Chair + Liaison
Julie Strong
Hello everybody. I'd like to introduce myself. I love anything 40s/50s (which is my excuse for my sometimes dubious dress sense) Wire Haired Fox Terriers, fast motorcycles and have a lifelong love of classic vehicles which I put down to my parents teaching me every car on the road in the late 60s in order to combat my travel sickness - I still love old British vehicles and put it down squarely to this - the cars/vans/lorries I love are those I would have been familiar with as a child. I blew my 18th Birthday money not on clothes like most of my 1984 classmates at college but on a 1960 Mini and at 21 was the proud owner of a near mint 1954 Ford Consul which I often be seen attended shows with dressed in a fetching 1950s Natalie Wood style suit when my Rockabilly pals were in jeans and bowling shirts, I had lots of friends who were old chaps in their 60s and 70s as a consequence. At at guess I would think I have owned 40 classic cars, the oldest being a 1948 Austin A70, though I always swore when I stopped doing the classic car thing I would find a classic caravan
My love of caravans dates back to my parents buying a brand new Lynton Javelin Executive with lairy orange Poullard Coaster (top of the range - my Mum was a bit like that!) awning, this was towed by a 1968 Ford Zephyr V6. Happy, happy days with a fortnight's holiday in Cornwall or Harlech, North Wales, the Zephyr loaded with Mum, Dad, Nan and the 3 children (a year later 5 children) 8 track player with the Best of Simon and Garfunkel playing. I Have great memories of being taken around our local caravan dealerships and must have tried every 1971/72 model before my parents settled on the Lynton. I Was greatly saddened when, on holiday in 1981 my Mum announced that the Lynton would not be coming home with us - they had traded it in for a 1978 Ace Ambassador Diplomat (all 17ft of it) with matching Isabella awning as the first grand child had arrived an that extra space would be needed. I'd loved the Lynton and it remains one of my dream caravans, along with the 1951 moon shaped Paladin Wisdom . Back in the late 80s I was smitten by the 1930s Art Deco styled Car Cruisers which always put on a good display. at the Enfield Pageant of Motoring and that has never really left me. As at the time I had 2 rooms in my house where we lived the late 40s early 50s life at caravan looked a great way to have my own little time capsule (though even then a Car Cruiser was out of my league) circa 1988 we bought and restored a 1954 Thompson Almond which we filled with everything period - this used to cause quite a stir on normal campsites as people making their way to the toilet block came across the Thompson and accompanying Ford Consul, with the smell of Vesta curry boiling on the stove and sound of Glen Miller music in the air.
Selling my last classic, a 1996 Rover Mini Cooper converted to 85BHP Cooper 'S by John Cooper Garages in 2015 I Decided to hunt down a caravan, my love of the 40s and 50s doesn't really extend to the heavy looks and overly woody interiors of caravans of that era (my opinion only, they are lovely but not for me) so I settled on the early 60s with far airier looks and bright, chirpy Scandi style interiors, for the me the very epitome of this being the early 60s Sprites. I Spent nearly 2 years restoring my 1963 Sprite Alpine, then bought a lovely original Fairholme of the same age and have just finished restoring structurally a 1965 Sprite 400 for my sister - that caravan frankly was an utter basket case that fully justified it's sub £100 purchase price!
I am honoured to have been asked to join the Committee on what is my favourite club, I get the impression there are lots of people like me here.
