We see a lot of vintage caravans in our travels, mostly in quiet caravan parks and camping areas near country towns. But sometimes they surprise us by turning up right in the centre of busy capital cities, looking strangely cool and contemporary with the current fad for everything retro.
We noticed a good example during a recent visit to Adelaide, while we were walking along the trendy pedestrian mall in Rundle Street. There was a 1960s style aluminium caravan parked right in the mall. It was surrounded by a crowd of rapt onlookers, who were watching street theatre-style entertainment with clowns and comedians and plenty of audience participation.
The caravan turned out to be an old Viscount Ambassador Alumvan, decked out with period memorabilia like colourful food canisters, aluminium beakers, plastic bread box and venetian blinds. The thoroughly retro time machine had been converted into a mobile performance stage for “Fringe in the Mall”.
This event is part of the large Adelaide Fringe festival which ran until March 17. At the main Fringe site in nearby Rundle Park, there were also some other vintage vans, plus a variety of interestingly decorated food vans and lots of circus tents.
YOUR SAY: Have you noticed any vintage caravans strutting their stuff?
Susan and Keith Hall are regular contributors to Caravan World magazine. Visit their blog at www.somewhere42.wordpress.com.