CUSTOM
CREATURE
WORDS AND IMAGES: MAX TAYLOR
THIS HEAVILY CUSTOMISED AVALON BY
HALEN VANS IS EQUIPPED FOR LONG-TERM,
SELF-CONTAINED REMOTE TRAVELS.
If I were a fan, I could no-doubt pepper this
review with plenty of Van Halen puns. Alas, all
I know about this group is that in Lilydale, Vic,
there’s a custom caravan manufacturer whose
very name pays it tribute.
Owned and operated by Jason and Bec
Francis, Halen Vans specialises in building
genuine offroad touring weapons, self-contained
caravans designed to keep you in the outback
for longer.
The company’s real specialty, however, is
customisation.
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gorv.com.au
COMMON-SENSE CONSTRUCTION
If our review Avalon Offroad Series looks a
little smaller than you might expect, that’s
because the customer who had this van built
requested it to be 200mm narrower and
50mm lower than standard so it would fit
inside his garage.
Let’s start at the front. The trailer-to-vehicle
wiring harness is detachable from the caravan.
Without the matching seven-pin (round) lead,
the lights or electric brakes wouldn’t work –
effectively, it is a built-in anti-theft device.