of the brothers...his wife anyway...who made the Purdon vans, Norm Purdon. Norm is a little vague at this time of his life but his wife knows how to get snippets of info. She will get in touch with me as soon as anything is available...I have asked particularly about the signage for you JBJ. I did ask for ANY information on the vans too!! I will be taking the photos I have of your van Wayne and JBJ's to show her soon.

(reply) jailbarjuice: Any info you can get will be great. How old would he be? If he was say 30 in 1960, he'd be 75. The guy that built my van from a Purdon kit in 59 died this year at 95. This sort of history should be recorded for the future.

(reply) sugarshack: Hi Humpty, Thanks for putting in the work on the Purdon vans, mine was built late 1959 and first registered in 1960 to a Roy Clifton who had the van painted blue and white with a darker blue stripe to match his 59 star model customline ,and it still is the original paint(unfortunately they didnt have any photos of the cusso with the van) Can you imagine the look on my face when the garage door rolled up to reveal a almost perfect match to my 59 Fairlane, luck was on my side that day.This van had it's own garage with dust covers over it. Even though it is in pristine condition, it had many trips away the last being to Alice Springs. Roy,s daughter and her husband then decided to move up to a bigger and more modern van for a trip around Australia. Jailbar I will post you the sticker on Monday no need for any jbj as much as I would like it I'm only too happy to see you have it.

(reply) humpty2: Mrs Purdon got back to me today to tell me that there was no official emblem or insignia. Unfortunately no photos or records exist of the vans in production, all dissappeared after the passing away of the other brother. I mentioned that Wayne had signwritten his van with a "Purdon Caravans" logo on the front....she was very pleased with that and I will be showing her photos of same. So Wayne you have created the official Purdon logo

(reply) jailbarjuice: Hi sugarshack, Your van is the same age as mine, Mine is only 10', and was built by Horace Hamson in 1959 in East Maitland.

[cobber]

Purdon .....Jailbarjuice's New Baby
« Thread Started on Aug 8, 2005, 9:32pm »

Jailbarjuice wrote........

Here are some pictures 1959 Purdon (kit) van I just bought. It was built in Maitland NSW in 59 & 60 by Horace Hamson using side frames & ply supplied along with drawings by Arthur Purdon who built caravans in East Maitland, not far from where this van was built.It was used (not often) up to about 1980, then put on blocks in a shed, where it sat till the owner died about 8 weeks ago at 95. I found about it thru Humpty Dumpty, & bought it.
It basically only needs a coat of paint, wiring & tyres to register it. ( I'll email the info I got from the owners grandson separately for your archives) The annex is almost unused & perfect, like the interior of the van.














The full story regarding the restoration of this 'van can be seen at ---
vintagecaravans.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=photo&action=display&thread=1231&page=1


And the photos below are of the 14ft Purdon referred to in the introduction to this thread by “Sugarshack”.







Cobber.

[Don Ricardo]

Information regarding Purdon caravans posted by Reddo on 15 September 2008:

Hi All
While at Broke fair i got yarning ( i am good at it ) with a bloke that now owns the sheds where Purdon vans where made in Collinson st , East Maitland. Collinson st is sort of the boundary between the townships of East maitland, Pitnacree and Tenambit. It over behind the old Maitland Jail.
My ears pricked up when he mentioned that there was a lot of gear left in the sheds after old Purdon died and the son put the property up for sale .
The guy mentioned that there was cupboards and tool boards still with the old timber hand planes etc . There was shelves with the Purdon trade mark scalloped tin awnings and brackets that went over the front windows, Port holes and other paraphenalia kicking around the shed....
By now i was salivating at the thought of at least going and taking some photos of the place and or with a stroke of good fortune maybe collecting what was left of the old van bits and pieces

The old bloke stopped and took a breath... then continued... we threw it all in a trailer and took it to the tip
Weeeeeeeeellll folks ... i am sure you can visualise my reaction.... I cupped my hands over my face and started to cry. The bloke just stood there and said.... "mate, mate, mate.... are you Ok?? ... did i say something wrong "

I regained my composure and we continued the conversation. He went on to say i am welcome to come over and have a look at the sheds. .. small consolation i thought. I thanked him an said i will try and catch up shortly.... shortly after i go an seek some councilling to prevent me from hanging myself... or attacking this guy.

He also mentioned that old grandad Purdon was a prisoner of war . He was taken to work on the infamous Burma Railway and interned at Changia prison. Old Mr Purdom made wooden legs to fit up to the soldiers that had lost a leg in the war or who fell victim to deasese while held in prison and had to have a leg removed.

I would like to catch up with one of the Purdons to confirm if any of this is true or not. Bloke might have been spinning a yarn... then again there could be some truth in it.
Will definitely find the time to take the camera and get some shots of the old Purdon sheds. Apparently there is still some timber floors in them ??
Stay tuned.
Reddo

For further information on this topic click here

[Don Ricardo]

On 24 January 2011, Purdo posted:

regarding my grandfather Arthur Henry Mason Purdon, yes he was in Changi during the war and did manufacture, invent parts for prosthetics and fit them to the soldiers that required mobility after amputation. He was an incredibly gifted man and the Tenambit property had an amazing workshop that also housed a large indoor bowls table area, a gemshop and the caravan manufacture was only part of his life but as I remember they were first produced in an old service station building that was situated on the left hand side after passing over the old railway bridge when heading from east Maitland into Maitland,....did you have any questions that I 'may' be able to answer regarding grandfather?....he and his wife Doris had three sons Arthur, Robert and Norman and all of them I remember with great fondness because of their nature...very 'true blue'

---

Ruthers responded on 28 February 2011:

Hi purdo, I would be very interested to hear more about your grandfather, Arthur Purdon, both during and after the war (including his caravan production). I work at the Australian War Memorial and am cataloguing one of the legs he made in Changi (I came across this forum while Googling him) and as part of the cataloguing process would like to tell his story, along with the story of the man who wore it, Stephen Gleeson. We have some photographs of your grandfather in 1945, along with a photograph of Gleeson and some other men wearing some of the legs your grandfather made.

Regards, Diannne