Our Touring Past

The Sundowner 12 built by the Western Caravan Company.

514-518 Western Highway. Pendle Hill. NSW ( click on address for location.)

I have recently been in contact with Andrew who is related to the owner of the Western Caravan Co. and he has given me some photos of a couple of the caravans that were made to order by them.

Western caravan company started building caravans around 1946, they built Sundowner caravans but their main work was building made to order caravans.

The next two photos are of 2 horse drawn caravans that had a removable steel drawbar so that it could be towed by a truck and the shape of the rear suggests that these were feed bins for the horses.
The gentleman holding the door of the van is Andrews uncle Ross who was the owner ot Western Caravan Co

The next 5 photos are of a large 3 room caravan built on a semitrailer chassis and was towed by a Dodge truck. It was build as a retirement home for a couple from Narrabeen in 1949 and was displayed at the Royal Easter Show in 1950. It was powered by its own 32 volt generator that was started and controlled from the loungeroom at the back of the van. The bedroom was over the turntable at the front. Sadly tho Andrew doesnt have any photos of the outside of the van.

This is the only Western Caravan ad that I have come across, and it is for Western Hire Caravans.

Well it has taken me a while but I have finally found another ad for Western Caravans. This ad is from 1956 and has information on the Western Two Berth which was a tiny 8' 4" long.

Found this advertisement for Western Caravans "Western Classic" van in the N.R.M.A. Camping and Caravanning Guide for 1962-3 so they were in business for a while.
The proprietor is Laurie Newbould so I don't know how that fits in with existing info above nor what the connection to Nepean Caravans might be, a distributor or subsidiary company? George

1966 ad for Western Caravans. Which ststes they were still building, hiring, servicing and repairing caravans.

1951 vintage caravan ad for the Western Caravan Company.

Another 1951 vintage caravan ad for the Western Caravan Company "Sundowner".