Paramount Caravans [Woodville, SA]

[stephen&Julie]

Hi,
Says Paramount across the front, needs TLC but hay not all that many around











Cheers S&J

[Don Ricardo]

(This post and the one above were originally posted on the DHL Victorian Paramount thread here and should be read in that context.)

Hi S&J,

Another interesting find - but possibly not as roadworthy as some you've come across.

The van you've found looks to be the same as the Paramount van listed on Ebuy in July 2010 (now posted here). However, seeing the side of the van you found has made me wonder whether these two vans don't belong to the South Australian Paramount stable, rather than the Victorian one. I'm basing that on the facts that:

• The shape fits better with that of many South Australian vans (think Harris and King, for example) than with Victorian vans of the early 60's era (think Franklin and Roma).


• The shape could easily be a more modern development of the SA Paramounts shown higher up this thread.


• The shape of the wheel arch is more similar to that on SA Paramounts than it is to Victorian Paramounts (ie not as high).

Having looked at the van you found in the flesh, what do you think?

Interestingly enough, we know that Carapark bought the SA Paramount factory in 1960, so if these two vans (the one you found and the Ebuy one) are SA Paramounts that might indicate that the SA firm continued to produce their own vans for a while before turning over to producing Caraparks, such as the Newline which came out of the Adelaide factory in 1963.

Anyway I'm interested in your comments about the van you found in relation to what I've suggested.

Don Ricardo

[stephen&Julie]

Hi Dr,
I would have to agree that this van has many similarities to early SA vans with the drawn out rear end
Cheers S&J

[Don Ricardo]

Photos of a 16 foot Paramount advertised on Ebuy in July 2010

Note:  These photos were originally posted on the Victorian Paramount thread here, but as we have learnt more about the Paramount vans built independently in South Australia and Victoria it has become clear that this van is almost certainly a 1960's South Australian Paramount.









Don Ricardo

[allankay]

Here are some pics of a c1937 Paramount that I inherited when I bought a block of land in the Murraylands. I have donated this van to a bloke who is going to restore it.

[Don Ricardo]

Photos of a South Australian Paramount caravan listed on Gumtree in August 2019

The seller indicated that the van was built in 1962 which would fit the styling and features. We know that Carapark bought the South Australian Paramount company in 1960, so this van would apparently have have been built during the Carapark era. The intriguing thing about the van is that on the side is some signage which says 'Roadmaster 15 Deluxe'. Roadmaster was a quite different company in South Australia at the time, which was building caravans with a quite distinctive and consistent style, very different to this Paramount. And surely with Roadmaster being the competition, Paramount wouldn't have labelled one of their models a 'Roadmaster'...would they?

Maybe there's another link that is yet to be discovered?





















Don Ricardo

[hughdeany]

Hi Don,
That van certainly has all the quirks of a Roadmaster,including the cupboard arrangement,wardrobe,and especially the outside aluminium work.
I would suggest they did build for Paramount,maybe that’s another badge engineering job?
Cheers
hughdeany

[Don Ricardo]

Hi Hughdeany,

That’s an intriguing observation. The Gumtree van is definitely the same design and with the same fittings as two other vans higher up this thread which are clearly branded as Paramounts, but your comment about a possible link with Roadmaster is really interesting. It had occurred to me that the placement and style of the Roadmaster signwriting on the side was very typical of Roadmaster. Maybe Lazza can help us with a bit of history if we can track him down.

Actually there is a bit of rethinking and research needs to be done regarding this Paramount thread. We have been working on the assumption that the 1950’s and1960’s South Australian Paramount caravans were somehow a continuation of the Paramount caravans built by W H Willshire in the 1930’s. However, I have recently been doing some collaborative research with another caravan historian, and we have discovered that Willshire was declared bankrupt and had to close his business in 1938. He then subsequently died during World War II. There is then a gap in the production of Paramount caravans until the mid 50’s. So that now suggests that somebody else in the 50’s started building caravans which were branded as Paramounts. The 50’s Paramount outfit then was bought by Carapark in 1960, and now we are saying that there may have been a connection between the 50’s/60’s Paramounts and Roadmaster. Sounds like a complicated story!

Don Ricardo