1953 Don 140 caravan

I have owned and restored several vintage caravans in my time, but always lusted after a Don. These were the crème de la crème of Australian-built caravans, each of them handbuilt before mass production introduced by competitors simply made the Don uneconomic and unaffordable.

However, in very early June 2019 I finally was able to make a 1953 Don 140 a treasured new member of the Kelly St Classics family. This beautiful example had been in the one family from very early in its life, and was always a treasured thing, even when it was relegated to a stationary position under a purpose-built roof in a Bendigo backyard in the mid 1970s. It was really something to see the special place the old Don held in the family's hearts, and I will endeavour to integrate this unique history into the sympathetic preservation and documentation I will undertake in coming years. And I thank Annette and Dean for the great help in getting the van safely out of the backyard and onto the beavertail truck!

Watch this space as this gem is brought back to its true brilliance, but here are some photographs taken 6th June 2019 as the Don was extricated from the location it had lived in Bendigo, Victoria for 45 years, and carefully put onto the Kelly St Classics truck and brought to its new home in Avoca, Victoria,