Valiant Royal Caravans (non-Viscount)
Sept 28, 2021 12:37:23 GMT 10
bobt, Mustang, and 2 more like this
Post by Don Ricardo on Sept 28, 2021 12:37:23 GMT 10
VALIANT ROYAL CARAVANS (NON-VISCOUNT)
Hello everyone,
Documenting the history of Vintage and Classic caravans can often throw the odd curve ball, and result in half-solved mysteries. The story of Valiant caravans in the 1970's provides both!
As many Vintage and Classic caravanners are aware, the caravan manufacturer Viscount introduced the Valiant brand caravan in 1962, initially calling it the 'Valiant Royale'. The Valiant was part of a three part marketing strategy introduced by Viscount in 1962 and 1963. The Valiant was its 'budget' or 'economy' level product, the Ambassador its middle level product, and the Viscount its top level product. The 'Royale' part of the Valiant name was dropped in 1964, after which it was know as just the 'Valiant' (with a wooden frame) or the 'Valiant Alumvan' (with an aluminium frame).
There was some speculation a number of years ago amongst caravan historians that Viscount phased out the Valiant model at the end of the 60's, but we now know that while the Valiant seems to have ceased to be the volume seller it had been in the 60's, Viscount continued to produce the Valiant model until at least late 1974. Evidence for this is provided by photos of a 1974 Viscount Valiant posted by Franklin1 here on 5 March 2014:
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Episode 1
On Saturday, 20 July 1974 - that is several months before Viscount's 'baby Valiant Royal' advert - the SMH (page 44) carried an advert advising customers to watch the press for an Opening Day to view Valiant Royal Caravans which were 'tailor-made...to suit you, your choice of layout, terms to your budget':
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An advert published on Saturday, 26 April 1975 (page 77) tells us more about the features of the Valiant Royal caravans, 'the only custom built caravan featuring' these items. Note that the advert refers to 'Four season hatches' which I presume is another name for the 'Valiant Dynamic Airflow Roof' mentioned in earlier adverts. It also informs us that the factory is no longer on the Hume Highway at Cabramatta, but at 133 Newbridge Road, Moorebank with sales at 320 Parramatta Road:
The company's advert in the SMH printed on Saturday, 3 May 1975 (page 88) informs us that 'The Mighty Valiant Royal Caravan' was manufactured by 'Bill Cole & Cec Taylor', who were described as 'master builders'. It is not clear who Bill Cole may be, but perhaps Cec Taylor had taken on a partner in his caravan building enterprise?
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The Valiant Royal Caravans story is quite a strange one: somebody sets up a business manufacturing caravans using the same brand name as the one used for more than a decade by one of the giants of the caravan industry when the giant was still building vans sold under that name. Not only that, but the new business sets up just a few doors down from the industry giant, builds vans which resemble the giant’s products and uses many of the giant’s components. It’s hard to believe that there wasn’t some connection between Viscount and Cec Taylor, or that Viscount would have allowed him to use the ‘Valiant Royal’ brand name without permission or a licensing agreement, but why would Viscount do it when it was still building its own ‘Valiant Royal’ caravans? There’s got to be more to the story, surely?
Hello everyone,
Documenting the history of Vintage and Classic caravans can often throw the odd curve ball, and result in half-solved mysteries. The story of Valiant caravans in the 1970's provides both!
Prelude
As many Vintage and Classic caravanners are aware, the caravan manufacturer Viscount introduced the Valiant brand caravan in 1962, initially calling it the 'Valiant Royale'. The Valiant was part of a three part marketing strategy introduced by Viscount in 1962 and 1963. The Valiant was its 'budget' or 'economy' level product, the Ambassador its middle level product, and the Viscount its top level product. The 'Royale' part of the Valiant name was dropped in 1964, after which it was know as just the 'Valiant' (with a wooden frame) or the 'Valiant Alumvan' (with an aluminium frame).
There was some speculation a number of years ago amongst caravan historians that Viscount phased out the Valiant model at the end of the 60's, but we now know that while the Valiant seems to have ceased to be the volume seller it had been in the 60's, Viscount continued to produce the Valiant model until at least late 1974. Evidence for this is provided by photos of a 1974 Viscount Valiant posted by Franklin1 here on 5 March 2014:
The 'V' in the serial number indicates 'Valiant', the '4' immediately following the 'V' indicates the van was built in 1974, and the '8984' indicates the van was the 8,984th van built in 1974. Viscount is understood to have been building around 10,000 caravans a year at that point, so number 8,984 would have been built fairly late in the year.
So Viscount was still producing its Valiant caravans late in 1974, and indeed in the following advert published in the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) on Saturday, 16 November 1974 (page 81) invited potential buyers to come and look at their 'new baby the 11/6 [11 ft 6 in] Valiant Royal'. Note especially the reference in the advert to 'Valiant Royal'. As noted above, Viscount had not called the Valiant model the Valiant Royal (or Royale) after about 1964:
Although the above advert was published at the end of 1974 and suggested that Viscount's Valiant would be available into the new year, at this stage we are not aware of any Viscount Valiants being built in 1975 or beyond.
Now, this is where the curve ball comes flying in...
Episode 1
On Saturday, 20 July 1974 - that is several months before Viscount's 'baby Valiant Royal' advert - the SMH (page 44) carried an advert advising customers to watch the press for an Opening Day to view Valiant Royal Caravans which were 'tailor-made...to suit you, your choice of layout, terms to your budget':
The advert above refers to Cec Taylor who apparently had 20 years experience in the caravan industry, and had a business located at 128 Hume Highway, Cabramatta.
Say what? Who is Cec Taylor and why is there no mention of Viscount? And 128 Hume Highway? That's just down the road from Viscount's factory at 136 Hume Highway, Cabramatta. What's going on here?
The advert wasn't an aberration though. On Saturday, 3 August 1974 the SMH published a further advert (page 85) inviting people to inspect the large range of new Valiant Royal caravans, and offering champagne and refreshments. Note also the references to the 'New Valiant "Dynamic Air Flow Roof" ':
So what's happening here? As the adverts tell us, Cec Taylor had 20 years of experience in the caravan industry, was setting up shop just a few doors down from a Viscount premises, and was selling caravans with the same name as a Viscount product. Maybe Cec had just opened a show room specifically for the sale of Viscount Valiant caravans? Certainly it sounds like there was some sort of connection between Viscount and Cec Taylor's business. Well, may be or may be not. The Taylor-built Valiant Royal caravans were not the same as any of the Viscounts of the period as revealed by these photos of three Taylor-built Valiant Royals.
Valiant Royal, serial number V.104, owned by Caravanovice and posted here on 4 March 2014:
Valiant Royal, serial number V.136, owned by David M and posted on the Aussie Vintage Caravans and Viscount Caravan Owners - Australia pages here and here in October 2020:
Below is a photo of the original Valiant Royal sticker on David M's caravan. Coincidentally (or perhaps not?) the style of the sticker is not that far away from the original 'Valiant Royale' stickers used by Viscount from 1962 to 1964:
David M's van has since had a makeover, but he made a good attempt to reproduce the original sticker:
Valiant Royal, serial number V.226, tandem caravan owned by Dennis K and posted on the Viscount Caravan Owners - Australia Facebook page here in August 2020:
Clearly Burnt Orange was the 'in colour' for Valiant Royal Caravans at the time.
If you're familiar with Viscount caravans of the mid-70's you'll note that the Valiant Royals had a similar look and some similar styling cues to the Viscount vans. Hughdeany has commented in a Facebook discussion in relation to the Valiant Royal caravans that "...they look like a Viscount but have different profile aluminium [cladding] and a funny little rise in the profile of the roof...". The 'funny little rise in the profile of the roof' was what Cec Taylor referred to in his adverts as a 'high roof'. The high roof isn't a feature of Caravanovice's V.104, but can be clearly seen in David M's V.136 and Dennis K's V.226. In addition Hughdeany has stated that over his years in the caravan industry he found that Valiant Royals included a number of Viscount parts and components.
The use of Viscount components suggests that at the very least Cec Taylor had or retained a good working relationship with Viscount. But the fact that the shape of the Valiant Royals is clearly different to any of the Viscounts eliminates the possibility that Taylor was acquiring mass produced frames or rolling shells from Viscount and then finishing them off according to his own specifications. (Unlike, for example, Pathfinder which in its latter years acquired partially completed Franklins and then fitted them out to a higher standard than usual for a Franklin van.)
What else do we know about Cec Taylor's Valiant Royal Caravans?
Although newspaper adverts do not reveal a lot about the activities of Valiant Royal Caravans immediately after the grand opening, from the beginning of 1975 the company began to run twice weekly adverts in the SMH advertising their vans. The adverts tell us a bit about the company's caravans as well as their production methods.
The first of the adverts, printed in the SMH on 14 February 1975 (page 59), informs us that Viscount Royal Caravans was producing 26 ft x 8 ft and 15 ft x 8 ft 6-berth caravans which were available at 320 Parramatta Road, Burwood. This address was the location of the Burwood Caravan Centre dealership:
An advert published on Saturday, 26 April 1975 (page 77) tells us more about the features of the Valiant Royal caravans, 'the only custom built caravan featuring' these items. Note that the advert refers to 'Four season hatches' which I presume is another name for the 'Valiant Dynamic Airflow Roof' mentioned in earlier adverts. It also informs us that the factory is no longer on the Hume Highway at Cabramatta, but at 133 Newbridge Road, Moorebank with sales at 320 Parramatta Road:
The fact that Valiant Royal Caravans advertised that their vans were 'custom built' and 'tailor made', and that you could 'see your caravan under construction', seems to confirm that these vans were definitely not the same as Viscount's Valiants which were built with others on an assembly line at the rate of around 200 per week.
The company's advert in the SMH printed on Saturday, 3 May 1975 (page 88) informs us that 'The Mighty Valiant Royal Caravan' was manufactured by 'Bill Cole & Cec Taylor', who were described as 'master builders'. It is not clear who Bill Cole may be, but perhaps Cec Taylor had taken on a partner in his caravan building enterprise?
Note from the adverts above that the Burwood Caravan Centre, which was the sales office for Valiant Royal Caravans, was also an agent for Viscount Caravans.
It seems that Bill Cole and Cec Taylor may have had an unusual perspective on how to promote their caravans. In an advert in the SMH on Saturday, 10 May 1975 (page 88) they stated that their vans were the 'Dearest to Buy in Australia', but they were 'value for money'. You'd think that being the 'dearest' in Australia would drive customers away, but perhaps not because the vans showed 'Quality plus all extras plus many features never seen before':
In fact this was the beginning of an advertising approach which promoted the quality and luxuriousness of the Valiant Royal caravans. For example, on Wednesday, 21 May 1975 an SMH advert (page 37) told us not only that Cole and Taylor were Master Builders, but described the vans as 'deluxe' and 'top quality':
An advert published in the SMH on Saturday, 19 July 1975 (page 82) referred to the vans as 'luxurious caravans' and commented on some of the (presumably) luxury features, such as the raised roof, concealed riveting, four season hatches, rear stone shield, special door for refrigeration servicing, among others:
Another advert placed in the SMH on Saturday, 23 August 1975 (page 76) spoke of the Valiant Royals as 'the aristocrat with a difference':
Then on Wednesday, 17 September 1975 (page 25) the SMH advert emphasised that Valiant Royal Caravans 'build quality not quantity':
All of these adverts suggest that the Valiant Royal caravans custom-built by Cole and Taylor were luxurious and upmarket. In part this may have reflected the philosophy, materials, construction techniques and features of Cole and Taylor's caravans. However, one wonders if it also was an attempt to distinguish between Cole and Taylor's Valiant Royals and the Viscount Valiant caravans, which it will be remembered were Viscount's 'economy' or 'budget' caravans at the bottom of Viscount's model range?
But perhaps Cole and Taylor's Valiant Royal Caravans enterprise was beginning to falter. On Saturday, 17 January 1976, the SMH (page 60) carried an advert referring to a 'sellout' of 1975 caravans with 'huge savings', although reference was also made to new 1976 models:
On Saturday, 14 February 1976 the advert in the SMH (page 59) offered 'huge savings on all new current models':
In reading hundreds of newspaper adverts for various caravan manufacturers, offers of this type often indicate that things are going awry or at the very least that something is happening within the company. And so it perhaps won't surprise us to learn that on Thursday, 29 April 1976, the SMH carried an advert (page 25) from Associated Auctioneers stating that on that day they would be selling up the assets of Valiant Royal Caravans Pty Ltd (in liquidation):
The multitude of items to be sold had been set out in an earlier advert printed in the SMH on Saturday, 24 April 1976 (page 44):
A little more about the background for the closure of Valiant Royal Caravans Pty Ltd may have been provided in the following advert placed by Greg Jackson Caravan and Auto Centre in the SMH also on Saturday, 24 April (page 54):
According to this advert, the Greg Jackson Caravan and Auto Centre had a large range of Valiant Royal caravans for sale at 'near wholesale prices due to previous owner's retirement'. Now the Greg Jackson Centre was located at 320 Parramatta Road, Burwood, the same address as the earlier Burwood Caravan Centre that had acted as the sales office for Valiant Royal caravans. It therefore seems that Greg Jackson had taken over the Burwood Caravan Centre. Whether the retiring owner mentioned was the owner of the Burwood Caravan Centre or of Valiant Royal Caravans isn't clear, or perhaps the two were so closely tied together that the closure of one led to the sale of the other? At this stage we don't know the answer to that question.
In any case, it seems that after just the 21 months from July 1974 to April 1976 the story of Valiant Royal Caravans was over.
The Valiant Royal Caravans story is quite a strange one: somebody sets up a business manufacturing caravans using the same brand name as the one used for more than a decade by one of the giants of the caravan industry when the giant was still building vans sold under that name. Not only that, but the new business sets up just a few doors down from the industry giant, builds vans which resemble the giant’s products and uses many of the giant’s components. It’s hard to believe that there wasn’t some connection between Viscount and Cec Taylor, or that Viscount would have allowed him to use the ‘Valiant Royal’ brand name without permission or a licensing agreement, but why would Viscount do it when it was still building its own ‘Valiant Royal’ caravans? There’s got to be more to the story, surely?
Well, there is more to the story, but it doesn’t answer any of these questions! It just creates more questions - see Episode 2...
Acknowledgements: Thanks to Hughdeany and Twocutekelpies for providing valuable information for this post. All adverts in this post from www.newspapers.com
Don Ricardo
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