Time to Roam Magazine Issue 11 - October/November 2014 | Page 19

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upfront feature
For generations of Australians Viscount
is synonymous with caravans. For the
first time, two of the key people behind
the company’s success tell all, including
the reasons for its downfall.
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.
Viscount brought mass production
to the industry, making stylish and
durable caravans affordable for
average families for the first time.
At its peak in 1978, not long
after taking over arch-rival

Millard, Viscount accounted
for three out of every four
caravans and campers sold.
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.
The story began in 1956 when
John and Maureen Carr arrived
in Adelaide with not much more
than a suitcase. She was just 19
and he was 24. The newlyweds
> continued on page 20

Issue 11 Oct/Nov 2014

19