The first one was in the yard back at the dairy because we needed somewhere to live when Jacky was born. “Actually it was the second caravan we’d built.
She just happened to charm a farmer passing by the single caravan they had on display at the Royal Adelaide Show. Maureen takes credit for coming up with the name Viscount, inspired by the excitement surrounding the arrival of the first Vickers Viscount airliner flying into Adelaide.Īs well as doing the books in the early years and making curtains for the vans, Maureen also takes credit for actually selling the first Viscount. When our first daughter Jacky was born she lived in the back of our car for about the first eight months as we were constantly on the road on sales trips.” “Before long John started his own caravan building business in a milking shed on a big old dairy farm. After a couple of short-lived jobs, Maureen says John found himself building caravans in a small backyard operation owned by a man by the name of Hardy. John was a talented carpenter and both went to work straight away. Want to win a fully-restored 1977 Viscount Supreme? Find out how, here.
It was an inauspicious beginning for a couple who were later to enjoy incredible wealth and luxury. Maureen’s first and still vivid memory of Australia is disembarking from a P&O liner and being taken on a cattle truck to their first home, a crowded and draughty former army barracks. The newlyweds were part of the ‘Ten Pound Pom’ wave of immigrants paid to come and help ease the country’s post-war labour shortage. The story began in 1956 when John and Maureen Carr arrived in Adelaide with not much more than a suitcase.
No one could have foreseen that just a few years later the company would be on the ropes, desperately struggling to stay in the game. Viscount brought mass production to the industry, making stylish and durable caravans affordable for average families for the first time.Īt its peak in 1978, not long after taking over arch-rival Millard, Viscount accounted for three out of every four caravans and campers sold. Join us as we dive into the history of this caravanning icon. In the 1970s when Aussies sang of their love for football, meat pies, kangaroos and Holdens, odds were that close behind the car was a Viscount caravan.
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