father of this movement .....nah !!

[Deleted]

somewhereelse.com.au/?p=41

[Deleted]

;D ;D ;D

Nah..... ...... but he can make his 240volt light work in the van while travelling

Reddo

[firefighter]

You click on Tear Jerker......... top right hand side of Marks page and Koala Ken is on that page with his 37 chev & teardrop
F/F ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[atouchofglass]

Recognition is a great thing
As is the humility with which it is accepted

Say thanks for the compliment, give yourself a secret smile and a pat on the back........
The hard work put into the websites will never be fully understood except by those that host one.

Keep up the great work.

What about the Mum of the V V movement ?



_{Now to thoroughly destroy all kind words I've just said
For a cheap laugh}

When reading the title I was a little anxious about the type of movement I was going to read about

Yes Doctor


Cheers
Atog

[Deleted]

Nah... I think Mark would agree... The father of the Vintage caravan movement here in Australia is long gone dead...
However
Two of the most recognised and well travelled pioneers of old vanning would have to be Arthur Pallin. and his wife... ( spelling :

The father of the Australian Vintage Caravan website that sparked the interest in the movement and gave us access to info about them??.. ....Yep Mark would have to accept that crown.

Thanks Mark.

Reddo

[bobt]

My Hat goes off to Mark for starting this forum and getting it together.


Thanks Dad



and The Great Grand Daddy of em all ..

Arthur Pullen turned 103 on the 11th December, Pat is 103 on the 4th Jan. I caught up with them in September at Portarlington.



Arthur misses his car, his caravan and mostly his workshop. But now he his playing around with Digital Cameras and ...puters...


Bob

[Deleted]

Thanks for that bobt......
..It'll be a bloody long time before any of us here will equal the miles travelled and the memories these pair have of old caravanning in Australia .
My apologys to the "Pullens" for the earlier spelling mistake... .....Bloody legends.

Reddo

[Deleted]

great pic of a legendary couple Bob

Its 10 years ago this month since I met Arthur & Pat.

Was on an eight week tour of the ES in a 1970 Holden PV towing a 1978 Millard 16 footer.
I had attended the GMH 50th anniversary celebrations in Victoria, and was headed to QLD with the family to do the Gold Coast theme park thing .

One purpose of the trip was to find a vintage caravan in the East.

We were travelling into Warwick QLD and passed through a viscious thunderstorm about 50 kms out, the Holden van was caught in the middle of a lightening strike between two trees, a loud explosion occurred above us, and a blinding flash of lightening struck in front of us . My oldest boy was sitting between my wife & I in the front, the youngest boy in the back of the PV.
The experience frightened 'the you know what' outta us ;D, when we arrived at the Warwick caravan park, we still had the shakes ......bad I naturally unhooked the Millard & headed for a coldy outta the esky ;D .....always settles the shakes ;D

An hour or so later, three car / caravan rigs headed into the Warwick Caravan Park, one being a late 80's Ford LTD towing an old green bondwood caravan.
The white window frames were that smooth & gloss shiny, I thought it had fibreglass window frames

After allowing the caravanners time to set, I headed to their camp for a chat, of course my interest was in the elderley chap with the old caravan. After chatting to him for a while, I thought he's probably in his early 70's .

Anyway, he told bit about the caravan, and mentioned he was thinking about updating to a newer caravan. The mind started ticking ......the FC wagon at home would probably tow that ....would need a red motor conversion but .....

Next morning, he invited me over for a looksee inside Joker 11, and told me more about the caravan. He mentioned he was 93 years of age, and his wife Pat was the same age .

We exchanged numbers, and he told me its early days, a firm decision on whether to sell Joker 11 was yet to me made.

June 1999 the phone rang, it was Arthur Pullin on the line


my rig:



Arthur & Pats rig:





Mark

[bobt]

Mark

Arthur told me about this "nice" young fella he meet that showed an interest in his caravan. Told me how keen the young fella was to buy his van (said nothing about the van being considered vintage or classic). He hmm'd and harr'd over the sale for quite awhile. He decided you were an ok sorta bloke and he wanted to have a new one built. Much to the horror of some, he ordered a new Hallmark. People thought he would never live long enough to get to use it. He got one of the last ones to be built and sold it last year.

Mark, did he question you on where it was going to be kept and how?? The couple who bought his Hallmark only got it after they passed the pullen check list..

[Deleted]

sure did bobt .....got the 3rd degree from Arthur .

Funny thing was I never had anywhere to store Joker 11 when it arrived in August 99 (Arthur didn't know that ), but couple months later, a carport (caraport actually ;D) grew in our front yard .... close to the road

Then, a few months later the carport sides were filled in .....never did get 'pinged' by the local council for doing that .....people used to say 'how did you get that approved by the shire' ...... ;D ;D .......answer 'never did ' !!


the double carport built for Joker 11 with the Holiday Home under resto on the other side ....note the illegally filled in sides




Arthur wouldn't let me pay for Joker 11 until it'd arrived, and I was happy with it ......so I paid to have it trucked from Jayco in Melbourne to Perth, and paid Arthur for it later .....was I happy with it .......very ......a beautiful old, supurbly built caravan indeed



The Hallmark caravan bobt refers to:




Joker 11 now resides in a corner of the Beverley shed .....




Mark

[bobt]

I never got use to seeing them turn up to caravan events in the Hallmark

The new owners of the Hallmark, had to pass Arthurs scrutineering before he would let them take possession.

[Deleted]

mmm ....dunno olfart, it'd probably me more appropiate for the RACV caravan club to have a run in their honour , maybe they already do

Mark

[bobt]

Guys

The RACV caravan club gave them Life Membership when they turned 100.

They use to attend Caravan Club National Rallies, which occurred every second year hosted by caravan clubs in different states. Once they hit the 90 mark they were honored at each of these events for their longevity and their achievements.

If something was to be done it would have to be held in Geelong, that is where they have retired too. I don't believe Pat has the ability to travel any distance, Arthur certainly would not leave her for any length of time.

I am not offering to organize but most willing to get in contact with them.

If & when Mark ventures over this side of the world again I would be most happy to make sure he sees them again. I think they would honored by his presence and an update of what is going on with Joker 11 and what it started. _{(new I shoulda got 3 calendars)}

bobt

[willyn]

Hi Bob T and Mark

Justa thought
Maybe I will get shot down in flames
But wouldnt it be a nice thing if we Moved the possibility of the Mildura Nationals to The coast line near geelong to honour the grand mother and grandfather (pullins)of Vintage vanning while they are still alive to see it
just a thought whats another days driving if you are coming from the west?
Im sure it would be a newsworthy piece worldwide through the media
Just a thought


Will
Ps I am still polishing my airstream check this photo thats not my garden its the side of the airstream




this is the other side of the Van


been polishing for around 150 hours so I have got these stumpy little fingers
photo shoot for unique car Magazine in January
still about three days polishing left

see ya later alligator

will

[Deleted]

Nice thought Will

The reality is Arthur Pullen is not a vintage vanner, he has little, if anything at all to do with vintage vanners. Arthur is, ...well until he retired from it, a caravanner.

He just happened to continue caravanning in Joker 11 for 43 years without updating it ;D
With all due respect to Arthur, if he is a vintage vanner, so is my father who started caravanning in 1954 (and still caravanning at age 80), and I can tell you, my father doesn't give a shit about an old caravan ......to him, an old caravan is just that

What Arthur does have is an amazing caravanning history with the RACV caravan club, and probably the honour of caravanning to an age that nobody else has achieved, and possibly never will.

The man credited in Australia with the first ever purposeful gathering of old cars and caravans, and subsequent tour, is one of our members, who did such waaaay back in 1994

Mark

[willyn]

Who was that Mark ?

Will

[Deleted]

Hmmmm... father(s) of the movement.

I'm guessing it is anyone that is still regularly towing/using the same van(s) they have owned since new back in the 40s, 50s, or 60's.
They may not be on this forum but they have been contributing to the vintage van movement here in Australia a lot longer than any of us here.

..... ummmm... here on the forum.. ???yep .. i would say its Cobber Will. As Mark has mentioned, the Caravan Capers was held in 1992 ..............and I know Cobber participated in that.

Reddo

[cobber]

Father of the vintage caravan movement... me ?... nah ! !.

Pleased to see nobody has suggested a run in my memory... wasn't feeling real good on boxing day but I'm OK now

True, somebody (not me) in the FX / FJ club I was in put forward the idea that we get old 'vans to compliment the cars... and we could do weekend trips away, that was in 1993.

I was the first one to find a vintage 'van ( Driftwood ) & then the idea caught on and eventually ten members had old 'vans and we had many weekends away and also had a couple of runs lasting ten days.
However... most members of the car club weren't interested in old caravans... tensions arose and so the idea fizzled out after a couple of years...... and there she sat, a dead duck

It was on the 03/11/2003 that “Google” found Marks original “Vintagecaravans.com” site for me and I immediately fired off a letter to him congratulating him on the site, and he responded by saying...amongst other things, that he wanted to expand the site but was not interested in starting “a club”.... smart move.

On the 29th January 2004 I saw the un-official beginnings of "The Forum" that has made the Vintage Caravan movement happen all over Australia... without the forum we would all be lonely little possums not knowing that there are other people interested in “Preserving Australia's Touring Heritage”.

The fact that there were some mis-fits all over the country who thought it was cool to play with old caravans...... Humpty's mob in the Hunter Valley were another crowd doing the same thing... is undeniable but, it is Mark and Jenni's initiative in starting this forum that has drawn us all together and turned it into "a Movement”.

All credit MUST go to Mark & Jenni for making the “Vintage Caravan Movement” in Australia a reality, whether they want it or not

Cobber....

[elpea]

sounds like a great team effort Big thanks to those who pioneered this great movement.

ELPEA!

[bobt]

willyn

Love that polish job. Well done.

bobt

[cobber]

G'day all,

This thread started as a result of an article on the blog at somewhereelse.com.au/ it gets updated daily and there is often something of particular interest to we vintage caravanners... worth keeping an eye on it

Cobber.

[willyn]

Geez!!!!!
We have got Father Ray
Father Mark
now father Cobber
I hope all you guys are celebant or you will give us a bad name
Hmmmmm!!
what about the Vintage Monastery movement

its got a ring !!

Brother Will

[willyn]

Hi Bob T
thanks for the post
it is certaintly a job you would only want to do once
but the rewards are the end result and it is some thing ive never done before
isnt that what life is about
taking risks and making something good happen
It is amazing who looks at this site
I had an email from the managing director of airstream Australia Mr Spencer Jackson with some nice words yesterday

Will Bayley

[bobt]

Hi Will

Its the internet, everyoneuses it.

I look forward to seeing the beast in the flesh one day.
They rate high in my desirable list. It is great to see one in use down under.

Bob

[shaneandsimoen]

Hello,

this article was front page of the Geelong Advertiser Sat 3 Jan 2009.

www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/article/2009/01/03/41545_news.html

Regards Shane