A New Look - The Classic Retro

[Westy]

I attended the Western Australian Caravan and Camping Show, in Perth, on Thursday 18th and was impressed with the range of innovative gear available nowadays. The most impressive, to me, was the unveiling of the Classic Retro caravan, built by a local company.

It is styled along the lines of a classic TD but has been expanded into a 5th Wheeler.

I went inside and was unable to believe the amount of interior space that the unit had. I am 184cm (6'1" in US language) and I was able to stand in all areas except the very rear. I could achieve this with my head through the large hatch.

The really outstanding feature of the van, to my thinking, was the rear storage in the end wall consisting of cupboards, drawers and a two stage drawer style table. It was incredible. Given that the outside kitchen was not required, it was an imaginative use of that space.

A thread on the Forum discusses the merits of a shower and toilet in a Generic Standy. The brochure accompanying this unit states that a toilet and shower are optional extras and, given the thought that has gone into this design, I can easily imagine that it would work very nicely.

For those that are so inclined, the brochure shows a green utility (pickup to Yanks). The unit at the show was hitched to that vehicle. It is a 1968 XW Ford Falcon, fully restored. The other vehicle in the brochure is a 1948 FX Holden Utility. Holden is the Australian GM subsidiary. My father had one of these but it was the sedan model.

The Retro Classic was for sale at a show price of A$50,000.

Thanks to Mike Schneider for his assistance in helping a complete dumbo being able to post the link.

http://www.mikenchell.com/images/classicretro.pdf

Some of the creative members of the Forum may like to play with this idea. It is very light and could easily be towed by a small ute (pickup)

Cheers

Westy

[Classic Finn]

Westy Greetings from the Far North, Country of Finland. That is impressive as are many of the Tears and Caravans there in Australia.

By the way If I havent said so already, Welcome to the Forum and Int,l Playground.

[rboser]

Westy,
Welcome to the forum from Pennsylvania. Thanks for posting this. I love the layout - a very efficient use of space, especially the seats/table!

[rebapuck]

Love the "slide away table". How easy would that be?

[steve smoot]

Westy, you are bad boy...shame on you....I was already corn fused...(that's a mountain term) wonder if you could pull one of them with a Subaru Forester...

[High Desert]

its a T5WT! (Tiny 5th Wheel Trailer)

Very slick design, I bet it pulls like a dream. Thanks for the post & link

[doris s.]

Very cool, but it's 2500lbs.

Doris

[afreegreek]

FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS?!?!!??!!!???

[bobhenry]

Makes me feel real good about the $900.00 I have in "Chubby"

And even less in "Barn to be wild"

At this rate I could build about 52 tiny trailers for the cost of that one.

I could have a different one for each week in the year

[teardrop_focus]

doris s.

Very cool, but it's 2500lbs.

And that's more than likely empty.

High Desert

its a T5WT! (Tiny 5th Wheel Trailer)

Huh!

Great idea... but I like the b&w pic of the old teardrop in his link.

Good luck with your enterprise, sir! You should find a market.

[artwebb]

Would look more 'classic' with, say, smoothie style wheels with caps than those aluminum wheels, but very nice.
$50.000 nice? Don't know, see how they sell.

[Westy]

All

It was not my intention to convince any one to rush out and buy one, just an attempt to show an alternate design that the TD has influenced.

I would be more interested in hearing if anyone would be adventurous enough to replicate such a design on a smaller scale.

As for the weight and price, remember this is a full blown caravan (travel trailer) fitted with all the fruit and immaculately turned out

Cheers

Westy

[Jst83]

Very nice Westy love the design and the table drawer. Wife talks about something bigger when we make our trip to Alaska some day, that could be just the ticket.

As for the weight of 2500lbs that's really pretty light my Teardrop weighs in at 1,750lbs

As for the weight remember this is a full blown caravan (travel trailer) fitted with all the fruit and immaculately turned out

Cheers

Westy

[quadworks]

Very cool! That's just a larger version of my end goal.

[mandy]

Westy, that is one nice trailer. It kind of reminds me of the volkswagon 5th wheel thing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAaGX6AGp9M