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Bart Samba Member
Joined: March 18, 2002 Posts: 2516 Location: Chapel Hill, TN
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Posted: Fri Jul 16, 2004 4:13 pm Post subject: Made my day + Caravelle Info |
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OK, as most of you know I like Sundial and have been gathering info on them for some time now, even went so far as to create www.sundial-camper.com. So that said, I get a LOT of email from people asking about how to restore and how to id their camper, usally some pics attached, I save these on varios computers (need to organize sometime) . Well today, I get home and open my email and in my box in another message that has Sundial in the subject line and I can see it has an attachment, so I figure more pictures and questions right! Wrong, I open the email and to my suprise, it is from the son of the owner/designer of sundial. The attachments are scans of their very first camper conversion called...... Caravelle (there you go perfektenemy). Here is the email I recieved
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Hi,
My dad was the owner/designer for Sundial. He lives in --(removed for privacy reasons)--
Back around '60 he started Caravelle Campers in Home Gardens, Ca. near Corona and here is the brochure. He moved the business to Edgemont, Ca. (Now part of Moreno Valley) in the mid sixties and renamed it Sundial. He moved into other brands of vans and at one time had over 100 employees. The oil embargo of the early seventies killed the business so we moved to northern cal. where he started a small van conversion business called Kaleidoscope. It didn't get too far so he bought a portable toilet company and after 25 years sold it last year and is now retired. He still has a van he did but it's a chevy, I think.
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see images below (I'll put this in a pdf so you can get it from my sundial site)
_________________ http://www.sundial-camper.com |
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doubledoor64 Samba Member
Joined: September 23, 2003 Posts: 1073 Location: Ideeho
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Posted: Fri Jul 16, 2004 4:26 pm Post subject: |
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real nice e-mail bet it would make my day keep up the good work the site is great.. |
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DMNCLNR Sir Camp'alot
Joined: November 12, 2003 Posts: 2897 Location: Newport Beach Ca
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Posted: Fri Jul 16, 2004 4:44 pm Post subject: |
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Very cool!!! But ofcourse that brings up a whole bunch of new questions!
Fisrt, if they were made in cali, then why are so many of them found up here in eastern oregon? i myself have never seen one anywhwere else including cali!
second question, if they switched over to sundial, then why are they still referred to as caravelle, and since they are still made, where are they manufactured now?
I am sure that my caravelle is a 64' and that it is a caravelle! Also wondering if there are any other changes from the sundial to caravelle...
well at least i was right that they are a U.S conversion... _________________ To his their own PBJ
Pl@y@ #1 |
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mynameismud Samba Member
Joined: October 23, 2002 Posts: 5922 Location: Middle of a corn field
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Posted: Fri Jul 16, 2004 4:51 pm Post subject: |
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"or for those occassional odd shaped objects"...like that mellon? _________________ Even YOU can prevent FIRES!
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SHSC Samba Member
Joined: February 02, 2001 Posts: 1785 Location: Oklahoma City
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Posted: Fri Jul 16, 2004 4:53 pm Post subject: Re: Made my day + Caravelle Info |
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Sundial Camper wrote: |
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It didn't get too far so he bought a portable toilet company and after 25 years sold it last year and is now retired.
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His name Chuck? _________________ DKB |
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Bart Samba Member
Joined: March 18, 2002 Posts: 2516 Location: Chapel Hill, TN
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Posted: Fri Jul 16, 2004 5:00 pm Post subject: |
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perfektenemy wrote: |
Very cool!!! But ofcourse that brings up a whole bunch of new questions!
Fisrt, if they were made in cali, then why are so many of them found up here in eastern oregon? i myself have never seen one anywhwere else including cali!
second question, if they switched over to sundial, then why are they still referred to as caravelle, and since they are still made, where are they manufactured now?
I am sure that my caravelle is a 64' and that it is a caravelle! Also wondering if there are any other changes from the sundial to caravelle...
well at least i was right that they are a U.S conversion... |
The term Carravelle is actually a small boat, but in researching the camper, I've noticed that the Brits call every camper a caravelle. The new caravelles being produced are based on the T-5 Eurovan and are produced by VWaG. This Caravelle brand is an American camper conversion and if this story is true you won't find one newer than 1964 as that is when Sundials started being made, but then again he may have sold off the company name and rumor has it that the owner of ez camper was related to this guy. I'm requesting a meeting and the guys name matches up to the patent info. I'll post anything new as I get it. _________________ http://www.sundial-camper.com |
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Bart Samba Member
Joined: March 18, 2002 Posts: 2516 Location: Chapel Hill, TN
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Posted: Fri Jul 16, 2004 9:47 pm Post subject: |
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I knew I saw pics of this on the net somewhere.....
taken from ezcamper.com
This makes a lot of sense as to why these are so similar to sundials. The bus in the pic is in FL, so not PNW theory no longer valid. _________________ http://www.sundial-camper.com |
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VWBobby Samba Member
Joined: April 21, 2004 Posts: 1537 Location: Central Oregon Coast
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Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2004 10:02 am Post subject: |
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That is really great news! It must feel awesome to have someone contact you about your website like that...
I wish my camper wasn't such a mismatch of parts. I see features from just about every american camper in mine. |
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Erik G Samba Member
Joined: October 16, 2002 Posts: 13235 Location: Tejas!
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Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2004 11:07 am Post subject: |
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yeah, when I was looking at richie rich's caravelle I noticed it was VERY similar to my sundial. SWEET INFO! |
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Bart Samba Member
Joined: March 18, 2002 Posts: 2516 Location: Chapel Hill, TN
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Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2004 9:08 am Post subject: |
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I got a reply from his wife and posted it here
www.sundial-camper.com/hx.htm
Pretty great info and how she mentions the other conversion company spin offs Like EZ-Camper, American Camper and Carousel Camper. She also talks about how the american camper market came about and why it went away.... _________________ http://www.sundial-camper.com |
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wilgartw Samba Member
Joined: April 29, 2004 Posts: 136 Location: Manchester, England
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Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2004 7:51 am Post subject: |
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I've noticed that the Brits call every camper a caravelle. |
who does? i have never heard anyone in the uk calling an early camper a caravelle.
I think caravelle was a model of camper converted from the late square vans (you call them a vanagon???) _________________ there are only 10 types of people in the world; those who understand binary and those that dont. |
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