Roadmaster caravans [South Australia]

[colin61]

 Hello everyone , I have a1967 Greythorne Roadmaster in excellent condition ( 2 nd owner)
thinking of selling but have no idea what it is worth.It is in original condition and has been garaged all its life, except when away. I’ll try and get some photos 
Colin

[Mustang]

Hi Colin,
Sounds like a real gem you have there.
The forum is careful not to recommend prices of vans when selling. Have a look at Gumtree/ ebay/ Caravan & camping sales.
This will give you an idea of what similar aged vans of your size are selling for.
Please post images here under wanted to sell.

[colin61]

[Don Ricardo]

Hi Colin61,

I think you may have been trying to post photos of your Greythorne van in the above post? To post photos on the forum, you need to do it via a photo storage website such as Flickr or PostImage. There are instructions on how to do that in the ‘Forum Guidelines & Helpful Hints’ section of the forum.

Alternatively you can email your photos to me and I’ll happily post them for you. It will be really interesting to see your van. My email address is: [e-mail]

Don Ricardo

[Don Ricardo]

Photos of a 1950's Roadmaster listed on Gumtree in April 2020 (and still listed as of the date of this post):











Mordaunt Roadmaster ID plate:

---

The caravan's seller has described the van on Gumtree as being early 50's, and it does have Holden FJ tail light which was a feature of 1950's Roadmasters. That means the van could have been built any time on from late 1953 when the FJ was introduced. However I think the van is actually late 50's because of the window frames which have rounded inside corners.

Below is an advert from the 1956 Keith Winser Caravan Manual for the Greythorne caravan which was built by Roadmaster and sold in Victoria:


(Source: Keith Winser, Australian Caravan & Touring Manual for 1956, p 109)

Note that this caravan has window frames with 90 degree inside corners.

Now here is information on the Roadmaster caravan from the 1958 Keith Winser Caravan Manual:




(Source: Keith Winser, Australian Caravan & Touring Manual, Book 10, 1958, pp 140 & 141)

The window frames on this caravan have the same rounded inside corners as the Gumtree caravan, suggesting that the Gumtree van is from around the same period, ie late 1950's.

Don Ricardo

[Don Ricardo]

Photos of a 23 ft Roadmaster tandem advertised on Gumtree in July 2019

The seller stated that the van was built in 1969.

[hughdeany]

Hi Don,that van isn’t 1969,it has wind out windows and from what I can see windup hatches,which puts it early seventies.
Cheers
hughdeany.

[Don Ricardo]

Hi Hughdeany,

Thanks for that extra information. That’s good to understand. I always take sellers claims re build dates with a grain of salt unless I have some other evidence. That’s why I said “The seller stated...”.

I’m not sure when Lazza’s family stopped building Roadmaster caravans. The info from him in the first post says they continued building vans until 1983, but I’m not sure if they were still branded as Roadmasters up until that date.

Don Ricardo

[claytonfrancis]

hi all ive come come to pick the brainstrust of the forum. im currently looking at buying a 22ft roadmaster deluxe made in 1973. im hoping to find out about weight of the van, what its like to tow ( i have a 80 series landcruiser), if its wood or aluminium frame, average price and also if theres anything i should look for?

im a total greenhorn when it comes to caravans and my google fu is failing me in trying to find and information. I plan on ringing the shop tommorrow when they are open but the van looks mickey mouse and dont want to miss out if its all i believe it is. i am hesitant to post the link to the actual sale as i dont want to be piped at the post.

i look forward to all the help

[Don Ricardo]

1960’s Roadmaster caravan listed for sale on Gumtree in January 2019:













I suspect that the door, table and possibly the two back side windows, may not be original.

Don Ricardo

[hughdeany]

Hi Don,
It looks to me like the van was updated in the 70s,with white aluminium,trimatic door and windout windows.
I suspect it was originally silver aluminium,
Cheers
hughdeany

[Don Ricardo]

Hi Hughdeany,

I agree with you about a 70’s update on the Roadmaster, apart from your suggestion re the cladding. We do have an example of a similar model higher up this thread which is clad in unpainted aluminium. However, we also have a number of examples of the larger Roadmasters which were built in the second half of the 60’s which were clad in acrylic coated/painted cladding, so I think its possible that this van came out of the factory with the white cladding as well. In addition, you can clearly see where the big Roadmaster sticker was stuck on the near side of the van to the left of the door and below the window.

Of course it’s also possible for the van to have been re-clad by Roadmaster as you have suggested and a new sticker applied, but I’m inclined to the simpler explanation.

Don Ricardo

[hughdeany]

Hi Don,yes I agree re the white aluminium,but the Ali on this van is high profile,where the standard Roadmaster used flat or low profile aluminium.The painted interior leads me to thinking it is an earlier model,The door,windows and Ali were all early seventies,which brings me to that conclusion,and back then a lot of people would have their van updated rather than buy a new one.Classic caravan centre in Murrumbeena used to have rows of vans waiting for updates when I was a kid,I used to spend hours looking over,through at and in them.
Cheers
hughdeany

[Don Ricardo]

Hi Hughdeany,

Yes, ok, I'm convinced. Incidentally, the reason I posted the photos was mainly because it showed the inside of that particular Roadmaster model, which we hadn't seen before.

Off topic, back in the day (almost four decades now) we used Classic Caravans in Murrumbeena to change the icebox in our van to a fridge, and to install a transformer in our van so we could use the 12v lights when connected to 240v power. I somewhat regret the loss of the icebox now, but on the other hand we had 20+ summer holidays with our boys in a location where there was no block ice, and we continue to enjoy our times away in the van, so on balance it was a good decision which has benefited the family. The fridge itself must be getting close to vintage itself now!

Don Ricardo

[Geoff & Jude]

hi richard and hughdeany

strange things do happen.

here's a photo of our 1965 van when we bought it from adelaide.



originally it was painted between the windows and the upper and lower sections were unpainted aluminium as were all the roadies of that time.

when we met larry, he remembered the van and told us that in 1972 (i think), the owner was crossing a creek (towing with a humber super snipe) and rolled the van.

when he took it in for repairs, the original siding wasn't available any longer, so roadmaster re-clad it with the current (1972) siding which apparently was the white acrylic painted type.

last year i decided to rub the white back to bare aluminium but after about three hours and maybe 1 sq metre, i decided it was too much like hard work and repainted the van.



geoff 'n jude

[Don Ricardo]

Hi Geoff & Jude,

That's a really interesting story about your van and the cladding. Thanks for telling us about it.  Just goes to prove Hughdeany's point about caravans being updated, although in your case the 'updating' was out of necessity.

(Saves me from the embarrassment of using your van as evidence to mount an argument about Roadmaster's "original" cladding as well!! Phew, another disaster averted!! )

Don Ricardo

[Don Ricardo]

Hi all,

Recently, new Forum member Mixs sent me some photos of his friend Joc's Roadmaster caravan asking whether we could help him put a date on it.

Mixs also told us that the van has the serial number 908 on the A-frame. This is the first reference we have to a serial number for a Roadmaster, so may be the beginnings of being able to make some sense of the development of Roadmaster caravans and production numbers, etc.

In terms of dating this van, I note that it has horizontal aluminium strips above and below the windows on the sides which almost certainly indicates that it originally had a painted panel in the section between the strips. Judging by the colour that can be seen in a couple of places where the last coat of paint has chipped off, the coloured panel was most likely a mustardy yellow.  This fits with the colour of the seat cushions.

There is another example of a Roadmaster with the same styling higher up this thread here - the one with the red panels.  That van has been dated as 1963 and is owned by Lazza who owned the Roadmaster company (with his father) from 1968 until fairly recently.  The colour red on the panels of Lazza's van is probably not the original colour (because the van is painted to match his tow car), but I think the paint work effect is true to the original.

Looking at the van above Lazza's 1963 Roadmaster in the earlier post, the one dated as 1962, instead of the wide coloured panel it just has a narrow coloured strip running through near the bottom of the windows which is an earlier style.  Mixs has observed that Joc's van also seems to have had a coloured strip running along the front under the windows and there is an aluminium strip there to confirm that.  Lazza's van doesn't have that coloured strip at the front, and Mixs suggested that may mean that Joc's caravan was built sometime between the van dated as 1962 and Lazza's van.  That may be possible, but it is also possible that Lazza chose not to give his van the front coloured strip when he restored it (just as he added non-original spats to his van).  Mixs has also suggested that the pole access hatch forward of the door on Lazza's van is a slightly different shape to that on Joc's van, but I personally can't see much difference I don't think.

When searching for information that might assist Mixs and Joc date Joc's van, I found a post about a Roadmaster purchased and restored by Neilncheryl and have added some information about it a post about that van higher up this thread here. The van has a narrow coloured strip on the sides and was subsequently dated as being 1962 by Lazza.

My conclusion from the above is that Joc's caravan shown to us by Mixs is most likely 1963 or later. 

There is one final piece of evidence that may assist us with the build date of Joc's van.  The Roadmaster sticker inside the van gives the company's address as 12 Denis Street, St Marys in South Australia.  Reference to the 1961 edition of the Winser 'Caravan Manual' gives the address for Roadmaster as 800 South Road, St Marys, while the 1962 edition of Winser shows Roadmaster as being located at 12 Denis Street.  So that certainly seems to indicate that Joc's van is no earlier than 1962.

What does everybody else think about the above?

Joc currently has his caravan up for sale. If anyone is interested please PM me for his contact details.

Don Ricardo

[jq]

Hi boys and girls. Have just bought restorers nightmare, 1965 Roadmaster. Wondering where to go for parts like light lenses, perspex corner windows, rubber window seals etc. etc? Thanks, Jerry.

[shesgotthelook]

Hello & Welcome Jerry, best place to start is here:

vintagecaravans.proboards.com/thread/5310/vintage-restoration-parts-suppliers-information