Time to Roam Magazine Issue 11 - October/November 2014 | Page 24

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upfront feature

saw Australians turn to smaller cars,
unsuited to the Viscounts of old.
The company suddenly stopped
looking to the US for inspiration and
started making trips to Germany,
launching a new Aerolite range
with imported German chassis and
suspension. While it was able to be
towed by a four cylinder car, it tended
to fall apart when towed through
the bush behind a Landcruiser.
By the turn of the decade,
Carr realised he had to give up
his international globetrotting
lifestyle and return to Sydney to
take control of the challenges.
However Dunn says he’d been
away too long and was out of
touch. The “crash or crash through”
approach that had been valuable in
building the business, were unsuited
to turning around one in crisis.
“The world had changed, suddenly
there were consumer laws to deal
with and militant trade unions. People
had a problem with a caravan and
suddenly it was on TV. John wasn’t
used to dealing with all that.
“He was a bit like Henry Ford.
‘Do it simple and do it well’ was his
philosophy. But his way of thinking
was gradually out of step with the

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way the market was headed in the 1980s as
consumers became more demanding.”
In a bid to control spiralling wage
costs, Viscount imported a state of the art
computerised assembly line from Germany
– costing the equivalent of $1.5m today.
But it wasn’t for JC.
“He’d been delayed by too many computer
problems at airports while he was travelling
the 1970s. He just didn’t trust them, so the
assembly line was never fully implemented.”
At this point Dunn says their relationship
became increasingly difficult.
“He treated me like a son on the good
days, but as you are with family, it was
tough when things went wrong.”
Dunn believed the business could only
work if Carr moved on, but JC could not
bear to walk away from his creation.
One of the final stoushes came as
the protégé tried to steer through a new
industry agreement on regulations to
lift product and safety standards.
“Carr hated the thought of more regulation,
even though it would have been good for
Viscount’s business by shutting down some
of the shoddy backyard operators.”
After 18 remarkable years at Viscount, Dunn
realised he had no option but to leave.
Not long after Carr did sell the business
to a new generation of Australian immigrant
entrepreneurs, the Gazal family, under whose

stewardship manufacturing finally ground
to a halt. Dunn believes the Gazals unfairly
copped the blame for the collapse of a
company already in serious trouble.
“They offered me the job to come back
in and run it, but it was already too late. The
losses were spiralling and the best people had
already moved on to work at competitors.”
Garry Dunn went on to have a highly
successful career in real estate. Sadly,
he says he never had the chance to
make it up with his former mentor, who
despite their final differences he still
regards as a remarkable man.
As for Maureen Carr, she and ‘JC’
seperated in the early 1970s when she
returned to London, where she remains
today. John retired to the Gold Coast
and despite the distance Maureen says
they remained close friends right up until
his death nine years ago, aged 74.
Like many others who worked in the
business, Garry Dunn and Maureen Carr
both take great pride in the fact so many
Viscounts are still on the road today and
have found favour with a new generation
of restorers and family buyers.
Maureen says they set out to build the world’s
best caravans and that tradition continues.
“Australian