Terrence Creer
Hart & Creer Pty Ltd
Main South Rd, Richmond, South Australia
The History of Adventurer caravans.
see the 2nd and 3rd post below.
The original cabinet making business of Hart and Creer was started in the early 1930’s by Phils grandfather Charles Creer and his great uncle Clifford Hart. Hart and Creer started manufacturing quality furniture and church items at the address of Roebuck St. Mile End, Adelaide, then in 1948 this factory was burnt down and Hart and Creer then relocated to Main Rd. South Richmond. In 1955 Charles Creer passed away, with Terrance Creer purchasing his share of the business and carrying on as a “full” partner. Finally in 1958 Clifford Hart retired from the business and sold his share of the business to Terrance leaving him as the sole proprietor.
In 1956 Terrance had the “holiday” bug and constructed a small 11 foot caravan on a timber chassis, this little caravan was nick named “Hilarity” and was originally build specifically for the Creer family use. As with many other caravan builders the orders for caravan started to flow in after the first van was built. Which was timely as the need for quality radio cabinetry was declining from the new transistor and stereo radios, so at this time Adventurer Caravans was starting to take off.
The old wooden chassis of the first Adventurer Caravans was slowly replaced with steel chassis which were made to order by Sratco and Son. With the welding factory about a mile away from Hart and Creer the chassis would be towed the distance using a trade plate with no lights or mud guards. This practice soon stopped after the local police had a chat in Terrance’s ear about them, and from then on the chassis were delivered on a flatbed truck.
By the early 1960’s the doped canvas roofs had been replaced with the very new fibre glass roofs. Adventurer caravans were built in many sizes from 10 ft up to a huge 30 ft survey vans used by government departments in the outback. The mid 1960’s saw Adventurer Caravans ranked in the top five caravan builders in Australia alongside the likes of Carapark and Viscount Caravans. During the late 1960’s Hart and Creer had hit its peak and was employing around 50 men, with most of the work building caravans, although this was also a boom time for church furniture ( with a lot of churches in and around Adelaide still using the original Hart and Creer furniture.)
As with many other caravan builders their caravans were sold under different names, so by the late 50’s early 60’s Hart and Creer caravans were being sold by the Cluccas Group in Sydney and Mildura, sold as “Crestour” in Victoria and “Ravan” in Western Australia. With sales to WA being curtailed as the caravans rarely arrived undamaged at Perth after travelling across the Nullarbor by train.
Builders plates were never fitted to the caravans but Terrance employed a sign writer by the name of Art Erry who hand painted the name and details of every van to the front left of the door, from the early 1960’s onwards a chassis number was welded to the A frame near the front on the left hand side.
Hart and Creer eventually closed its doors in 1973 after around 17 years of building caravans, with a few pioneering firsts that Terrance accomplished for the caravan industry.
• One of the first to use aluminium framed windows instead of timber framed windows.
• One of the first to use fibreglass for the roof instead of doped canvas.
• One of the first to use Perspex “wrap around” windows in the front of the caravan.
• Not really a first but John Carr completed his apprenticeship under Terrance with Hart and Creer and later formed the caravan building giant of Viscount Caravans.
The Adventurer caravan was recently listed on ebay with the following sellers comment.
“Purchase caravan 2yrs ago & have fitted the following new items. Axle & springs. Electric brakes. New white wall tyres & wheels which have early ford falcon 5 stud bolt pattern. All new seats. Rear LED lights. New water tank. Van has 11 months rego. Tows great. Ready to use however a few minor items need attention. Van is aluminium clad with fibreglass roof. Van is 10 foot long + 3 foot draw bar & 7 foot wide. Van was set up to be towed by ether our Model "A": ford or our 64 Falcon. Genuine reason for sale which will be disclosed to bidders. We have tried to establish the year it was made we think the 60's. So the body has the odd bump. An inspection is highly recommend so that you know what you are bidding on.”