1980
Autosport Alpha
Sometimes in the seemingly never-ending stream of white boxes, something truly amazing comes along to break the mould. Rarely ever successful, these design gems often serve as a lesson in what could have been or a tale of caution. A rare exception is the Autosport Alpha, which was simply a failure due to being decades ahead of the competition.
Caravan road rallying in the 1970s was a fast and furious business. As the 1970s progressed, the event attracted the attention of professional car rallying drivers, who in turn reduced the sport into something of a demolition derby. Just prior to the downfall of caravan road rallying, it was seen as a vital way for manufacturers to prove the worth of their products. Eric Prue was an avid road rallier who went a little further than most to win the race fairly. Taking a completely standard Cosalt Piper caravan from his caravan dealership, his team grafted a new aerodynamic front end onto it, in an effort to gain more speed on the straight sections. The theory was proved correct, and Eric began scouring the caravan market for an aerodynamically styled caravan.
Eric Prue’s early experiment with aerodynamics on his road rallying caravan.
His search proved fruitless, so assisted by a designer from the University of Birmingham and using £30,000 of his life savings, the Autosport Alpha was born. The Alpha 14T was unveiled to the caravanning press in March 1978, following two years of secret development. Everything about the Alpha was revolutionary: One-piece GRP moulded roof with central wind deflector, huge wrap-around polycarbonate front and rear single glazed windows, all-new Al-ko non-galvanised chassis imported from Germany with rubber torsion suspension, rearward placed axle, one-piece fully bonded side panels with polystyrene insulation and melamine wall panels, and finally a completely concealed internal gas locker. And the list of standard equipment was impressive even by today’s standards: Paloma hot water boiler, mains electrics, fitted leisure battery and charger, 12v fluorescent lights, Carver SB1250 space heater, Electrolux RM212 3-way fridge, bathroom vanity unit and 6” foam upholstery. The total cost was quoted to be around the £3,000 mark, though each model was built to order with most customers tweaking the specification themselves. There were no distributors assigned, you had to buy the caravan direct from the factory.
The prototype model from 1978 featured a flimsy single-glazed front window that would soon cause problems.
Even the layout was unusual. A rear full-width kitchen was placed there so that it would counterbalance the rear-set axle and reduce noseweight. Despite the initial fanfare and generally favourable reviews, there were quite a few faults that came to light once the Alpha 14 entered production, namely with the large polycarbonate windows. These were notorious for leaking, cracking and scratching.
From outer space - the Autosport next to the best-selling Sprite Alpine from 1980, showing just how much of a radical departure from the norm it was!
But then all fell quiet on the Autosport Alpha front in 1979. There were no more advertisements and very few mentions in the caravanning press. Just less than ten Alphas left the factory in 1978. But Eric Prue hadn’t given up. Unveiled in May 1980 was the new Alpha range, now consisting of two layouts; the original 14T and a new 14S. This new model featured a 4ft long dinette at each end, a 6ft ling kitchen on the offside in the middle of the caravan, a wardrobe on the nearside next to the door but no toilet room.
There was even briefly a Continental version of the 14S, badged the 14C, with the entrance door on the offside. Having seen the surviving 14C, it was an ultra-low spec model to keep the price down. The Alpha range now had smart orange graphics outside and tweaks to the specification to include a new under-bunk Carver Mk1 hot water boiler and even a gas leak detector. The most important update to the 1980 models was the large polycarbonate windows, which were now double glazed and the front window was revised to have two joins in it to give it more strength. But the price had now risen to a staggering £5300. The interior of the Alpha 14 was seen as a little bland and lacking compared to other caravans at the same price point.
The main difference between 1978 and 1980 models is the revised front window design and orange graphics.
Demand actually seemed to be there, and orders started to trickle in. So much so, that for 1981, the Alpha 14 Clubman two berth was launched with a rearward entrance door and two side opening windows at the front. This premium model retailed for £5734, and there’s evidence of only one ever being produced.
Spurred on by the renewed interest in the brand, Eric Prue organised a World Speed Record attempt at RAF Elvington near York in October 1980. It was towed by an Aston Martin V8 owned by Robin Hamilton, and the car still survives today. The Alpha smashed the record, previously set in 1969, by some 18mph to reach 124mph. This was despite some truly horrendous wind and rain conditions. The Aston reportedly hit 152mph on one run, but the stipulation of the record was an average speed in two opposite directions, and the headwind severely hampered the record attempt, despite it being successful. A repeat of the run was staged when the weather improved, but the front window blew out and reduced the Alpha to matchwood. It’s very common that any surviving Alphas are advertised as “the” record-breaking caravan, but it’s not true.
Who says that caravans are slow? The Alpha set the World Speed Towing Record in 1980 at 124mph.
The recession of 1980-82 ransacked the caravan world, and ultimately swept up Autosport too. The factory in Oxfordshire closed for good in 1981. There are reportedly 128 Autosport Alphas said to have been built, but a relative of Eric Prue confirmed that this number is actually only 28. The extra ‘1’ in the serial number was placed for the 1980 production run, and to make it appear as if more were selling. The first six examples were prototypes, leaving between four and six 14T models produced in 1978 and sold to paying customers. The remaining 16 were produced between May 1980 and spring 1981. The 1978 model can be easily identified from its one-piece single glazed front window with no joins in it. It also has a squared-off wheel arch design and no exterior decals.
1980 Alpha 14S rear lounge
By the mid-1980s, people were still talking about the Alpha, and plans were made with Isle of Wight based firm Island Plastics (who produced the Romini micro-caravan and Citroen C15-based Romahome) to start producing the Alpha again. Moulds were allegedly transported to their factory, and Eric Prue and Island Plastics director Brian Wood made a widely publicised high speed run to the south of Spain to scope out producing the caravans there. But the deal fell through at the last minute, and the project was scrapped.
1980 Alpha 14T toilet room
Eric Prue (left) and Brian Wood (right) made a high-speed run to Spain to try and revive the Alpha caravan in 1986.
The original factory continued to produce plastic moulded items with the same workforce, and in 1989 completed an overhaul of a 1980 Alpha 14S, chassis number 112, reconstructing the front and rear windows to Eric’s final design. All the factory spares were given to the owner of this caravan, and the Alpha story would officially end there. For now…
Fast-forward to 2018, and I managed to buy this very 14S that had been extensively modified. It was a striking caravan, but also something I knew nothing about other than the infamous photos of the high-speed run back in 1980. What followed was months of painstaking research to piece together the Alpha story. This included meeting with a relative of Eric Prue, who sadly passed away in 2006 aged 69. Piece by piece, the story came together and I set upon a mission to find the other surviving models, which quickly lead me to be the owner of two huge project Alphas, including the very 14C that Eric Prue himself once owned and took on the high speed run to Spain.
The surviving models in 2018. (L-R): 1980 14T, 1980 14S and 1981 14C.
These finds highlighted why no Autosport Alphas survive - the window design has not stood the test of time. Not only do the window rubbers allow water to poor in, but the polycarbonate slowly turns opaque over time when exposed to the elements. So even if your Alpha didn’t leak, you wouldn’t have been able to see out of the windows! The search went on, and the whereabouts of two more 14T models became known, and the illusive 14 Clubman Two Berth was tracked down in a field in Dorset. An attempt was made to save it, but it literally fell apart when it was moved.
The 1980 14T went on to be restored, which now resides in a caravan museum in Italy. The 14C was sold to an enthusiastic caravanner in Denmark who was going to pull it apart to copy it and build more (I’m not sure if he ever managed to do this) and my 14S was restored and I had a couple of years of enjoying using this caravan. All aerodynamic gimmicks aside, it’s actually a really well thought out caravan that’s extremely practical to use!
Restored 1980 14T
Sadly for me, my days with my 14S were short-lived. I had to leave an abusive relationship and despite signing paperwork to agree that I could keep the 14S, my ex stashed it in a barn in the north of France and it’s never been found. I resided that this was the end of my Autosport Alpha story, not thinking for a second that I’d ever found another one. After two years of searching when I initially got my Alpha, I’d unearthed the whereabouts of six of the remaining 28 built, and had managed to assist in getting two of them back on the road. Surely I should just take comfort in that?
1980 Alpha 14T restored interior
My restored 1980 14S with the final revised window design. It went well behind my old 1981 Citroen CX Pallas D!
As I keep learning on my recovery journey, life has your back sometimes. Good things happen to good people, and a previously unknown 1980 Autosport Alpha 14T found its way to me in December 2023. This had been saved by Andrew Scott, owner of The Caravan Company Ltd, who had plans to restore the Alpha and several other classic caravans to create a mini museum at one of his dealerships. With retirement looming, he decided to sell the Alpha and got in touch with me to see if I would take it on.
It’s pretty rotten. Okay, that’s an understatement, it’s pretty much a full rebuild. But I’m probably the only person crazy enough to take this project on. It’ll have to join the queue behind some other projects of mine, but I’m fairly confident that I can bring life back into this amazing piece of caravanning history.
This previously unaccounted for 1980 14T found its way to me in December 2023.
So the Autosport Alpha story carries on… follow NotAnotherWhiteBox on all forms of social media to see updates on this caravan and its restoration. I hope to restore it to its original specification, but perhaps find a way to finally perfect those troublesome windows. I think almost 45 years on from when it was built, we need a caravan like this more than ever. As usual on NotAnotherWhiteBox, the answers to the future can be found in the past.