1957 Chrysler Royal

Southern Sovereign

Even if you're old enough to remember cars from the late 1950s, you still may not recall the Chrysler Royal. It was a car Chrysler released in 1957, aiming to improve its dwindling share of the Australian car market and to compete with Holden and Ford.

The Chrysler Royal was built at the Chrysler plant in Adelaide, but took its design features from several American Chryslers. It had many features that made it ideal for towing a caravan, including a rigid chassis and a one-piece sway bar - attributes that were missing from most competitor cars of that era. The Royal also came as a V8, but despite this and other features such as power steering and hydraulic brakes, the car never sold well.

Chris Howes has been a member of the Chrysler Restorers Club for many years and owns a 1957 Chrysler Royal, along with three other vintage cars. When several members of the car club purchased caravans to match their classic cars, Chris and his wife Cathy decided to follow suit.

So when Chris came across this 1964 Globetrotter Gold Coaster caravan, he couldn't resist purchasing it. The previous owner was a lady who, with her husband, had kept the caravan since the 1970s. They travelled 133,500km in it, including a trip to Darwin, NT, and back.

Chris was surprised that the caravan was still in such good condition and hadn't shaken itself to pieces on the rough roads encountered during that trip.

Globetrotter caravans were built by Globe Caravans in Adelaide from the mid 1950s to the mid 60s and made from a combination of plywood and aluminium. Each side wall was cut out of one sheet of timber and attached to the floor. Aluminium was then attached to the front and rear.

The maker's mark
Chris believes that the interior of his Globetrotter is pretty much as it was when it left the factory. In the earlier Globetrotters from the 1950s, the upper cupboards had a kidney shape. So the square-shaped cupboards in this caravan were obviously a more functional look for the 60s. Originally there was an ice box, but the previous owners replaced this with a three-way fridge.

The dining seat cushions have a pretty floral pattern underneath and the original manufacturer's label. Elite Bedding is still in business on Port Road in the Adelaide suburb of Woodville and still making caravan mattresses.

The caravan does have fittings for gas, so would have originally had a gas stove. However Chris and Cathy prefer to use an electric hotplate, a microwave that is stored under the bed and a small Weber barbecue, kept under a dining seat.

The previous owners added a few extra items to the caravan. The husband was in the newspaper business and made a sunshade for the front windows and a cover for the gas bottle out of sheets of thin printers' aluminium. He was obviously a bit of a tinkerer and added several small gadgets to the van such as covers for the tail-light lenses to prevent fading.

A travelling picture book
Chris and Cathy are newcomers to caravanning, but enjoy it immensely, despite the fact that by modern standards there are not many luxury features in their van. This has not deterred them from touring to many destinations in the last 12 months.

They went to Canberra and back in October 2007 with a group of cars and caravans from the Chrysler Restorers Club.

Earlier that year they joined another car-club tour that followed the Murray River to Mildura, Vic, and then went on to Broken Hill, NSW, returning to Adelaide via the Clare Valley. They also enjoy taking weekend trips away.

"Wherever we go, we are never alone," Chris said. "People come up to us at roadside stops or in caravan parks to look at our old caravan. They tell us they can remember family holidays when they were kids in the 1950s, and the long lines of FJ Holdens and caravans heading south for Victor Harbor (SA) at the beginning of a long weekend."

Chris and Cathy are now hooked on trotting the globe, or Australia at least, in Royal style, and aim to include caravanning in their retirement plans. For more information about their Globetrotter caravan, contact Chris and Cathy at cho39503@bigpond.net.au