A couple of weeks ago I recieved a message on my mobile from a young lady in reguards to an article about my Propert that appeared in a caravan magazine about 2 years ago.
She was letting me know that her Father, Francis had owned a Propert Folding Caravan and that he would like to get in contact with me.
So the next night I rang Francis and had a good old chat to him about the Propert that he had owned.
At the time he and his wife lived in South Australia and in 1962 while on a holiday to Sydney they made an appointment to have a look at one of the Propert Folding Caravans, and after some discussion they decided to purchase a van, but it was up to Thomas Propert to decide whether to sell one or not, apparently he was a bit picky as to who he sold his vans to so you had to get his approval first. After the OK was given they purchased the van ( serial No 199 ) and continued on their holiday.
Francis, his wife and 2 children enjoyed many holidays along the River Murray in the van, as he worked 7 days and then had 4 off there was always time for a quick getaway, they also made several more trips to Sydney and even ventured as far as Brisbane untill 1968 when twin girls arrived and they had to sell the Propert for a larger van.
Francis has been kind enough to give me the original purchase receipts for Propert 199 dated 1962, a receipt for an annexe that they purchased from Properts in 1964 as well as an original brochure.
He has also mailed some photos of their Propert on a couple of family holidays that they had up stream from Mannum in SA along the River Murray.
I was very excited to have these receipts, as they can tell us a bit of information about trying to "date" a Propert. From the receipt above we now know that Propert 199 was sold in 1962 for 435 Pounds, and it was sold less stove and curtains. Even comparing the 2 reciept numbers we can gather that they wrote out 248 reciepts over a 25 month period. From the reciept below we know that an annexe was worth 35 Pound 18 Shillings in 1964.
A few holiday photos from Francis, we know that the last photo was taken after 1964 as they have the annex fitted.