Hi all,
Back in February 2014,
Cobber posted the following item
here from the South Australian
Southern Argus of 3 June 1938:

The article reported on a South Australian Caravan Club event held in Strathalbyn. Unusually for the time, but very helpfully, the article included the names of the caravanners who attended, and the make of their caravans. Cobber noted that a number of the caravans listed were Ace vans, and that several of the Aces were owned by people called Furness. This led him to speculate whether there was a connection between Ace caravans and the Furness family who built Furness caravans. Turns out that Cobber's finely tuned sixth sense was operating perfectly, as always.
The following advert for the Ace Auto Cabin was published in the Adelaide
Advertiser on Tuesday, 22 December 1936 (page 2):

(Source: National Library of Australia
nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47771773 )
The advert reveals that the Ace vans were built by Furness, and that Furness had entered into the caravan industry at least as early as 1936 (and according to the Furness family in a post above, 1935). The van in the advert is 15 ft 6 in long, and it is stated that 12 ft two-berth and three-berth vans would be "ready shortly", which possibly suggests that the Furness caravan enterprise had only begun fairly recently.
Note also that Furness didn't just produce caravans - or trailer caravans in the parlance of the day - but 'Auto Cabins'. Much more upmarket!
As 1937 rolled round, Furness placed some more adverts that show us a bit more about their 'auto cabins'. This advert was printed in the Adelaide
Advertiser on Tuesday, 2 March 1937 (page 2) and shows an Ace side on

(Source: National Library of Australia
nla.gov.au/nla.news-article41624771 )
And this advert published in the
Advertiser on Tuesday, 26 January 1937 (page 24) shows the inside of an Ace:

(Source: National Library of Australia
nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47780098 )
Both adverts state that the Ace Auto Cabins are available as two, three or four berth, so perhaps the smaller 12 ft 6 in van was being built by then.
Furness placed various line adverts for the Ace Auto Cabins through the rest of 1937. Some of the adverts later in the year referred to Ace Caravans rather than 'auto cabins', so perhaps the latter phrase hadn't really proved to be an effective selling point?
However, 1938 brought a change in Furness's advertising and branding. This advert was printed in the
Advertiser on Tuesday, 11 January 1938 (page 4):

(Source: National Library of Australia
nla.gov.au/nla.news-article36402628 )
Furness's vans were now branded as 'Furness Caravans', and continued to be branded that way until the company exited the caravan industry in the late 1950's.
Based on the information above, I think we can now say that the following photo taken in 1938, and posted higher up this thread by
Cobber, is most likely an Ace Auto Cabin rather than a Furness branded van. I am basing this on the dark colour of the van, the shape of the flash on the side, and the relatively early date:

On the other hand the following photo, also from 1938, posted higher up this thread by
Mark T clearly shows a Furness branded caravan. Note the diamond shaped decoration added to the flash on the front corners of the van which continued as a part of Furness caravan livery for several decades:

We gain further information about the background to the Furness family's business from this article reporting on the death of the 'family patriarch' Herbert Furness, published in the
Advertiser on Monday, 31 December 1934 (page 10):

(Source: National Library of Australia
nla.gov.au/nla.news-article35029013 )
Herbert Furness arrived in Adelaide from Yorkshire in 1892 and set up as a piano tuning and repair business. In 1908 this became a piano manufacturing business. The Adelaide papers reported at various stages of the Furnesses adding cabinet making, ply manufacture and veneering businesses to the piano business. There are quite a few mentions in the press of Furness Ltd winning awards at the Adelaide show and other competitions for their pianos and veneers on furniture. One of the Furness sons regularly toured rural South Australia tuning local pianos, with similar reports to this one in the Bordertown
Border Chronicle of Friday, 1 March 1935 (page 2):

(Source: National Library of Australia
nla.gov.au/nla.news-article212885509 )
There are also a couple of reports in 1935 and 1937 of fires in the Furness ply factory in Adelaide. However, with cabinet making expertise and a ply factory to hand, it is perhaps not surprising that the Furnesses decided to start building caravans. And clearly the family got the caravan bug in a big way. The article about the Strathalbyn caravan rally in 1938 at the beginning of this post tells us that two of the Furnesses were present with their Ace vans, and this article published in the Adelaide
News on Friday, 18 November 1938 (page 6) tells us that one of the Furness families set up camp with their caravan at Belair as their family home for a number of months in that year. No doubt the caravan was a Furness. Note also that Mrs A G Furness, who is quoted in the article, was a Committee member of the South Australian Caravan Club and was involved in organising the Club's caravan rallies:


(Source: National Library of Australia
nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131919374 Text rearranged to improve readability.)
A final little snippet of information about Furness caravans is provided in this advert for the 'Weber, Shorthose and Rice's Health and Strength College' placed in the Adelaide
Mail on Saturday, 13 February 1937 (page 22):

(Source: National Library of Australia
nla.gov.au/nla.news-article55839069 )
The advert shows Mr Reg Shorthose standing beside his Ace Auto Cabin, which looks to be one of the smaller 12 ft 6 in versions.
Reg Shorthose was one of the other people who attended the Strathalbyn caravan rally in his Ace in 1937. But more than that, Reg Shorthose was also reported in the Adelaide Press in 1932 as having purchased a Willshire Paramount caravan. So it appears that he may have switched camps from Paramount to Furness. But that's a story for another day!
Don Ricardo