{"product_id":"british-caravans-volume1-makes-founded-before-world-war-ii","title":"British Caravans: Volume1: Makes Founded Before World War II","description":"Vintage” caravans have quite recently begun to attract much wider \nattention than they had previously enjoyed. Those that haven’t collapsed \nin a forgotten heap long ago are being dragged out of hedges and barns \nand restored by enthusiasts to their full period glory – and it is not \nhard to see why, for the wonderful variety and in many cases sheer \nboldness of their styling, ranging wildly from mock Tudor to teardrop \nstreamline, makes them extraordinarily attractive to today’s eyes, \naccustomed as we are to the bland uniformity of current offerings. In \nthis book may be found details of manufacturers in Britain who started \nup before World War II. About half of them had ceased trading by 1939 \nand a number of others did not return to production after the War. Where \nmakers did start up again details have been included and, whilst nearly \nall of these have since gone out of business, Carlight and Eccles are \nmarques which still exist today – albeit under different ownership. All \nof them, from ABC to Yorkshire, and their products, are included in \nthese pages, with the exception of the ones of which there is no \nsurviving record. Roger Ellesmere’s painstaking research over a number \nof years has yielded information on 177 makers from this period, whose \noutputs ranged from around 300 caravans per year down to six, but it is \ndoubtful whether even 20 of these firms were producing the 50 vans a \nyear needed to qualify for membership of the Caravan Manufacturers’ \nAssociation. Accompanying the text are more than 300 illustrations, a \npleasing mixture of archive photographs with reproductions from \nmanufacturers’ advertising and publicity material, including some \nsplendid period artwork. This ingredient in particular gives a strong \nflavour of the days when these caravans were to be seen out and about on \nBritain’s roads, heading for happy holidays. Published in association \nwith The Caravan Club, this book surely has a place on the bookshelf of \nevery caravanner interested in how the caravans we know today have \nevolved over the 90-odd years since the first trailer caravans were \nbuilt for sale. It is hoped that the publishers will soon be able to \nbring out Volume Two, in which Roger Ellesmere will deal with the many \nhundreds of firms who took up making caravans after 1945.\n\nRoger Ellesmere is a retired quantity surveyor. He remembers being taken \nby his parents in the mid-1950s to visit friends holidaying in a caravan \nat Ulrome on the East Yorkshire coast. Once inside, he was hooked, and \ncaravans have been an abiding interest ever since.Later, he decided that \nas detailed a record as possible should be made of the mostly small and \nlargely forgotten firms who have engaged in caravan manufacture in \nBritain. He was deterred from making a start due to the time commitment \nthat would be required, but a spell of unemployment in 1996 provided the \nincentive to begin -- initially on a single work but subsequently split \ninto two parts to enable the publication of this book, Volume One. His \noriginal estimate of the time commitiment was a grow under-estimate! \nRoger has been a Caravan Club member for more than 20 years.","brand":"Herridge \u0026 Sons Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":31911961165895,"sku":"B05153","price":41.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0057\/9813\/3831\/files\/b05153.jpg?v=1772273917","url":"https:\/\/www.midlifeclassiccars.com\/ar\/products\/british-caravans-volume1-makes-founded-before-world-war-ii","provider":"MidlifeClassicCars.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}