caravan

Golden Age Of Caravans - Vintage Caravans The 1920s & 30s saw the real birth of caravanning for the middle classes. Families had the time and the money (and the car) to take a caravanning holiday. Mostly, people would just set up camp wherever they pleased, but many official caravan sites also popped up during this time. During WW2 however, many caravan manufacturers collapsed. Even in the years following, petrol rations and nation rebuilding pushed caravan holidays to the back of most Australians’ minds. From the beginning of the 1950s however, caravans began their resurgence and with affordable family cars like the FJ Holden, Australia rekindled its love of caravanning. While America was saying hello to the streamlined aircraft aluminum-built Airstream, Australians were cruising around in their Pathfinders and tiny Teardrops. Many caravans from the 1950s-1970s are still around today, lovingly restored by vintage caravan enthusiasts. The rest have been gutted and painted baby blue by hipster coffee and doughnut vendors (nothing wrong with that in my opinion, as long as the doughnuts are delicious). Source: www.camplify.com.au/blog/the-crazy-future-history-of-cara...

1937 was a transition year for Oldsmobile and that was certainly the case here in Australia for the locally assembled models. There were several key changes that took place in 1937, the most significant being a shift from timber-framed bodies to an all-steel structure. The Holden Body plant at Woodville, South Australia also transitioned to an all-steel turret top on Sedan & Sloper Coupe's to follow what Fisher Body had introduced in 1935 in the U.S. for the G.M. range there. Detroit executives apparently underestimated GM-H, they didn't initially believe that the Holden plant was capable of producing the All Steel Turret and was quite surprised when Laurence Hartnett - Managing Director of G.M-H confirmed that not only could the Holden Body plant produce the all-steel turret top, but they had been doing so for the Chrysler, Dodge, De Soto & Plymouth bodies that Holden's had built throughout 1936 for the Chrysler Corporation. Source: www.oldsmobileinaustralia.info/37hist.html

THE GREAT HOLIDAY BOOM The end of the war heralded the start of what the Sydney Morning Herald called in 1947, the ‘Great Holiday Boom’. A rush of affordable European and English sedans onto the market coincided with pay increases and big changes at work: two weeks of paid annual leave, a two-day weekend, and for many, regulation of the 40-hour working week and even long-service leave. While it might once have been just a dream, for Australia’s post-war families, owning a car became almost as important as owning a house and suddenly, everyone wanted to hitch up and go. With more time off and the money to cover holiday expenses, Australians embarked on annual beach holidays and forays into the little-explored outback, armed with maps provided free of charge by oil companies and motoring associations. The introduction of the production line revolutionised caravan manufacturing, and Australia’s Big Four led the way: Viscount and Millard in NSW, Franklin in Victoria, and Chesney in Queensland. In all, 22 manufacturers joined Australia’s inaugural 1954 caravan show in Melbourne showcasing their affordable, lightweight caravans decked out with Laminex benchtops, vinyl couches, carpeted floors and innovative gas and electric-powered kitchens. When Australian Prime Minister Ben Chifley launched Holden’s FX in 1948, one in every 10 Australian homes had a car in the garage. Once homegrown cars went into production in the mid-1960s, most Aussies had access to one and with rental caravans readily available, the caravan holiday could finally begin. Source: caravan.hemax.com/News/10865/Rise_of_the_Aussie_nomad

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