Can’t believe how weights have increased now. That 15ft Safari all up weight was less than 1200kg with a steel girder chassis & a proper domestic wooden floor. Thanks for this trip back in time 👍
You’re welcome! It’s a myth that old caravans are heavy. I think modern ones gained weight due to both the equipment fitted, and the reliance on solid chunks of laminated MDF for the internal furniture
Fantastic look back at Caravan, and social history Cameron. My wife and I were there, starting as children with our parents and their 1970s vans. Thanks for taking the time to do this for us. My wife wants that hair dryer!!!
A big hello from Broome in North West Western Australia! My wife and I have only recently discovered your amazing channel and we absolutely love it! Thank you so much for all of your incredible content- truly wonderful!
@@NotAnotherWhiteBoxyou are so brilliant i have not watched for a while but you have been great rescuing and the smallest caravan etc 👍👍 all the best merrychristmas and hope you keep growing
This is just brilliant, Cameron! Kudos to you for stepping into the role of historian for the (diminished but not dead) British caravan industry in particular. I subscribe to lots of automotive-related RU-vid channels and you (and Ed Westby of Twin Cam) are doing something pretty unique: saving and restoring mostly unflashy classics (with the tinkering side that people love to watch), but also putting them in their time and market context, which includes fantastically put-together looks at brochures (with the striking contrasts from manufacturer to manufacturer in pictures and text). Pre-internet, brochures and magazines really were the only way to get information and do research. We are spoiled in the 2020s by having so many resources so easily accessible, but maybe we have lost something too.
Thank you so much for this lovely comment ❤️ I was unsure how well this series would be received; I knew it wasn’t going to pull in thousands of views, but it’s struck a chord with folks who love history. So I’ll keep pressing on and releasing more of these videos. Sadly, the British caravan industry is pretty much all but forgotten, and we were the pioneering nation of the touring caravan, in addition to the biggest volume global exporters of touring caravans. But it’s all in the past now and not even on the pages of the history books because not many people have written books about caravans!
We absolutely loved watching this. The Archives thing is something we had no idea about and we are defo going to look at those. The cars had us falling about laughing. The Ledbetters too HA HA Brilliant Cameron. The best yet.
I saw those images of the Ledbetter caravan and instantly recognised it!!! I had seen it all that long ago!! By the looks of it, It was very much in use around two years ago. It was hitched up to a car filling up at the local filling station in Sutton Scotney village, near Winchester. Love the channel!!
Can see you put some thought into the background and hoodie combo for this. ESSO glasses ran well into the 80's with Tiger Tokens. We still have some having collected the full set of tumblers, wine glasses and the like back in the day as they were actually good value. I love seeing this stuff I also like staying on sites that date back to 60's / 70's and spotting hidden gems in the form of signs or buildings. Great series.
As a kid I 'served' Burmah petrol as a Saturday job. Apart from Greenshield stamps (all those sticky fingers) customers collected tokens for glass pudding bowls (Mum had them for years) &....beer home brew! 😮
I have some danish caravan brochures, mostly from the 70’s, but also some camping books/catalogs from the 60’s 😊 they are so beautifully made and great fun to look at
I think the best is yet to come! I’ve found one from 1968 that has a review of one of my caravans in it, so it’ll be interesting to compare my thoughts with the original reviewer’s in another video soon!
One thing you can be sure of is caravaning is real unlike the rest of the world that now surrounds us. There’s nothing better. Even if it’s a great sunny day or rainy I love being away with the caravan . All the best to all caravaners out there. 👍
I’m sure I’ve seen Geoffrey Ledbetter’s caravan (or something very similar) when I visited the Erwin Hymer Caravan and motorhome museum in Germany this year.
I’m going to actually have a rake around my caravans and see what Caravan Club regalia I have for a future video. I’m sure I’ve got some playing cards and a pennant. I don’t think I’ve got a tie though 😂
Thank you. Very enjoyable content as always. I remember those early Sprite caravans brochures so well. Dad used to buy Practical Caravan. There was a return slip at the back where readers could send off for multiple caravan brochures... and I did. I was particularly interested in the Europa range or have I imagined that brand?!
Thanks for your support as always. I’ve got a huge quantity of Practical Caravan magazines too, maybe they might be interested in sponsoring a few episodes… 😅 Yes the Europa range was launched in 1971 and ran right through until around 1984, and was revived in the early 1990s by Sprite Leisure Ltd. It was a major British caravan marque under the Sterling banner from 1994 to around 2011.
To be fair, it’s better that way. It’s a business that works. Reading some of these old magazines, there’s far too much politics and hassle in the old days. At least now the sites are decent, the insurance is the best you can get and there’s plenty of holiday options, which is all most members really care about anyway.
My caravan is lovely, I think you’d like it. Very cozy, clean and hardly used condition. Maybe one day you’ll do a review on it lol. 😂 You are funny in your vids, good to have a good sense of humour. Andrew
Hi Cameron my wife & i have an early Cotswold Safari and looking for any information so we can renovate it as close to original spec as possible, can you tell us where i can find anything about it please?
