Offroad-ready caravans are becoming the norm now, but back in 1984 it wasn’t uncommon to see a van not designed for hard travel on some pretty rough tracks. Which is exactly what happened with one Caravan World reviewer back in January 1984.
By January 1984, Caravan World was hitting its teenage years and had done some growing up, even since the 1980 copy we checked out back in November. It was still only 76 pages, but now there were a few choice colour ads in the centre, a contents page and author bylines (thank goodness!) and a slight increase in price to $1.20 per magazine. Although from what I saw in the Letterbox column (our Postbag), readers were calling for colour photography and quite happy to accept an increase in price.
There were two reviews in this issue and some great features highlighting everything from caravanning bugbears through to great caravan parks to check out. But it was the reviews that caught my attention.
The Jayco Jayswan
First up was the Jayco Jayswan — now simply known as the Jayco Swan. This camper trailer was designed for family travel, featuring a pop-top and two slide-out double beds at each end. And while the newer Jayco Swan might have a more modern aesthetic, the layout is fairly identical — which just goes to show if something works, don’t break it.
With a road length of 17ft 6in (5m), when set up for camp the Jayswan would stretch to 20ft (6.1m), and the exclusive Jayco fully enclosed windup mechanism came with a two-year warranty.
“The aluminium outer sheeting is embossed to hide minor scratches and scuffs,” reviewer and editor Gwen Haslar said. “Heavy-duty zips to all the windows and storm covers gives 360-degree panoramic views and superb ventilation, as required, as well as the roof hatch, which prevents hot air accumulating below the insulated ceiling.”
The double bed extensions were reported to be extremely comfortable and featured privacy curtains that matched the floral drapes at the lounge and kitchen windows. The Jayswan had capacity for up to six people, with the dinette converting into a double bed for either two small children or one adult. Gwen did note that if a family wanted to sleep six inside she would opt for adding an extra table at the club lounge and transforming that into the additional bed, freeing up the dinette for breakfast time (although she does warn this might make accessing the front double bed behind the club lounge more difficult).
Gwen was also glad to see that Jayco had not joined the caravan companies who, at the time, were adding 5kg gas bottles to their vans, and had instead kept the original 20lb (9kg) size — which they still do today.
The Jayco Jayswan was quoted with an on-road price of $6500 in early December 1983, which would be roughly $24,000 by today’s standards. And when you factor in all the tech and building advancements of the current Jayco Swan, the current price of around $37,795 (T&Cs apply) is still quite budget-friendly for a camper trailer with two double beds, club lounge, dinette and internal kitchen.
Viscount Aerolite and Ford Telstar road test
The other major review in this issue was a Viscount Aerolite caravan, which Caravan World reviewer Tom Olthoff took out on a family holiday to give it a thorough assessment after seeing it launch at the recent Melbourne Caravan Show.
He and his family hitched up the Aerolite and drove from Adelaide to Port Augusta then up the Stuart Highway to Alice Springs. And while this might not sound overly challenging to serious caravanners, remember — the Stuart Highway wasn’t completely sealed at this point.
Tom was impressed by the Aerolite’s new design approach (or new to Australia at least) with its lightweight chassis, independent suspension and laminated body construction. “It’s something that has been successfully used in Europe for many years,” Tom explained. “Whether or not it would stand up to Australian conditions was a question prominent in my mind.”
They paired the Viscount Aerolite with a Ford Telstar TX5, a smaller family car to match the small size of the Aerolite (which weighed in at around 1000kg). Interestingly, Tom stated that he and many others were foreseeing smaller family cars being used as tow vehicles in the future. Perhaps he wasn’t looking as far as 2025.
The review was essentially a blow-by-blow of their trip from Adelaide up to Alice Springs, with all the highs and lows mapped out. Back in January 1984, the Stuart Highway was only sealed as far as Pimba, and after that they got to play the fun game of figuring out the best speed for corrugations — either dead slow or fast enough to provide a reasonably smooth ride. The car and van duo did as well as could be expected, with a catch on the wardrobe coming loose after 10km and then after 250km of rough going the lower hinge on the fridge came free, spilling the contents of the refrigerator everywhere — not the way they wanted their stop-over in Coober Pedy to go.
After Coober Pedy they were faced with another 350km of unsealed road (there was 90km of sealed road heading out of town, but it hadn’t been linked up to the old road yet and wasn’t open).
You can meet many interesting people while travelling, and Tom and his family bumped into one of them just south of Marla. “We came across a young Japanese tourist who was cycling around Australia. He had left Adelaide 13 days earlier and was heading for Darwin. From there he planned to turn west, finally completing his journey in Perth. His bicycle was interesting. The tyres were huge to provide a good ride. All his luggage was carried low down at axle height on special carriers. This provided good stability, due to a low centre of gravity. On the handlebars was a small trip computer, which could provide information about distance travelled, average speed and time taken.”
The family made it as far at Erldunda (around 1300km from Adelaide) before deciding to alter their travel plans. It had been a hard trip, and the caravan was a bit worse for wear with extensive stone damage to the front and undercarriage. Although they’d covered 600km of unsealed road without any major traumas, they decided it would be irresponsible to repeat the exercise.
They finished the 200km trip to Alice Springs, where they were able to explore for a couple of days (including enjoying a trip to Uluru on the road that had been fully sealed two weeks before they arrived) before organising the caravan to be transported back to Port Augusta via train for $315 (around $1150 by today’s standards). While some might question the price, Tom explained that it was quite reasonable when considering the distance and how much damage a return trip might cause the caravan.
Despite cutting short the tow-test, the Aerolite seemed to do pretty well considering it wasn’t designed for offroad travel then, let alone what we consider offroad-ready these days.
The bugbears of travelling
In another feature, veteran traveller Doreen Chamberlain discussed one of the bugbears of caravanning: planning and the worries that come with it.
The article had quite an amusing tone, with a couple battling insomnia as they can’t get their minds around all the things they need to pack and prepare for before their big trip. It jumped from worries about brake performance, charging the generator and whether or not they should fit a bullbar to the car and how much that would cost, through to considering all the essential items they need, whether or not they were taking the dog, if either of them had organised the mail redirection form yet and if they needed to alter their insurance before they go.
It was quite a unique feature, with tips and advice tucked in along the way, like making sure your friends and family have ways to reach you and details about your trip (where you’re going, when you expect to reach your destination, your car rego number and so on), to factor in different state or territory road rules, cancel any subscriptions or deliveries to your house before you head out and make sure all your valuables are safe and check what your insurance cover is.
And while the feature did highlight all the worries that planning a big trip can cause, it ended on a happy note of how your troubles can fly out the window the moment you hit the road.
“Forgotten anything, luv?”
“Don’t know and don’t care, we’ll be alright.”
That’s pre-trip preparation for you.
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