roadtrip

cool

The very distinctive body style was built by Howcroft of West Hartlepool, and they were almost exclusively to be found in the North East, owned by the major showmen who would have been the only people who could afford them. Not many have survived, but we have one that was owned by Randall Williams. The curved top panels were solid mahogany, this is the only one I have seen with the outer edges of the panels painted and the centres varnished, with gold and white lines as a border, it looks amazing.

To Kevin Scrivens: Thanks for this interesting info!

Added this wonderful caravan to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travel_trailer Thanks for posting these!

The car on the left appears to be a mid-1920s Chevrolet K Series Sedan. The other car is more difficult to identify. Possibly British, radiator similar to a Morris Bullnose, but not quite.
What an amazing photograph! Note that the Chevy is LHD, whereas the other car is RHD.

Vintage Cars & People Thank you very much.

History notes Between the wars rail travel and hotel accommodation were too expensive for the average Australian family. Motoring made holidays possible for a much larger percentage of the population. The 'motor gypsies', as they were called, cooked on the roadside and camped in tents. The first camping ground for traveling motorists was established at Woodend in Victoria in 1924. Permanent sleeping cabins soon began to appear on the camping grounds, to be followed by motels ("motor hotels"), caravan parks, and roadside eateries. Homemade caravans, which first appeared in the 1920s, made it possible to have touring holidays that were cheaper than staying at motels and more comfortable than in tents. With the upgrading of roads, local councils built caravan parks at beach resorts and tourist towns. The caravan industry really took off after the Don firm in Victoria began making caravans as a backyard business in 1934. By the early 1950s, many other caravan companies emerged including Viscount and Millard in New South Wales, Coronet and Franklin in Victoria, Chesney in Queensland, and Tru-Line in Western Australia. The competition was keen and the original plywood vans soon disappeared as sleek aluminum-clad models took over. Interiors became more sophisticated, with iceboxes and two-burner Shellite or kerosene stoves giving way to gas and electric refrigerators and ovens. Electric lighting quickly became standard and the caravans got larger. Local commercial production peaked in the mid-1970s. Compact caravans developed from the late 1970s with companies such as Windsor introducing the 'pop-top' to capitalize on interior space. Caravanning went through a decline for some years after that but in recent times has gained in popularity, with large numbers of 'grey nomads' (retired baby boomers) now leisurely touring the country." Source: vintagecaravans.proboards.com/thread/1991/caravan-history...