Vintage caravans bring back retro holidays in a step away from fast pace of modern life
Forget holidaying in luxury mobile homes with every mod con. A growing band of Australians are rediscovering the simple pleasures of passing time in a vintage caravan.
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When Denise Jensen saw a battered caravan arrive at her Chirnside Park home, she was lost for words.
The 1950s van had somehow made it to Melbourne’s outer eastern suburbs from Echuca — with the help of copious amounts of duct tape holding the fragile frame together.
Restoring the 1955 Playtime model caravan to its former glory was her husband’s next project.
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Peter Jensen had restored a series of vintage cars, but when he spotted a photograph of the old van on a noticeboard at a Bendigo swap meet, it piqued his interest.
“I paid a $50 deposit sight unseen and went to Echuca the following weekend to collect it,” he says. “It was under a pile of corrugated iron.
“It looked nothing like the photo because I discovered that picture was taken 15 years earlier. It was pretty deteriorated and the friend I was with told me to walk away. But I liked it.”
Peter saw through the duct tape and rotting panels and had a vision of what it could be.
Fast-forward seven years and the caravan has been stripped, significantly rebuilt and rewired and carefully repainted.
A 1950s picnic hamper sits on the dining table, a bakelite toaster on the bench and even the hotplate and grill date from that period.
Denise has added new lino, blinds and upholstery in keeping with the era, and a ’50s-style clock salvaged from her parents’ home hangs on the wall.
“This caravan ignites a lot of memories. People reminisce about their mum and dad having something similar and you can see memories flooding back by the expression on people’s faces,” Peter says.
“I’ll never forget towing it from Echuca. My friend and I had only got 5km down the road when bits began flying off — even the hatch flew off and disappeared.
“We stopped at the next garage, bought duct tape and wrapped it around the sides and the roof to hold it together. Most people told me to burn it. But I wasn’t giving up. I wanted to preserve a bit of Australian heritage.”
Denise and Peter are among a growing number of Victorians discovering the appeal of vintage and classic caravans. Once the domain of grey nomads and Baby Boomers, the movement is attracting a younger fan base, thanks to the power of Instagram.
Each year, the Vintage Caravan Nationals bring together enthusiasts from across New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, sharing restoration tips and socialising with people who understand their passion.
In Victoria, events include the Bridgewater Vintage Caravan Weekend, while the Vintage Caravan Group of Western Australia descended on Anglesea before Christmas to celebrate all things classic and retro.
For Peter Jensen, a mechanic, the many months spent restoring the 1955 Playtime have been worth the blood, sweat and tears.
“The first night it was finished Peter brought it home and slept in it,” Denise says.
The couple debuted their vintage van at the Shepparton Shakeout event a few years ago and turned heads as they towed it behind their EH Holden.
“The rockabilly crowd loved the van, and everyone wanted to have a look inside because it is a pretty little thing,” Denise says. “I love the nostalgia of it.
“Everything is so disposable today, it’s nice to maintain something old.”
DRIVING MISS MYRTLE
SCOTT and Jessie Curtis-Griffiths from Balnarring have two Airstreams imported from the US and Miss Myrtle, a 1955 caravanpainstakingly returned to her vintage best.
When Scott and Jessie sold a business in 2012, they decided to spend some of the profits on their first Airstream. It wasa dream of Scott’s to own one of the iconic American vans.
“My family have been in to caravans for a while because my grandfather used to own a caravan park in Echuca. Our Australiancaravan, Miss Myrtle, was his and he passed it to my father who renovated it and then passed it to me,” Scott says.
“I love her shape because it’s quite different — it’s very boxy and they were actually nicknamed ‘toasters’ because of theirsquare shape and aluminium body.”
While Miss Myrtle, a 1955 CARAPARK Hunter Sixteen Two, holds great sentimental value for the family, it’s the Airstreams thatare their passion. Skye is a 22ft long 1962 Flying Cloud that the couple imported from Washington with the help of Wally,an American Airstream enthusiast aged in his 70s. While she needed work, the shiny exterior was in good condition.
“I’m Scott’s apprentice when he needs an extra pair of hands so when the floor was rotten and had to be removed, I helpedhim cut the floorboards down to size and lay them and helped with drilling holes and painting,” Jessie says.
Scott has a background in construction management and more recently began working as a carpenter and his design and hands-onskills combine with Jessie’s eye for interior design. Skye has a modern, uncluttered ‘Scandi’ theme with a queen bed, benchseats in the dinette area that turn into two single beds and airconditioning and heating. When Scott and Jessie travel withtheir two children, they hitch up Skye and they also hire out the stylish Airstream.
Miss Myrtle is a favourite rental with rockabilly fans and an older age group who want to turn back the clock and the coupleare now renovating another Airstream from Kansas, a 1952 Flying Cloud, which sits on their 1ha property waiting for the coupleto work their magic on her tired interior.
“Four times a year we go away with a group of enthusiasts and nerd out on Airstreams,” Jessie says.
“We remember travelling with Skye when she was still a shell and we camped in her with mattresses on the floor and sleepingbags. Our kids loved it. They have a ball when we travel and it’s a great way of getting away as a family.”
Inevitably, when the Airstream pulls into a camp site or petrol station to refuel, people can’t resist striking up a conversation.
“People who don’t know about Airstreams ask if we’ve built it ourselves — and we’ve had people ask if it’s a horse float,” Scott says.
ROCKIN’ AND ROLLIN’
BRETT Boardman and wife Gayelene, from Werribee, own
a 1938 Hawthorn caravan that echoes their love of the golden era of rock ’n’ roll.
It’s only 3.6m long, but people who step inside the vintage caravan describe it as “the Tardis”. The cream van with classicnavy blue detailing is compact but surprisingly spacious and is often a comfortable weekend escape for the couple.
Brett hitches it to his beloved 1947 Ford convertible and they head to the countryside, garnering plenty of attention from fellow motorists.
Brett found the 1938 Hawthorn via a Facebook post and moved it from its former home in the Dandenong Ranges to his shed in Werribee, where he’s done some minoralterations.
The navy paintwork used to be red, a new fridge has been added, the upholstery and curtains replaced and memory foam mattresses on the bed ensure a good night’s sleep.
“The caravan was in pretty good condition but adding a comfortable bed was a must,” he says. “But the bed opens out sideways so, at 6ft 1in (185cm), my head and feet do touch either side of the van. I have to curl up a little, but it’s still comfortable.”
A matching navy canvas awning provides shade from the sun when the Boardmans set up camp, but much of the original caravan has been retained, like the cream cabinetry and drawersand the tiny leadlight windows.
“My wife and I like nostalgia and the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s,” Brett says. “We like old cars and rock and roll dancing and everysecond weekend we go to a social rock and roll dance at different places.
“We’d often see old caravans like this around the scene and eventually thought we’d like to have one.
“This is a fairly simple van and we want to keep it that way. It takes us away from the complications of modern times and takes us back to a day when people lived more simply.
“We don’t travel with lots of stuff because there’s no room and we like that it that way.”
The couple has attended a vintage caravan weekend on the coast and travelled to New South Wales to a hot rod run, meetingother vintage van enthusiasts along the way.
“People love having a look at our van and total strangers will come up and start talking about it,” Brett says.
“Modern vansare like Commodores — they’re everywhere and all the same. But these old vans are just full of character.”
BACK TO THE ’70s
ALISON Mulqueen, from Bendigo, is the owner of four caravans dating from the 1940s to the 1970s. Alison fills the carefully restored vans with authentic accessories she finds in op shops and at markets.
When Alison and partner Marcus Williams began their relationship five years ago, she casually mentioned she wanted a littlecaravan in her backyard where she could sit and have coffee.
A month later, the couple bought their first caravan — Florence,dating from the 1940s.
It took them six months to renovate the vintage van and to swap the purple and white interior for soft pastels and mint.
“We took out the original cupboards and repainted the lot,” Alison says. “When we ripped up the carpet, she had floorboardsunderneath and we painted those using all the different colour sample pots we’d bought while trying to decide what colourto paint Florence on the outside.”
The couple took Florence to their first vintage caravan weekend near the Grampians and met enthusiasts who had not one van, but a few or more. So they began to build their own collection.
Amelie, a 1966 Franklin bought on Gumtree, has been their largest renovation project. They had to replace panels and windowsand spent hours removing lino and glue from the floor and then sanding back the floorboards.
“She has an art-deco theme and is in pastel pink, green, yellow and blue,” Alison says.
“She has a lovely bakelite radio, art-deco crockery and light switches.”
One of Alison’s favourite additions to their collection is her eye-catching 1970s van, which she bought as an Airbnb investment.
The van was towed from an island off the coast of Brisbane to her home in the centre of Bendigo, where Alison set to worktransforming it into a 1970s sanctuary.
“It had to be that beautiful ’70s orange colour scheme and it already had a beautiful orange vinyl wraparound couch — thatsold it to me,” she says.
Alison scoured op shops and garage sales for a record player, ’70s vinyl records, books and magazines and had bold wallpaper specially printed to reflect the era.
Alison’s daughters, aged 12 and 14, often use the caravans when they have friends come for a sleepover.
“Their friends think it’s pretty cool,” Alison says. “We’ve had some great trips
in the caravans with the kids and it’s a different experience when you travel in a vintage caravan.
“You don’t have a lot of space, so you spend more time outside. We sit outside and cook outside, and if it’s cold, we lighta fire and toast marshmallows. Our caravans are a big and very enjoyable part of our life.”
The Victorian, Caravan, Camping & Touring Supershow is on at the Melbourne Showgrounds from Wednesday to February 25.
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