Re: from the archives

[surferboy]

gday trev carrots
love that first photo (pity its not a wagon)
just wondering if it goes around corners ?
surferboy

[trev and carrots]

pics are doin disappearing act haha.ill put them on again and see if they stay

[trev and carrots]

[trev and carrots]

[surferboy]

you forgot to say ABRACADABRA

[trev and carrots]

shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh dont jinx them haha.

[Deleted]

Hi
Theres a Carapark nine ten ( Chrome toaster) complete with porthole and venetians less than 2k from my place. Humpty has seen it as well.It has no interior at all but i have a vintage motorcycle transporter come overnight van plan for it.
I often call in and quiz the (ex/current??) owner. he tells me that a bloke give him $150 for it 2 years ago and the new owner is waiting for the bloke near my joint to evict all the crap out of it so he can tow it back to the central coast.

What a load of shit
I offered him twice that much and buy him a second hand garden shed to put all his shit in....... still wont take up the offer. Just a dribbling old fool that will do nothing with it except let it rot in his yard.

those of you that are into restoring cars or hot rods will know the sort of dickhead i am talking about. You spot something with potential but the owner just comes up with a whole list of reasons to let it fall apart in thier yard rather than see it go to someone who is willing to put it back on the road.

Dreamers....

Reddontgiveuptryin'

[HDTodd]

Hey Reddo,
If you're after a Carapark I found this one when we went for a vintage train ride from Cooma to Chacola. The train driver said the old bloke would probably sell it if you asked him nicely.
That old grey one in Coledale is still sitting there too, the vines have even died and I think the door is fixed.

[retrovan]

HDTodd,

Reddo obviously had firsts dibbs, having put so much work into trying to acquire the other chrome toaster/vintage motorcycle transporter....but if he is not interested in that little carapark (NineTen?), then I might be...
cheers,
Tim

[cobber]

Folks,
Last week I decided to get fair dinkum (sort of ) about finding plywood VC’s in my neighborhood, (lots of chook sheds where I live, some of them must be full of VC’s I reckon ).

Carapark shells are a dime a dozen, herewith some pictures. All of these have been stripped of their interiors, both fittings and linings.

If anybody is interested, and desperate, let me know.









Cobber.

[cobber]

Some more stuff "from the archives"

We were talking to a bloke at Motorfest 2007, who
was telling us about his uncle who once made
caravans, when Lynelle Tickos gave me a big sloppy
kiss which I interpreted as nothing more than an
invitation to move my bloody car so they could get
out & go home.

The bloke came around to see us the other day to
continue the conversation....he lives not far away.

His uncle, Ross Smith, owned Western Caravan
Company @ Pendle Hill who made Sundowner
Caravans ( Chippydave posted a “Sundowner”
brochure back on the 20th May). They were later
taken over by Carapark.

The man, Andrew, was a great raconteur and had
many stories to tell and a few photos including this
one of a horse drawn caravan made around
1946--1948...by Western Caravan Company
....there were only two of them made.


The caravan behind the kids, and the dogs, and
the tree, in this photo is an “Airlite” ...he thinks
they were made in S.A.-----I’m not so sure about
that, does anybody have information on “Airlite”
caravans? I have heard the name often and this is
the first photo I have seen of one (I think)


Cobber.

[cobber]

And here's anothery...
How would this 1937 GY Vauxhall, 25 HP, look in front of ol’ 36.......I want it.
The Vintage Caravan in this photo looks A OK too, eh?
The Vauxhalls body was by Holden...photo taken 1938.

NOW..... 2009.
We now know the caravan pictured is a Furness, see more about these 'vans in DHL.


Item held by State Library of New South Wales.

Cobber.

[cobber]

Further to that conversation Yvonne and I had
with Andrew, mentioned above, We received a
CD from him that his daughter had gone to the
trouble of doing for us.
He also made mention when we were talking to
him about a semi-trailer caravan his uncle had, I
showed him photos of the one we saw at our
Morgan gathering and he said this one was much
smaller.
He thought it was built in the 1950’s and was at
the “Royal Easter Show”, and featured in the
“Womens Weekly” at that time.
OK, now for some photos of the inside of the
Semi-trailer caravan...and don’t she look great.

The bedroom was at the front of the van,


The kitchen and living area in the centre of the van.




And the lounge area at the rear of the van, get a go at the radio.



And this is the bathroom.


The van was fitted with a 32 volt generator that supplied power to the van.
Pretty classy eh?.....where is it now ?? wish I knew.

Cobber.

[Geoff & Jude]

hello cobber

ditto what jude said about the mag.

but what i'd really like to know is, are there any photos of the outside of the semi-van. one day in the future i really want to re-create a vintage 5th wheeler/semi van to hitch behind the old fargo.

it won't ever be true vintage but it will be representative. (as the purists shudder).

an outside shot would be appreciated.

geoff 'n jude

[cobber]

Geoff 'n Jude, and everybody,

You can bet that if we had photos of the exterior of the van they would be shown here...we don't.

What we hope is that somebody has, or can get, a copy of the "Womens Weekly" that featured the van. Andrew is not sure of the date but he thinks it was late 40's or very early 50's.
His uncle made it and it was a one of.

Cobber.

[Deleted]

here's a challenge ......lets see if we can find this beauty........

Its a 1942 Buick sedan converted to tow a gooseneck caravan. It was last spotted at the Windang Caravan Park on the South Coast of NSW (near Coledale ;D) in 1969/1970.

I'll give ya's a tip ...... a couple of years later it was dumped at the tip (pardon the pun ;D)

[cobber]

Mark mate,

According to me mate Andrew the semi-caravan
we are talking about was towed by a Dodge ute
that had been modified, ie the sides chopped off
it, in much the same fashion as the Buick photo
you have challenged us with.

I assumed ours was a plywood....maybe not, I'll ask Andrew......
or do you know something your not telling us, eh, eh?

Cobber.

[Deleted]

Heres a tip Cobber
Marks foto is to be found in one of the latest editions restored cars or hot rodder mags. One of the blokes at work buys the mags religiuosly. I get to read it after he has finished with it.

As Mark said. It went to the tip a few years after that photo was taken.
may she R.I.P.

Reddo

[cobber]

This is a photo of Malcolm Fraser’s sister Lorraine, who has apparently been booted out of the house for some minor misdemeanour and told that “life wasn’t meant to be easy”.

The caravan ? all I can tell you is, the photo was taken c1942.
Study the way the wind break has been constructed, very basic but very practical. I think it would withstand moderate winds from any direction.


Cobber.

[Don Ricardo]

G'day Cobber,

I've taken another look at the vans in Trodler's second photo following your post. I take it you are referring to the first and third caravans from the left?? If so, I don't think they are the same make, just painted the same. Because they are on different angles it's a bit hard to compare, but it seems to me that:
- the curve on the roof of the two vans is different, and that the curve at the front of the third caravan is greater than on the first,
- the back of the third caravan curves in towards the floor, while the back of the first caravan appears to be flat/straight as far as I can see (the front of the third caravan also curves in towards the floor but the chap standing at the front corner of the first van makes it impossible to tell whether the front curves in on that one or not),
- the front window on the third caravan seems to be located in a slightly different place (lower) compared to the front window of the first, in fact the front window of the first van seems to be more like a hatch, while the window on the third van is clearly (sorry about the pun!) glass.

That's how it seems to me. I'm interested if that's how you and others see it. If Trodler has seen the original photos or has copies of them, it would be nice to know what he can tell from them.

One intriguing thing - the door on the third van (and possibly the first) appears to be inward swinging - or am I wrong and the door is just exactly in line with the camera??

I've also applied my analytic eye and magnifying glass to the second and fourth vans from the left. It appears to me that they may well be the same make, or built off the same plans, at least. (Maybe you were asking about these vans rather than the other two??) I note that the door on the fourth van has a standard diamond pattern leadlight window in it, while the window in the second van is a sunbeam pattern , but possibly also leadlight. Of course, such a difference would not mean that they weren't the same make or off the same plans if they were home-built or built-to-order.

Amazing how much there is to see in some of the old photos...and we haven't even started trying to guess the make of the cars, about which I've got no idea at all!!

Don Ricardo

[Deleted]

Geoff and jude
wrote:

"One day in the future i really want to re-create a vintage 5th wheeler/semi van to hitch behind the old fargo."

Hi G&J
just had a flashback to the trip i done to pick up the old TD near wagga wagga.
while i was in cootamundra on the way home i had tea at one of the local pubs . Got yarning with a bloke that was building a fifth wheeler . ( alas a late model version ).
He said that he had the frame built and she was a rolling concern. No outside cladding or fit out as yet .

He said he was building it in a mates workshop in coota and he travelled over from cooma once a month to work on it. Also mentioned he had lost interest in it .


All sounding good so far eh??

Sad part is i never got his, or his mates contact details or an address where the project is living . soon as he mentioned late model caravanning i sorta tuned off a bit. Never give the replica 5th wheeler idea a thought .

i wouldnt mind having a go at building something on a grand scale like that. Maybe when the cuts and abrasions heal from working on the replica TD i might start looking at old double axle horse floats as a basis for a replica vintage mini fifth wheeler

Meanwhile ... somewhere in Cootamundra is a neglected fifth wheeler rolling stock that is just begging for some nutcase to come along and do the vintage van thing with it.

reddo

[cobber]

Going back to page 1 & 2 of this thread, about the caravans made by the "Western Caravan Company"

A little more information has been provided by the daughter of Ross Smith regarding the unique caravans made by her father during the late 1940s & 1950’s.
As was mentioned earlier there were two horse drawn vans made , we now know one was made for a Mr. Fletcher and his dog, and another for Mr. & Mrs. Bishop and their daughter.

We have now been told that there were three semis or fifth wheeler vans built.
The one on this thread on page 2 showing the inside of the van was built for a Mr.& Mrs Dunman.
Another was built for a Mr. Nash who was a “carnival man”, and apparently was the owner of the “Haunted House” what-cha-ma-call-it that toured the country in those days, shades of the English “showman’s” caravan wot?.
The third one was built for a Mr. & Mrs Weedon.

Still unable to find exterior photos of these caravans, but still looking.

Maybe this additional information might help somebody find, rescue, and restore one of these interesting vans made by the “Western Caravan Company” of Pendle Hill NSW.

Cobber.

[Deleted]

does anyone know what happened to the opening post of this thread

This was one of our "treasured" threads, as it was started by the Late Trevor Roberts about one month after the forum started in July 2004.

Trevor had posted several brilliant pictures from the photographic archives of State Libary of SA.

Now his original post is gone, after having been there for a couple of years

Mark

[Geoff & Jude]

hi mark

are these the photos your looking for?

vintagecaravans.proboards30.com/index.cgi?board=Memorabilia2&action=display&thread=1093616730

geoff 'n jude

[Deleted]

yeah .....thanks Geoff & Jude ....they're the pics ....forgotten they were on that thread

but, where's the pics surferboy's post is referring to?

"love that first photo (pity its not a wagon)
just wondering if it goes around corners ?"
surferboy

probably gone ages ago ........