WA dealer offers birthday specials

Long-standing Albany, WA caravan dealer Camerons Caravans, will celebrate their 40th anniversary in the business in 2018 in style, with two bespoke limited-edition caravan models.

The big seller for the multi-brand WA dealer will be a 20ft 6in Franklin tourer built specifically for them by Melbourne’s Concept Caravans, which they will retail fully-equipped for $59,990 – around $4000-$5000 under the expected price for a caravan with its features, according to the dealer’s Managing Director, Michael Cameron.

The other is a Limited Edition Aura all-road caravan that is also being built in Melbourne specifically for the dealership. Badged the Aura Albany, it will retail for $79,900.

Boyhood memories

Michael Cameron was a boy back in the late 1970s when his parents, Afra and Peter Cameron borrowed heavily to start the dealership at a time when dark financial clouds were gathering over the industry.

They were one of four Albany dealers at the time, but now are the only one left from that era in the Southern WA city, having out-lasted all their rivals.

Michael joined the company back in 1988 and most recently his 14-year-old son Keith started working in their showroom on Saturdays, ensuring a continuation of the Cameron caravan family line.

Although they're also local dealers for Coromal and Windsor caravans and pop-tops, Michael Cameron said only Aura and Concept were interested in building special anniversary models for them.

“We were already Aura dealers, but we were looking for another brand and on the recommendation of others in the industry approached Concept about two years ago when we heard they had purchased Franklin from Kratzmann,” he said.

“Franklin was a strong, long-established brand that we felt related well to our business and Concept were recommended to us. They are such good operators and it has been a pleasure to deal with them.

“We have had the least amount of warranty work and customer complaints with Franklin of any of the brands we represent.”

Something special

Finished in pearl white, with red accents, Franklin’s Anniversary caravan is an amalgam of features from other Franklin models and is built in Melbourne with Meranti timber wall framing and ribbed aluminium cladding, the traditional caravan construction method favoured by Concept.

A north-south front island Queen bed flanked by wardrobes, a full rear separate shower and toilet bathroom with a wall-mounted washing machine, a rear, side-entry door and a central kitchen with an opposing café dinette, are key popular features.

Other special touches fitted to the model include dinette seating extension with matching cushions that can provide additional seating for two adults, full-gloss cabinetry and distinctive black-finished kitchen and vanity basin mixer taps.

“The key here has been getting the price below $60,000, which is very attractive in Western Australia for a caravan with all these wanted features,” Cameron said.

Meanwhile, Aura’s first Limited Edition ‘Albany’ will be finished in silver flat panel aluminium, over a Meranti frame and will be packaged with similar exclusive features for $79,900 – again under normal retail for a caravan with its equipment level.  However, Aura Albany buyers can have the choice of 22 exterior colours including bright red – Cameron’s signature hue.

Michael Cameron said the dealership was optimistically hoping to sell 40 of the 40th Anniversary Franklin caravans in 2018.