Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Lindsay]

Hello
I would very much like to find out what I can about Raven Caravans, and am hoping that some of you might be able to help me. I might even be able to help you with the odd snippet of information in return!

My grandfather (on my mother’s side) was Norman Wilkinson-Cox, who started the business and ran it until just after the war; I believe he continued to design parts after that, although he had sold the business to someone else.

We lived in a caravan until I was aged five or six (Norman’s wedding present to my parents) as my father was in the RAF and we moved around a bit at that time. In fact, I believe we lived in two of his caravans at one time: one large and one very small, in the middle of a field of cows!

My grandmother Georgie, who also contributed to the business, died when I was a baby, and my grandfather remarried a few years later and started a new family. So whilst my mother has given me all the records she has, she feels she might not have had access to all of them.

I do now have some of my grandfather’s patent applications, including sketches etc., and have been grateful for some of the articles and photographs I have found on this website. Of course I have some family photographs too, both with and without caravans. However, I would love to build up a more complete picture of the business and my grandfather's caravan designs. Whilst not a collector nor even a caravanner myself (we’re tent-dwellers for preference), I’m sure I could find room for a Raven Argonette in the garden if I came across one!

With thanks for any help you can give me,
Lindsay Harris

[Uncle Alec]

Let's see how my fading memory stands up to the 30 years since I had a Raven Mignon:
Bruno Jablowski? Croydon Aerodrome (Purley Way)?
Somewhere I still have the ident plate from it; PM me your postal address and you can have it if you want.

[Lindsay]

Thanks for your reply and generosity. I'm not sure about the ident plate - don't know what one looks like, and live in a small house, and am therefore wary of collecting material memorabilia.

I'd be very interested in any photos you might have of the Mignon though.
I do have a leaflet about it - which I could scan for you if you're interested.
(Also a few family photos with caravans in, and the motorbike & sidecar my grandfather built before he moved on to caravans).

Yes, I believe my grandfather sold the business to Bruno Jablowski in 1947 (that's the date on the leaflet, as being the beginning of the Jablo business, and the address is Waddon, Croydon). Before that the business was based in a small factory somewhere in Thames Ditton, which also incorporated a flat in which the family grew up. My grandfather's only son was killed in the war, just before the end of it, and I think Norman felt there was no point in carrying on the business without him to take it over.

[Ranger2]

Hi

Great to hear about your grandad being Wilkinson Cox-he invented the wind up corner steadie - same as we still use today! Have a1930 Raven brochure and some 50s and 50's bits - they went off by the late 50's but one of the early makers around 1925 I think off top of my head