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Mildura Weekly - 17/4/09
www.milduraweekly.com.au
They just don’t build ‘em like this anymore... this wonderful example of Australian
A museum piece that’s By GRANT MAYNARD TO step inside is to step back in time. The striking red-patterned laminex with its shining chrome trim, the period linoleum floor and the scaled down, caravan size rounded-edge fridge. It’s so 1950s Australia. And little wonder, this little beauty was custombuilt back in ‘59, but it looks brand new, thanks to the obvious care lavished upon it over five decades by past and present owners. Yes, Frank and Liz Wallace’s caravan could be best described as a ‘time capsule’. The Roadhaven caravan was constructed, as the attached plaque proudly attests, by H. (Herbie) Pruser, 110 Mitchell Street, Northcote, Victoria. It is handstamped with the number 111... the 111th van of the estimated 200 caravans Herbie constructed over 30 years during the 50s, 60s and 70s. You couldn’t buy this van off the lot today. No, this van, like all those Herbie built, was made to order. This particular example was commissioned by a doctor from Tasmania, who, for reasons unknown, declined to take it. That’s when Frank’s Uncle Fred Dyer, a successful Melbourne grocer, and his Aunty Mary, stepped in. It was taken on just two trips to Queensland from their Melbourne home before the Dyers decided to move to Currumbin, in the Sunshine State, in 1963, after selling their business. The couple lived in the van while their house was constructed, and then it was taken on only one other holiday trip, this time to the Sunshine Coast, before being garaged. The meticulous records Fred Dyer kept of the van show it was garaged for much of its life, being de-registered after many years in 1991.
the
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‘Uncle Fred’ was fastidious in his care of all his vehicles, including the Roadhaven, Frank told the Weekly when we visited his Gol Gol home recently. Fred had owned a Mercedes Benz earlier on (the Roadhaven sports Mercedes Benz hubcaps), but in later life owned a succession of Holden Statesmans. He kept all of them in pristine condition, garaged them at all times and had them serviced regularly. Uncle Fred was so protective, Frank reveals, that he purchased a Holden Commodore for his children to drive so he wouldn’t have to lend his beloved Statesmans. The Commodore was sold 25 years later with less than 25,000 kilometres on the clock... and again in pristine condition. That interest in vehicles runs in the family. It became obvious when we visited Frank and Liz. The couple’s large, and well-appointed, backyard shed houses a collection of classics in immaculate condition including a rigid Matchless 500cc, in splendid condition, a 20-year-old Harley Davidson Evolution Softail with less than 10,000 kilometres on the clock, and a 1959 Ford V8 Customline sedan, just the ticket for towing the Roadhaven. There is also usually a truck... an elderly International we are told, that is undergoing restoration and was absent at the time. It is a keepsake of Frank’s long years in the transport industry. He was, for many years, the principal of Wallace’s Transport based around Swan Hill. But back to the van. About eight years ago, Frank recalls, he had mentioned to his uncle that if he ever wanted to sell the van to let him know. “We noticed that the grey strip on the side of the van
• JUST THE TICKET: The Wallace’s 1959 Ford Customline and Roadhaven caravan combination, RIGHT, makes for a handsome holiday motoring package and when they reach their destination, ABOVE, there’s all the facilities to make a welcome cuppa as well as a meal and a comfortable place to lay their heads.
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