The only thing connecting the state-of-the-art Boeing Starliner spacecraft and a 70 year old caravan of the same name, is that both are partially reusable, discovers Jill Malcolm.
Lesley Crawshaw is a life coach and personal trainer with a penchant for interior design. She takes great pleasure in changing an unloved interior into a space that is eye-catching and functional, so she had a clear plan when she purchased a tiny retro Starliner caravan that was manufactured in New Zealand some 70 years ago.
Lesley had renovated all of the houses she and her husband Peter have lived in over the past several years, and when she was almost finished in the house they currently live in, she began looking around for a new challenge. “I’m passionate about interior design,” she says, “and I know from my work as a wellness trainer that doing something you love is important for wellbeing.”
In January 2022, Lesley and Peter went to Hahei tenting with their children, 12-year-old Samuel and Lilly, 10. In the camping ground, she spotted a vintage fibreglass Concord caravan, which had been built sometime in the 1970s, and was now stunningly restored. “I’d heard about the increasing interest in vintage RVs in New Zealand,” says Lesley, “and I’d already thought about renovating an old motorhome or campervan.
“When I saw the Concord, it struck me that a caravan would be much easier. There was no engine to think about. Dealing with an old engine would not only have been beyond my skills, but could also end up being very costly. A vintage caravan would be easier on the budget and still give me the excitement of bringing new life to the interior of a beautifully constructed space.”
She began looking on the internet for a caravan with an exterior in good condition but an interior that needed her. When she saw the elegant lines of the black and white 1962 Starliner, that was it. Starliner caravans were manufactured in Christchurch from 1959 to 1966, by a man called Doug McGregor. They have a distinctive bubble shape and the fibreglass roof make them light and easy to tow. Sadly, production came to an abrupt halt when fire destroyed the Starliner factory and nearly all the moulds were lost. Now, these cute little caravans have engendered a large following of retro caravan fans throughout New Zealand, and they’ve featured in books, television commercials and other advertising. Lesley’s purchase had previously been owned by Alton Harrison and his son, Darren, of Levin.
Alton was the creator of the Oxford and Pioneer brand caravans and later, as a renovator of vintage caravans, became widely known as “the caravan doctor”. He revamped the Starliner and in 2011, sold it to retro-vehicle enthusiasts Mike and Brenda Mopar-Walters. Soon after the couple married and they took it to French Bay on Auckland’s West Coast to serve as their registry office. And in the years that followed, they towed it around the country behind their 1976, Holden Spaceman de Ville hearse, which would have seemed an incongruous combination.
When Lesley bought it 11 years later, it was showing its age, but from the outset, she had a vision of what it could become. “The first big challenge was getting the caravan down our steep driveway in one piece and parking it in the carport,” she laughs. The interior needed a full update, and the next undertaking was to give it a good clean, and to strip off the old paint. Lesley had never outfitted a caravan before and she knew the tasks ahead were going to be big learning curves. The cabinets walls and storage required restoration; the upholstery needed renewal; the benchtop and table would require rebuilding.
It also needed a new sink, taps and plumbing had to be fitted, and the fridge and cooktop replaced. First Lesley needed to remove the table and benchtop, then repair all the lower cabinets and damaged woodwork. Next, she stripped out the interior ceiling lining and repaired and primed the upper walls. “Replacing the ceiling lining was the only interior work I couldn’t manage myself,” she says. “Luckily I had an amenable auto-upholsterer living nearby and the van went off to have him do this tricky bit of work. I’d taken out all the upper storage cupboards before I took it to his place so that I could work on repairing and painting those while it was away. Reinstalling these, when the ceiling was in place, was interesting as they had to be screwed through the roof and then the holes sealed and waterproofed. I took the caravan to an auto repair shop to do this for me, but the helpful craftsman there walked me through the process so that I could do it myself. There was more
waterproofing required on the opening windows by replacing the rubber strips.”
Lesley built new shelving in the wardrobe, made replica benchtops and a table, then installed and plumbed the new sink and tap. Before reinstalling them, she fitted all the repainted cupboard doors with their original gorgeous hinges and new cabinet pulls. Lesley knew from the start she would be designing the interior to complement the exterior. “I’d already spotted the upholstery for the settee, which was a mustard-coloured check pattern, and decided on black and white ticking for the bench seats,” she says. “All the interior colours were developed from this colour palette. The cabinetry was painted charcoal and I lightened this up with wooden benchtops and brass hardware. The upper storage cupboards were painted a neutral grey to complement the ceiling fabric. I kept the original starburst
vinyl for flooring because it has all the colours I’d used for the rest of the interior.”
All the exterior needed, apart from waterproofing, was a touch-up with primer and paint and a good cut and polish. A local auto painter provided her with the correct paint and tools, while Peter did the cutting and polishing. Lesley says that throughout the renovation, she’d asked other Starliner enthusiasts on a Facebook group for advice and the community had been helpful and supportive.
It’s no wonder Lesley and Peter love the finished project. Lesley’s flair for renovation is obvious in the result, which is a combination of chic and retro.
“Any renovation I complete always teaches me that I am capable of more than I thought,” she said. “Seeing the transformation is such a pleasure and I hope that doing nearly everything myself will demonstrate to my kids how you can achieve whatever you set your mind to. “We haven’t used the caravan because I always intended to sell it once it was finished. I listed it on the local Facebook page and the response blew me away. There were so many compliments and a lot of interest.
The revamped Starliner was bought by a lovely family who will use it to take relaxing breaks away – meanwhile,Lesley has seriously caught the restoration bug, saying, “Now I’m looking for another vintage caravan. Has anybody seen a Starliner in need of attention?”
Have you renovated, or are you renovating a caravan or RV? MCD is looking for stories of recent renovations for potential inclusion in the magazine. Please email editor catherine@nzmcd.co.nz with pictures if this sounds like you!
