Freeway Corvair 1976 Reno

[lovelyrita17]

Hi I am trying to date my Franklin Freeway caravan. Looking at the ads from the Trove links it looks like late 70s early 80s. The number on the drawbar is FW47-16. Any help would be appreciated as I name my caravans after song titles from the year they are made! It has Freeway on the side and on the back as well as the Franklin logo. I can put up photos if needed. It is angular in design and has one main window at the front on the angled part.

[pisces51]

G'day lovelyrita17, and welcome to the forum! (and how lovely it is to have a Rita with us who is only 17 years old! I thought these old vans only appealed to us 'oldies'... )

It would be great to see some photos of your van, but I suspect from your description you have one of the last models built by Franklin. The factory closed down in March 1981, so your van would have been built somewhere in the years 1979 to March '81.

We've never collected enough info about Franklin chassis numbers after the series they used from 1974 to 1977 (ie. the Vxxxx; Wxxxx; Xxxxx; and Yxxxx series), so you're probably the first person who has given us a chassis number from the end of the 1970s.

Forum member hughdeani will know what the name of the sloping Franklin model was.

cheers,
Al.

[Mustang]

May 24, 2017 21:57:10 GMT 10 lovelyrita17 said:

Hi I am trying to date my Franklin Freeway caravan. Looking at the ads from the Trove links it looks like late 70s early 80s. The number on the drawbar is FW47-16. Any help would be appreciated as I name my caravans after song titles from the year they are made! It has Freeway on the side and on the back as well as the Franklin logo. I can put up photos if needed. It is angular in design and has one main window at the front on the angled part.

Welcome, yes post your images. Use any outside agency, Flickr, photobucket, etc.

[lovelyrita17]

Thanks for your replies! I wish I was 17 but no I just chose the year to end my user name! Add another 28 years to that! I am going to have a try at loading some photos so I hope it works. She is in great condition and will be pretty easy to do up. We are going to use her as accommodation on our farm so she won't be travelling far. I have two other vintage vans, one is registered and will be restored for us to use and another to be made into a bathroom (not in great condition so we had to remove most of the bedroom fittings due to water damage). 
I'm glad I could supply a chassis number and it's quite nice to know I may have one of the last vans from the original Franklin factory.

[Deleted]

Hi lovelyrita17,
If the freeway you are talking about is the one in your avatar it's not a Franklin.
It's a Freeway Corvair caravan made by the Freeway company (which became Winnebago and now Avida)
It looks like a 1976 model to me,they were made in 11x7, 14x8,16x8, and 20 x8.
They were very up market for the time with velour upholstery,colour co ordinated interior and 2 tone "cofffee and cream" exterior.
If this is the Freeway you mean,I hope this helps,if it's not this one,please disregard!
Cheers
hughdeani

[lovelyrita17]

Wow thankyou! I put caravan and freeway into google and all it came up with is franklin. I will have another search. Yes it is very groovy and still has all the original seeat covers etc. My husband also found the original awning under the seats! It has been under a carport on a farm for a long time so has been looked after. Thanks again, I will try and get some photos up once I start cleaning it up.

[lovelyrita17]

About to start renovating our Freeway caravan. We have named her Sally J after the 1976 Queen song "Good Company". Haven't had a chance to get in and start cleaning as I have been at work. Here are some pics from the day we picked her up.

[Deleted]

Wow!
It really is original inside!
hughdeani

[lovelyrita17]

Hi, Yes it is fantastic, the seats don't even have a tear in them, I will recover them though as the fabric is so dusty and brittle.
Here are some more pictures.