Several people were talking to me about vans their fathers had owned or built, and Graeme Parsons was one of them, he kindly forwarded some photos of his father’s van during construction and later on a couple of trips.
His father, Aubrey Parsons, was a plumber by trade who could turn his hand to anything. His business was located at 673 Botany Road, Rosebery and he lived in the street behind. The van was built in 1953-4 in his workshop seems to have been his own design.
- 673 Botany Rd.JPG (59.71 KiB) Viewed 2315 times
The photos of the construction show it had an interesting chassis, with the main rails tapered at the ends with cut-outs to remove weight. Graeme, who was about 12 at the time it was built, remembers helping his father and said he had the equipment and skills to fabricate the chassis and the body of the van. None of the chassis suppliers I’ve seen advertising for have ever showed such innovation. The van was plywood, fitted with vacuum brakes and was initially towed with a Morris 10 which he rebuilt after being written off, after the previous owner had an argument with a train! The Morris wasn’t up to the job and it was replaced with a Vanguard.
The finished product was called “Karingal”, an Aboriginal word for happy home or camp and there are photos of it at a Caravan Club of Australia meeting at East's Beach in 1955 and closer to home at Palm Beach the same year.
The van was used for about 10 years and then replaced with a 12ft Millard and later a 16ft Millard.
Graeme would love to think it may have survived; does anyone have it lurking about out there? He has even drawn up a plan of the layout as he remembers it and I think we have a budding replicator waiting for the right time.
Here are the photos showing the construction.
- van build '53-'54.JPG (44.07 KiB) Viewed 2315 times
- 1953 Building van.JPG (42.12 KiB) Viewed 2315 times
- 1953 Building van (1).JPG (37.21 KiB) Viewed 2315 times
- 1953 Building van (2).JPG (39.72 KiB) Viewed 2315 times
- 1954 Garie Beach.JPG (55.4 KiB) Viewed 2315 times
- Palm Bch 1955 001.JPG (48.31 KiB) Viewed 2315 times
- 1958 not sure where-e.JPG (28.86 KiB) Viewed 2315 times
- 1958 at home.JPG (40.45 KiB) Viewed 2315 times
- Morris.JPG (52.55 KiB) Viewed 2315 times
The big orange van in the middle of the first photo looks interesting, Pontiac for a tow car with it.
- Easts Bch CCA meet 1955 (1).JPG (62.92 KiB) Viewed 2315 times
- Easts Bch CCA meet 1955 (2).JPG (52.35 KiB) Viewed 2315 times
- Easts Bch CCA meet 1955 (3)e.JPG (45.82 KiB) Viewed 2315 times
A big thanks to Graeme for taking the trouble to provide the photos and information. Oh, and the plan, I nearly forgot. As Graeme remembers it and very nicely drawn too.
