The caravan is home made and constructed of masonite.

They don’t come anymore round than this one, aerodynamically designed indeed! It makes “Joker II” look like a really modern caravan!

Check out the “crabs eyes” front lights, and the water tank filler pipe!

The caravan is very original and in surprisingly good condition, well worth restoring. It has been stored in an open farm shed for many years, consequently the front of the van, below the window, has been damaged by weather and needs replacing.

I was recently at the Ballarat swap meet and came across a copy of the “1948 Caravan & Touring in Australia Manual”. Inside the magazine is a feature article that describes all the details, plans and specifications for this caravan, which I had purchased only a couple of week’s prior. I couldn’t believe my luck! The cover page of the magazine even had a drawing of the caravan inside an outline of Australia.

The magazine describes it as “The streamlined ‘Holiday Home’ masonite caravan designed for four”.
The article says:
“The streamlined tear-drop shaped caravan is a popular one with the motorist who likes the lines to harmonise with his streamlined car”.

The caravan survived the trip to my home on the back of a tilt tray truck without any damage, indicating sound structural condition. If it had fallen to bits during the trip, a barbeque would have been the order of the day! No shortage of firewood!

It took a week to get rid of three inches of thick farm dust that was in, and on it. The interior had been housing for multiple ‘daddy long-leg’ spiders and their webs.

A fair amount of work is required to bring it back to its former glory, but nothing that can’t be achieved with a few hours work and many cartons of beer!
The interior of the caravan is quite tidy and requires little work to fix a couple of ill fitting windows & cupboard doors, no doubt suffering the strain of having survived fifty odd years.

Interior fittings include three overhead lights with separate switches, sink & tap (pump), table that folds down to form a double bed, a single bed come lounge at the rear, provision for a Kerosene stove with a fold down top that forms a bench, several cupboards, and a wardrobe with an ‘art deco’ style mirror.
Storage areas are provided underneath the seats / beds as usual.

The design in the magazine includes a bunk bed at the rear, there is some evidence of one having been in the van originally, but for now, it is a 3 berth.

The power supply, which I haven’t yet sussed out, appears to be provided by both car battery (probably 6 volt) and 240V. There is a wooden box with a lift up lid inside the caravan containing some Bakelite switches, fuses, a power point, battery terminals and provision for a car battery. There is a 240V power inlet on the outside of the van covered by a small tin flap.