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Llangollen, Denbighshirem, UK -- While the US has its "RV Hall of Fame," the lads across the pond are happy to report they too, have their own recreational vehicle museum. And, they say, they have the world's oldest RV, "designed to be pulled by a car."
Photo: BBC
According to a BBC story, the Motor Museum here says it may well have the world's oldest "caravan," the British shorthand for travel trailer. Described in somewhat unglorious terms as, "a garden shed on wheels," the trailer was built in 1908 by a British artist, A. W. Haslam. Mr. Haslam used the trailer to travel about various locales in his pursuit of beauty. When Haslam went blind in 1940, his family continued to take him and the "caravan" on outings until his death in 1959.
The museum says that Haslam's pride is a real find. Gwilym Owen, the museum's director, says that popular British thought was the first UK travel trailer designed for a motor vehicle was built in 1915. But their 'mobile garden shed' puts a whole new light on the matter. "This puts our caravan some seven years earlier than the current histories believe," said Owen, "Which makes it a very important piece of British motoring heritage."
Mr Owen said: "It's had a little bit of modernisation over the years, such as new wheels and axle from a 1930's Austin and a more modern hitch but everything else is basically the same as it was when constructed.
"It's very much like a garden shed on wheels and I can imagine it was very cosy in its day, especially if you tried to fit more than one person inside it."
