1959 SUNLINER
Fibreglass Vintage Caravan
SUNLINER HISTORY
"Bert Tickner was barely a teenager when he left school, so it’s hard to believe he went on to design and manufacture one of the most sophisticated and stylish Australian caravans of its era.
Curvaceous, lightweight and economical, it’s equally hard to understand why this beauty ever went out of production or indeed, why Bert Tickner’s business isn’t still around today.
Why isn’t the Sunliner held up as Australia’s answer to say the classic American Airstream?
The story of the rise and fall of the Sunliner is in itself an Australian classic...
Bert Tickner was determined to manufacture the Sunliner from the small coastal NSW town of Forster to help create jobs and boost the local economy.
This community spirit was inherited by his son Robert Tickner, CEO of the Australian Red Cross and former long-serving Federal Minister for Aboriginal Affairs...
After operating a Volkswagen dealership in Taree, Bert started selling fibreglass swimming pools in the late 1950s and dabbling in minor inventions. Robert remembers them as being great innovations.
“I’m not sure if he ever patented anything, but he was always creating clever devices such as an electric pool cleaner made from old washing machine parts and a scrubbing brush!”
Ticker’s dream was to build a fibreglass van so lightweight it could be towed by the Beetles he’d been selling. It was a big ask, because the VWs had a reputation for overheating without towing anything. Success finally came with the Sunliner, the first Australian lightweight Fibreglass van.
It was so light, salesmen at the time boasted “even a woman” could manoeuvre it into place on its dolly wheel. To demonstrate its toughness, the sales brochure pictured three of the factory staff all standing on top of a caravan door, balanced end-to-end between two work benches. To prove its lightness, a female member at the same time holds up a second door with just one hand.
The interiors, including cupboards, were also fibreglass. The light tubular steel frame and independent spring shock absorbers completed a package ahead of its time, even though the manufacturing facilities were not.
An oven at the local bakery was put into use after hours, helping to set the Sunliner’s Perspex windows.
There were three caravan models to choose from, ranging from the 13ft ‘Victory’ which sold for £695 through to the 16ft ‘Sunliner Super 16’, selling for £1095.
The vans received a rave review from the Open Road magazine following a gruelling test over a hundred miles to Wollongong:
“The towing vehicle was a 1958 Holden FC sedan. The course included the descent of Mount Ousely which was accomplished in top gear. The ascent of Bulli Pass, which is generally avoided by caravaners, was attained at an average speed of 25 m.p.h.
“Sometimes high speeds were maintained for several miles to test the caravan’s trailing characteristics.
“Complete lack of tail sway and the tenacity of its road holding on bends indicate the chassis, trailing equipment and superstructure have been combined with craftsmen skills to produce a caravan with exceptional road manners. Fuel consumption overall, despite a number of steep climbs and high speeds was 20.57 m.p.g. ”
But the high manufacturing costs saw the Sunliner priced at more than the annual salary of an average worker – just as competitors were ramping up cheaper, mass production.
As competition intensified in the early 1960s, Tickner dropped the interior fibreglass for the cheaper plywood and fabric finishes used by other van builders" ...
