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Post by Franklin1 on Jan 17, 2008 21:31:20 GMT 10
SANDROVER CARAVANSProduced by Sandrover Wells Road, Mordialloc Vic and later 2 Mac Crescent, Mordialloc Vic
1961 Sandrover caravan: (source: posted by Nascohunter, Nov 28, 2005, who wrote: Our van is a 10x6.2 Sandrover with hardwood frame and ply on the inside and took me about 10 months to restore. The outside is covered in very early silver aluminium which l have been told makes it a 1961 model and they were made in Mordialloc Victoria. Would love to find any history on this type of van or the company which made it. If anybody has any info I would love to see it or make copies.)
Additional photos of Nascohunter's Sandrover posted by Andrew82 on 8 June 2009:Note the rear door.   
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elpea
Junior Member
sandrover
Posts: 87
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Post by elpea on Mar 26, 2008 19:44:19 GMT 10
Hi I'm am also interested in Sandrover company I own one that is just outside the 70's guideline of this site. mine is between 1971 and 1975 So they were making vans for at least 10 - 12 years. my parents bought it second hand. It still looks quite modern even by todays standards. It has a sticker on it of an Eagle in front of a rising sun with the word SANDROVER mebourne under it. I'm getting dad to look for old photo's of it so I can Make a new sticker. Sorry it's only a small amount of info on the company but hope it helps
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Post by Franklin1 on Apr 30, 2008 22:40:46 GMT 10
1960s Sandrover caravan on ebay April 2008: Edited description: 1960s Sandrover caravan, plus new annexe. Length 10ft plus drawbar. Tare weight 450kg. Caravan is 3 berth, has a couch at the back that folds down to a double bed, and the front two seats and table fold down to a single bed. Has a stove, griller, lpg, sink and water tanks, and the fridge is 3 way. Has overhead cupboards and one wardrobe. Has wood rot damage inside at the front, and has had the hatch replaced. This photo shows the Sandrover stickers/logos more clearly on the rear of the van... 
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elpea
Junior Member
sandrover
Posts: 87
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Post by elpea on May 2, 2008 21:06:29 GMT 10
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sands
New Member
Posts: 5
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Post by sands on Mar 11, 2011 19:54:46 GMT 10
howdy... and just joined forum. This post is of immediate interest, having today seen a Sandrover (owner thinks 80's?) for sale at $5800, and wondering (never owned a caravan) is this a reasonable price??? Van has been "tidied" and appears to be in good and original condition. Oh this could be fun...
cheers folks
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Post by Don Ricardo on Mar 11, 2011 22:29:54 GMT 10
G'day Sands, You're right - vintage vanning is fun! Everyone on this forum will agree with you on that!!  You mentioned that the van's owner thinks it's an 80's van. Maybe that's correct, but there were Sandrover vans around in the late 60's, so it's possible that the van you are looking at does fit into the vintage category. In many situations owners don't have a real idea how old their van is, and just go by the date on the rego sticker (when the date actually indicates when the van was re-registered at some stage). If you can get some pics of the van and post them on the forum, one of us may be able to give you a bit of an idea about how old it is. Does it look like the vans on this thread with the body mainly plain unpainted aluminium? If so it is most likely from the 60's. If it is clad in white painted aluminium then it could be late 60's or later. Unfortunately, we can't help you with comments on prices. In fact we have a policy on the forum that we won't do so. The reason for that is that there is no established market for vintage caravans and therefore it is not possible to say that an X brand and model caravan built in 19ZZ is worth Y dollars. The price that particular types or brands of caravan can vary greatly. In the end the decision on whether a price is reasonable depends on how much the van in question meets your requirements, how much you are willing to pay for it, and - for lots of us - how badly you decide you want THAT van as opposed to any other. A couple of guidelines which may or may not help you: 1. Vintage caravans are regularly sold for as little as a few hundred or a couple of thousand dollars, and sometimes for well over $10,000 or more, and everything in between. 2. Generally speaking people will pay more for a van that is in exceptionally good original condition, or for a van that has been well restored/refurbished, than a van that requires a lot of work. However, that rule does not always hold! Good luck with your decision!  Don Ricardo |
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sands
New Member
Posts: 5
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Post by sands on Mar 13, 2011 10:22:44 GMT 10
hi DR, and thanks for your advice... I guess purchase of a vv is quite subjective, depending on what you’re looking for and prepared to pay. I think we’re still hot for this little van and will make a decision (and offer?) on Monday... hmmm. It is not original in the sense that the interior has all been painted white (looks good) over the brown colours, has an awning, drawbar has had extra angle-iron added for strength (?) and brakes added... all good things but not original. I’m also wanting to tow with a ’98 Mazda 626 (with 370th k, or maybe a Pug 307 hdi) and not sure about that. I’m gunna try and post a pic. cheers, Stew  |
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Post by Don Ricardo on Mar 13, 2011 22:48:15 GMT 10
Hi Sands,
Thanks for posting the pic of the van you're looking at.
You shouldn't rely entirely on what I think, because I'm not an expert on aluminium clad vans by any means, but looking at the pattern of the cladding, my guess is that the van is post 1969 (ie post vintage). Not sure how far past vintage though.
If Franklin1 (just trying to get his attention ;D ;D ;D) has a look at the photo he will most likely be able to tell you more definitively because he is into both Vintage and Classic vans, and has got a good understanding about different aluminium cladding styles. He's one of the moderators on the Classic Caravans forum, so if you haven't already it might be worth posting the photo of the van there.
If you buy the van, I hope you have a great time in it. It looks to be in pretty good nick, so good luck with it.
Don Ricardo
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Post by Don Ricardo on Jul 18, 2012 23:12:42 GMT 10
Description of the Sandrover Mini by caravan journalist Gwen Haslar in an article on the 1967 Melbourne Caravan Show:  (Source: Australian Motor Manual, No 302, December 1967, p 67) The extract refers to the Sandrover being on display at the Judd & Innes stand at the show. Judd & Innes were caravan dealers in Dandenong who appear to have been agents for Sandrover (among other makes):  (Source: Australian Motor Manual, No 302, December 1967, p 68) |
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Post by bobandjacqui on Mar 26, 2013 18:32:43 GMT 10
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Post by Franklin1 on Mar 27, 2013 7:47:13 GMT 10
G'day Bob and Jacqui, I'll have a stab at the age of the van, and say it's from the late 1960s, maybe '68 or '69. Millard claimed to be the first to use coloured cladding in 1967, so we'll assume Sandrover started using it after that. Millard, Franklin, and Viscount seem to have started to incorporate a vent in the door in 1969 (although Franklin in their wisdom located it halfway up the door near the handle  ). It's a bit difficult to see the door clearly in the Sandrover photo, but there doesn't seem to be a vent there, so I'm thinking it's not later than 1969. Certainly not later than 1973 because it has push-out windows, not wind-out. That's an interesting chassis number configuration. Some thought has obviously gone into creating the hyphen, so the total number must mean something. I was wondering if the '94' suffix meant 9ft 4ins, but the van looks longer than that. cheers, Al. |
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Post by bobandjacqui on Mar 27, 2013 8:33:14 GMT 10
Thanks for the reply Al. My thoughts were 69 thru early 70. I,m thinking the van was plain alli with a stripe but has had a paint job somewhere along the way. It is quite a small van, maybe Andrew can give us a clue as to how long it is.
Cheers Bob and Jacqui ;D
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Post by sandrover48215 on Nov 26, 2013 23:35:56 GMT 10
Hi Bob and Jacqui'
My Sandrover van did have coloured cladding before I painted it. It was white with a green stripe. It is 13' 6" long and has no gas vent in the door but the centre opens with a fly screen in the main door. The back window is not opening but fixed glass. It had the old Victorian rego plate H68-044 I don't if the H68 was a first rego in 1968? The table is at the front with a seat on both sides with storage cupboards under them. The Sink, Stove and Fridge is on the RHS and 2 single beds at the rear 1 on each side. The wardrobe is over the LHS wheel arch behind the side door. Andrew ..Sandrover48215
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Post by sandrover48215 on Nov 27, 2013 0:09:23 GMT 10
PS.. Hi again, sandrover48215 's Van has HK Holden wheels. and the weight was 680KG empty when registered in NSW. I then had to put brakes on it to get it registered. I used override type. It tows OK behind the FX.
**** Andrew ## sandrover48215###
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Post by Don Ricardo on Sept 4, 2017 15:51:03 GMT 10
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Post by Don Ricardo on Sept 4, 2017 16:40:45 GMT 10
On 5 March 2013, Daggsey posted here:G'day all, Former forum member Kiwi-in-Cairns? (now Kiwi in Darwin) has found this interesting "Customline" in that far north city. Bearing in mind that it appears...there was no actual Customline brand, someone out there might be able to identify the van and its approximate year of manufacture. There are a couple of interesting things about this van, primarily that (1) it has tandem wheels and is only about 4.5m long, and (2) the wheels are 10"...    
Hughdeani responded on 11 March 2013:Hi Daggsey, the van is a Sandrover,cant tell from the photos if it is silver or white aly,so will be from 1966 to about 1971 . Hope this is some help to you. Cheers hughdeani
Falcon64's 15 ft tandem Sandrover posted about on 15 April 2015:   
Later on the same day, Hughdeani commented:Tandems were rare for Sandrover, especially on a van that small. The A frame is standard,it's just the stress bar underneath looks like an add on for some reason, maybe something heavy was carried on the front?
Falcon64 stated that her van was built in 1965, however Sandrover didn't introduce white acrylic cladding until 1967, so her van can be no older than that. It appears to be very similar to the one seen by 'Kiwi-in-Darwin' shown at the beginning of this post. Don Ricardo
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Post by Don Ricardo on Sept 4, 2017 21:50:46 GMT 10
Extract about the 'Bluebird Sandrover' from the 1967 Winser Caravan Manual and Tourist Park Guide: (Source: K Winser, Caravan Manual & Tourist Park Guide, 19th edition, 1967, page 146) This is the earliest reference to a Sandrover caravan that we've seen. We haven't seen one of these actual model vans on the forum, but it conforms to the usual Sandrover small van styling in so far as it has a perpendicular rear panel with no overhanging bulkhead, a door to the rear of the van, and wrap around rear windows. However, unlike all other Sandrovers we have seen on the forum, it appears to be clad in bondwood. The other intriguing thing about this extract is that it refers to the van in several places as a 'Bluebird Sandrover', but the sticker on the back fairly clearly says just 'Sandrover'. Forum member Huntsman whose father built Huntsman caravans in Ballarat, has stated that some of his father's vans were badge engineered as Bluebirds and sold by someone called Mike Collins who went on to 'operate Viscount caravans in Victoria'. But apart from that we have precious little information about any Bluebird caravans being built and/or sold in Australia (as opposed to the UK where the Bluebird was a very big caravan brand). And we have no other references to a link between 'Bluebird' and 'Sandrover'. Perhaps the van is actually a Sandrover Bluebird model? Or perhaps 'Bluebird Sandrover' is just a "Winserism" (there are plenty of examples in the Winser manuals of names being misspelt or mixed up, and of photos of vans being attributed to the wrong makers). Sandrover information from the 1969 Winser Caravan Manual:  (Source: K Winser, Caravan Manual & Tourist Park Guide, 21st edition, 196, pages 239-40) Don Ricardo
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Post by wazza30 on May 31, 2021 23:14:37 GMT 10
Hi all my wife has purchased a Sandrover caravan and would like to find out as much information about as I can please
I have taken some photos of the van but I can't seem to find a way to add them
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Post by aussieute on Jun 1, 2021 12:07:18 GMT 10
There is a section showing how to post photos have a read of that I use postimaging and must use link for forum's and click permanent once you get used to it it is easy cheers chris
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Post by Don Ricardo on Oct 28, 2022 21:57:54 GMT 10
Evening all, Hughdeany has sent me this extract about Sandrover caravans from the 1973 Caravan Buyer's Guide (page unknown). There are several items of interest in the information provided. The first is the introductory sentences which states that "Sandrover Company first started off making gliders then turned its attention to caravans, using the same techniques and workmanship". That's an interesting change in focus. But if you have a Sandrover caravan which keeps trying to become airborne when you're towing it, you know why!
The second item of interest is that while Sandrover first came to attention because it produced small 9 ft long caravans, by 1973 it was producing a full range of caravans ranging in size from 10 ft 6 in to 30 ft.
Thanks to Hugdeany for providing this item.
Don Ricardo
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). It's a bit difficult to see the door clearly in the Sandrover photo, but there doesn't seem to be a vent there, so I'm thinking it's not later than 1969.
