Our Touring Past

Linda and I have known Elwin for about 3 years now after he introduced himself at the Goulburn swap meet when we had our Propert there. Over the years we have bumped into him at several other swap meets and after the Berry State Caravan Rally we were invited to go to Canberra to have a look at his collection.

Elwin would have one of the largest collections of caravans in Australia altho most of them are from the 70's and 80's and stll being used today, he also has a few that make it into the catagory of vintage. Just about all of the caravans that he owns have been restored and would be ready to use at any time.

We mainly went to have a look at his 1965 Propert caravan that has been fully restored and modernised.
He also has a 1955 Carapark 16' that is restored and modernised.
A 1956 Carapark 18' unrestored.
A 1953 Gypsy 10 fully restored and modernised. Which is cladded in Alply, which is a thin sheet of aluminium bonded to the exterior of the ply.
A modern built teardrop camper.
And a 1955-56 16' Don caravan in imaculate and fully restored to original condition.

Hello Richard
I had the pleasure of meeting this gentleman about 5 years ago, shortly after he had bought his Propert. It was a very sad looking van then. I forgot to ask him about its vintage and am surprised that it is a 1965 model when it still has the round windows. It was unique in that it also had a fridge in it with a remote compressor sitting on the drawbar. Was it still on there when you saw it??

I am glad it was restored to its former glory. Those restorations are a real credit - to my memory, he had them done professionally.

Ray

Hi Ray.
I honestly can not remember if the compressor is on the draw bar or not, I have a sneaking suspicion that the Propert now has a modern fridge. Elwin has a friend who restores all of his vans for him, and he has also built a couple of very nice slide on campers for him as well.

Cheers.
Richard.

Did you happen to catch a look at the fifth wheeler he had built for his son?? I think it's about 50ft long, a virtual home on wheels! You probably missed it as it wasn't a vintage caravan
Ray