Seeking Caravan Information

[Deleted]

Hi and thanks for reading my post...

We have recently purchased our first caravan and are looking for any information about it that we can find...

When we bought it (from eBay) we thought it was a Scenic but having contacted Janet at BayswaterRV in Victoria we were told that it was not a scenic and that the scenic plates on the caravan is because it had been worked on at Scenic at sometime during it's life.

We were also told that it was a Franklin Caravan manufactured at some time in the early 70s. It also has a Carola Sticker on it but that may be misleading as well.

The Serial Number on the Drawbar is N647 which would suggest that it may not be a Franklin but I could be mistaken.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Zoran

[Deleted]

Hi Zoran,
your van was built by Newlands caravans in late 60s,and sold by Scenic caravans (which was a dealer name,as was Carola),and possibly traded in later at the Carola dealership!
Hence the 2 nametags on her!
A nice van you have there,they were available with one single bunk (as yours is) or 2 bunks on the side.
Enjoy your new hobby.
Cheers
hughdeani

[Deleted]

Thanks for the info!

Does the Serial Number on the draw bar shed any light on the year of manufacture?

Also, where would be a good place to start looking around for bits and pieces for the caravan, It seems that I need to replace the hitch coupling as the current on is very old and tired and rusty.

Zoran

[Deleted]

Sorry Zoran,I'm not very good on chassis numbers,I think Franklin1 will be able to shed some light on that for ou.
For parts you can try Carac in Dandenong or Melbourne Trailer Supplies in Chelsea Heights.
Cheers
hughdeani

[ForumMod]

G'day Zoran,

We don't have a great deal of information about the Newlands brand, and what info we do have is a little confusing. Your chassis number starting with an "N" is consistent with other Newlands vans we're aware of. However, if you click on this link it will take you to a thread about a Newlands van that has chassis number 558 but doesn't have the 'N' prefix: 1973 Newlands Deluxe 19.7ft - Chassis #558

We estimated the 558 Newlands to be 1973 because it had the wind-out windows, however I still can't reconcile such a low chassis number with 1973, especially for a brand that had already been around for a few years.

The only guidelines I can give you about your van's age is that it has the plain silver aluminium cladding, and most (if not all) of the manufacturers had switched to white painted acrylic aluminium cladding by 1970.

I'm inclined to think your van is more likely to be from the late 1960s. The difficulty with trying to get an accurate year for your van is that (1) we don't know when Newlands actually first started, and (2) we don't know how many vans they built each year, and therefore how long it took them to get to your chassis number of N647.

Sorry I can't be more specific about the age, but sometimes these smaller brand names can be really hard to find information about.

cheers,
Al.

[Deleted]

Hi All,
I am going to Vic Roads to have the van registered shortly. Does anyone know where on the caravan I can find the Compliance Plate Information.

The lady at Vic Roads said that if I cannot find the Compliance Plate, I need to have the van weighed at a weighbridge and bring in the weighbridge receipt.

Will I have to empty out the caravan completely to have it weighed? (I'm thinking about removable bedding etc and perhaps even the fridge?)

Thanks In Advance and Merry Xmas everyone!!!