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Caravans - The Illustrated History - 1919 - 1959

Paperback · 250 x 207mm (portrait) · 96 pages · Over 100 colour and black & white photographs/illustrations · Published March 03

Caravanning is a hugely popular hobby - the Caravan Club has nearly 300,000 members. The first in-depth book published in 25 years on caravans and the caravan industry. Tells the story of the development of the trailer caravan from 1919 to 1959. Coverage includes many of the less well-known makes and designs

Want to know some more on my two books before considering a purchase? Well I have given a brief write-up and a few photos out of the 100 pages in each of the books. The first volume tells the story of how the first caravan manufacturers in the UK evolved, and how Eccles went about to promote caravanning as a past time.

In those early days car pulled caravans were primitive but the 20’s saw a steady increase in development and manufacturers. In the 30’s streamlining was very much in evidence with some advanced curved profiles by Car Cruiser. After the war caravans were slowly making a come back and by the 50’s the famous Sprite caravan was to make its stance. Caravans had been expensive and Sam Alper the man behind Sprite saw a cheap good quality no frills caravan could make a large impact on the market. This happened with Alpers determination of publicly testing his Sprite Caravans showing how well they both towed and survived tough testing conditions.

	Early Eccles from 20's outside the factory
	1930 Winchester was state of the art with exterior profile of super streamlining 30's style
	1947 Safari, exploded view some of these are still in existence today
	Coventry Steels Phantom Knight, very middle class interior check out this set-up family shot

Along with large Scottish manufacturer Thomson, Sprite found demand for its caravans reaching past the UK and into European countries, creating world-wide demand. Sprite took on Eccles, Bluebird and Fairholme making it the largest caravan maker in the world at one time. Innovations, saw glass fibre reinforced plastic being used for some caravan construction, Cheltenham and Siddall pioneering the use of this material. Aluminium replaced hardboard for exterior panelling and insulation was now being used more widely in the 50’s. The first book shows the reader just how caravan design evolved in the UK and how we lead the world in both production and design. Look at the 1947 Coventry Knight it’s a palatial caravan far ahead of its time, some brilliant shots show just how advanced these caravans were.

	Publicity shot in mid 30's these girls are showing just how carefree caravanning is!
	Rare colour shot, Pemberton made it big on tourers but mainly semi-static models, thousands used these to live in, and you still come across them!

Sprite's early Alpine is pictured which paved the way for family value caravanning. Thousands were sold all around the world many still in use today; even some of the 1958 models still exist!

Bailey, were just a small Bristol maker who quietly produced middle market caravans in the 50’s. They are now the most popular caravan in the UK with demand outstripping supply. Checkout the 50’s version its hard to believe your modern Bailey has evolved from this. Glass fibre Reinforced Plastic (G.R.P) brought new designs to the caravan industry, not all were successful look at Willerby’s Vogue and Vista models. They weighed far to heavy and proved costly to produce.

Pictures from all those early decades are in the book, from some real wacky designs such as floating caravans and double decker ones. I hope that you will find this first volume of interest, as I take a nostalgic look at those early pioneering days of caravans. Should you wish to order a first edition copy, you can do this direct from the publisher Veloce or Amazon, WHSmith's or Waterstones. If you have read this first volume please let me know what you think of it-good or bad, I want to know, so e-mail me your thoughts.

Please note Volume One the first edition there is only limited stocks now left.