A terrific travelling time warp

When Arthur Causley tows his 1956 Panorama Deluxe caravan behind his 1949 FX Holden, people are forced to look twice.

As his wife of 46 years Carolyn puts it: "it's like a time warp".

Restoring the historic car and caravan has been a Causley family affair.

"My son (Dean) is a panel beater so him and I worked on them both," Arthur said.

"We took everything right off it and just left the bare body shell, then rolled it onto the side to panel beat the roof out, then rolled it over to paint the bottom and then rolled it upright to put it all back together again.

"We had every nut and bolt off it and put it back on again.

"The car took us two years to do it up back and we finished it in about 1990."

The the midnight black FX Holden is stock standard and boasts a 132 Grey Motor in original condition with a three-speed crash low gearbox.

"It's even got the old six-volt battery and six-volt radio which I can't use any more because they have changed to FM," he said.

"When I first picked the car up it was down at Tunbridge beside a wood heap and someone had thrown wood at it, which had dented the roof and there were bullet holes through the mudguard."

The caravan is Carolyn's domain and was owned by Arthur's aunty, sitting under a carport on a block at Greens Beach for 40 years.

It took the family 12 months five years ago to give the run-down caravan a facelift. It received new curtain, wiring, wheels, plywood and paint.

"When we opened the door down at Greens Beach I couldn't believe that she had all the cups and saucers all set up - it was like walking back into a time warp," Carolyn said.

"Someone had stolen the wheels off it and the back had quite a big hole in it.

"We have all the 1950's memorabilia set up... it is a big thing on the mainland now for people to have old caravans and cars but there are not many in Tasmania."

The pair are FX-FJ Holden Car Club of Tasmania life time members, after about 30 years service and take the historic combination to many shows across the state.