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Post by Don Ricardo on Feb 6, 2008 21:42:45 GMT 10
RAVAN CARAVANS HISTORY
E E Raven & Sons, 115 Bagot Road (Railway Avenue), Subiaco WA
Closed around late seventy's sometime.
(Source: information posted by willyn, 6 February 2008)
It appears that early Raven caravans may have been known by the maker's name 'Raven', but later came to be known as 'Ravans'.
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Post by Franklin1 on Feb 9, 2008 21:40:54 GMT 10
1962 Ravan caravan: (source: posted by Mark T, Jan 12, 2005, who wrote: ...It is a 1962 caravan measuring 16' and was sold by Raven's Caravans in Subiaco Perth. The van has an interesting history and was repainted in the original colour scheme by its current owner. It still has its original fixtures including stove, fridge & lino, all in excellent condition. The stated weight on the rego papers is 813kg.) -------------------------------------------------------------- On Feb 7, 2008, cobber provided the following information: In the 1962 Trade directory of the Australian Caravan & Touring directory there is shown a “Ravens.E.E.& Son, 115 Bagot Rd. Subiaco” They are shown as “Agents” and accepting “trade-Ins”.......not shown as manufacturers. Is that Bagot Rd. near Railway Avenue, Will -- could there be a connection ? Did “Ravan caravans” exist as a manufactured brand or did "Ravens" stick "Ravan" on home made caravans they had traded in, then sold    That “Ravan” looks pretty darn good for a home made job me thinks, so I don't know why "Ravan" don't have a higher profile. -------------------------------------------- reply by willyn: Bagot rd is an intersection in Subiaco runs into Railway ave
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Post by Don Ricardo on Oct 27, 2009 22:56:38 GMT 10
1949 Raven caravan and 1934 Ford V8:  (Source: The West Australian, Saturday April 6 2006, p 49) This caravan was purchased new by Bill Ryall from Dick Raven, the builder. According to Bill: "They didn't have caravan manufacturers as such in those days, people built their own or got them made to sell to the public...We bought a new caravan off Dick in 1949. I don't think it had a model name or anything - it was just a Raven's van...The body was made of plywood for lightness and by using 14ft sheets there were no joins in the walls, everything was cut to the curved shape and neatly fitted together."This extract is taken from a larger article posted by Franklin1 on 17 November 2007, which can be found here.
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Post by JBJ on Oct 28, 2009 6:19:54 GMT 10
Hi Don Ricardo,
A minor point, the Ford in the picture appears to be 1936, not 1934.
A lot of documentation in storeys from magazines was originally wrong, & so the mistake is perpetuated.
JBJ
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Post by Don Ricardo on Mar 18, 2011 13:55:18 GMT 10
Photos of a 1969 Ravan posted in the 'For Sale' section by Mark T on 2 March 2011. Mark noted that it was "very wide caravan measuring 7' 10" x 14' 9" long ......the rego papers say its 914 kg":           
Later that day, Hughdeani remarked on the similarity between Ravans and the South Australian-built Adventurer caravans. A comparison between this van and the Adventurer shown in Replies #2 & 5 on the Adventurer thread shows that the two vans shared a number of identical features, including general style and profile, style and placement of the Ravan and Adventurer signage, livery style, internal layout of vans, unusual overhead cupboard design, and even the brand of stove. For example check out this Adventurer signage with that on the Ravan in the second photo above:  The number of shared features seem to suggest that the two vans almost certainly came out of the same factory. The Adventurer has a sign on it indicating that it was built in Richmond, South Australia. If this is correct then it would appear that this is where the Ravan was also built, even though Ravan was a long-standing Western Australian caravan builder. There are also a number of similarities between the 1962 Ravan shown in Reply #1 on this thread and the Adventurer caravans shown in Replies #12 & 13 on the Adventurer thread. There are some differences, for example the front and rear walls of the Ravan appear to be more perpendicular than the walls on the Adventurers, and the the water tank fillers are in different places, etc. Nevertheless, there are enough similarities to suggest a possible link between Ravan and Adventurer from the early 1960's onwards. Don Ricardo
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Post by Don Ricardo on Aug 3, 2020 15:55:01 GMT 10
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