50 Years And Still Going Strong

Rescued from the scrap yard, this Pilot caravan spent most of its 50 year’s life in a field in the heart of Cumbria, only to be used once a year as a Steward’s cabin at the local music festival. Due to be sold for its aluminium value, Simon Wheatley came up trumps and paid the princely sum of £150 to salvage the old caravan.

There then started an 18 month renovation period to lovingly restore the 1959 ‘Pilot’ Panther model back to its former glory. The labour of love entailed numerous weekends with the ‘project team’ of two families pulling out all stops to rip up and discard all that was to be replaced with new materials to recapture the magic of a bygone age. In keeping with the spirit, all materials were either begged, borrowed or salvaged from friends, so the total renovation costs were kept to a minimum.

Now nestling in an idyllic site on the edge of fifteen acres besides a wood and next to a river, the caravan now plays host to escapist weekends for the hardworking renovators. With no electricity or water and only a compost toilet within vicinity, it is a welcome retreat from the busy stressed out lives of modern living. Days are spent fishing, walking and wildlife watching and generally chilling out. Evenings are spent either in the cosy caravan with the wood burning stove alight or outside around a camp fire. Indeed this is the stuff that dreams are made of before the trappings of tv, wi-fi and the internet.

“It’s complete medicine” Simon stated, “a great escape for stressed parents”. The caravan is used every month by the families as a haven from the busy modern world. However, it is not all lay as with any project, the renovations never ceases and the winter project is a complete redecoration internally.

The Pilot company was formed in 1938 and became a limited company in 1961, taking the name Torton Bodies Ltd. Tom Andrews took over the running of the company in 1966 and they continued to manufacture caravans until the late 1960s. Torton Bodies is renowned these days for its bespoke mobile exhibition centres which are used throughout the UK to promote a plethora of uses including hospitality, training and education, health screening and leisure. Clive Andrews, MD of Torton commented, “I was astonished to hear from Simon and was able to let him have reprints of the original sales brochures which he has framed on the wall of his ‘Pilot’. It truly was a complete surprise and I am proud that he has restored a part of our heritage”.