Five Years of NotAnotherWhiteBox - My Caravanning History

Can you believe that ‘NotAnotherWhiteBox’ turns five years old in 2025? I can’t either. It feels both like a lifetime ago and five minutes ago at the same time. It’s been a crazy ride, a case of triumph over adversity at times and a very steep learning curve! To mark the fifth anniversary of this great community, I thought I’d finally put my caravanning history down on paper – as it were – and tell the complete story of my caravanning life and NotAnotherWhiteBox.

Cameron Burns - Founder of NotAnotherWhiteBox

To understand my caravanning background, we have to go all the way back to the Postwar years, when my Great Grandad developed an interest in caravanning. Initially, it was a case of hiring a caravan that was already pitched on a site (in the days before big boxy static caravans), but he soon bought his own caravan from a local caravan builder in Shipley, Leeds. My Grandma not only vividly remembers picking it up, but also the treacherous trip from Leeds to Scarborough with it in the days before the A64 was built. The final approach to Scarborough was up a massive hill, which the little wooden caravan and giant Pre-war Morris Eight trundled up so slowly, that my Grandma and her mother got out and walked to the top of the hill instead! When they weren’t on holiday in the caravan, my Grandma remembers that she and her father used to take his motorbike out for a ride on a Sunday and they’d exclaim “CARAVAN!” and point madly whenever they passed one – something she’d do with me when I was a young child. It’s fair to say that my Grandma got the caravanning bug big time!

My Great-Grandparents’ caravan, circa mid-1950s.

My Grandparents met in 1960 and were married in 1962. My Grandma quickly introduced my Grandad to the world of caravanning, usually hiring a static model in some idyllic location in the UK. All that changed in 1965 when they hired a brand-new Sprite 400 and towed it from Leeds to the New Forest behind my Grandad’s BMC Mini! He fitted the towbar himself, using Great Grandad’s inspection pit next to his garage. Of course, in those days, pretty much every car owner had to know their way around an engine bay and usually would have to spend the weekend ensuring that their car would reliably get them to work the following week!

In 1965, my Grandparents hired a Sprite 400 and towed it over 300 miles with their Mini!

They loved the holiday in the Sprite 400, and my Grandma took a brochure from their local caravan dealership and began to dream of owning their own little Sprite. They had a couple of tumultuous years as they welcomed their first child, my father, just a few weeks after my Great Grandad (my Grandmother’s father) passed away in his mid-50s from lung cancer. Understandably, it was a bittersweet time. His parting words to my Grandma were “don’t wait for retirement, it might not happen!”. This would set the precedent for the rest of my Grandparents’ lives.

With their second child following a couple of years later and a house move to boot, my Grandma decided that the time was right to buy a caravan – and it should be a Sprite 400. They found a very tidy 1966 model, and for the price of just £180, it was theirs. They picked it up in October 1972 and set about making it their own. They fitted a carpet, my Grandad added more 12v lights and serviced the chassis, and my Grandma made new curtains for it with the help of her mother, who was a seamstress by profession. They joined the Caravan And Motorhome Club and set about exploring.

My Grandparents got a little Sprite 400 of their own in 1972.

The Sprite 400 represented total freedom for them. Initially a home-from-home for getting their young children out of the city for the weekend, my Grandparents grew more confident as they got more caravanning experience under their belts, and soon the Sprite was used for annual holidays on the Continent – travelling to France, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. This would carry on for many years, and the Sprite would be sold to a work colleague of my Grandad’s – this is a crucial detail to remember for later on in this story!

The little 1966 Sprite 400 proved to be a great home from home for the next 15 years or so.

Fast forward a few more years, and I was born. I was their first Grandchild, so understandably was the “golden child” from day one! By now, my Grandparents had upgraded to a top of the range 1988 ABI Award Dawnstar, which was still a fairly new model at the time. At two weeks old, I paid a visit to the caravan and slept soundly on the front bunk. As I learnt to walk and talk, my Grandparents would volunteer to take me away with them in the caravan – I loved it! I was apparently so enamoured that my Grandad and Dad built me a miniature wooden caravan for the garden for my third birthday.

Amazingly, my Grandad and Dad built this little wooden caravan for my third birthday!

As I approached my teens, I was truly obsessed with caravans. But it was the photos and stories of the little Sprite 400 that piqued my interest. Growing up in the late 1990s and early 2000s, all caravans looked the same. The Sprite 400 was curvaceous, colourful and full of unusual fittings like a water foot pump, gas lamp and glass windows – I couldn’t imagine it. My Grandad intervened and joined the Historic Caravan Club on my behalf in 2003 and I’d look forward to receiving the monthly newsletter and occasionally, we’d visit some of their display rallies and see the weird and wonderful classic caravans in person. It was magical to me and definitely made a huge impression. I was also gifted a couple of books by a famous ‘Industry Expert’, which also served to inspire me further.

By the time I was 18, my Grandparents had, by chance, kept the ABI Award Dawnstar as they were offered a pittance for it as a trade-in against a new caravan. So, it became my first caravan, which I worked on with my Grandad to get everything working properly on it and make it safe to tow. He taught me everything I know. But I still hankered after the experience of a true classic caravan, preferably something like the Sprite 400.

Heading home with my first project - a 1963 Sprite Alpine, which needed a full restoration.

I had a saved search on eBay for a classic Sprite caravan, which were few and far between in those days when people didn’t realise the collectibility of them. On my last day of a Club 18-30 holiday with my friends in Magaluf, I received the email that there was a rather sorry looking 1963 Sprite 400 for sale. I drunkenly sent the seller a message and forgot all about it. A couple of days later, I was home and had just £60 left in my wallet after the holiday. The Sprite Alpine now had bids on it to the tune of several hundred pounds, so I decided to forget about it. But fate intervened, and the seller rang me: apparently, he’d had nothing but hassle from the sale, and the storage yard owner where it was stored was now complaining. He said I could have it if I cleared the two months’ worth of storage fees. “How much?” I asked. “£60” he said. It was obviously meant to be!

With the help of my Grandad, we turned it into a very usable and fun caravan again.

I drove over 150 miles to pick up this dilapidated 1963 Sprite Alpine and didn’t forewarn my parents of what was about to turn up on the driveway – suffice to say, I wasn’t very popular! But my Grandad came to the rescue, and between us, we restored the Sprite over several months throughout the winter. We used his photos of their old 1966 Sprite 400 as inspiration for the restoration.

This is where the story took a bit of a turn. I reached out to the aforementioned ‘Industry Expert’ for some information about my new caravan. We chatted back and forth and soon found each other as Facebook friends. But it didn’t last long – this person not only was not forthcoming with any information about my caravan but set about belittling my restoration skills. I unfortunately had to block them on Facebook to put an end for this uncalled for bullying. It was a devastating blow, considering that I’d bought all their books and idolised their work when I was younger. It’s an unfortunate case of you shouldn’t meet your heroes. As if that wasn’t bad enough, I set about transferring my Grandparents’ membership of the Historic Caravan Club into my name. As a young enthusiastic 18-year-old with an age-appropriate caravan to join in with their activities, you’d have thought that I’d have been welcomed with open arms. Unfortunately, I was told under no uncertain terms that “a Sprite is not a proper classic caravan, they were merely cheap tat”!

This left me adrift, and as a knee jerk reaction, I set up Classic Sprite Caravans on Facebook. I set about buying up anything and everything relating to Sprite caravans that I could to try and piece together the history of the brand. It was here that my Grandma gave me some encouragement – when clearing out her loft, she found the original Sprite brochure that she’d picked up way back in 1965. Strangely, the Classic Sprite Caravans group was an instant hit, attracting nearly 1,000 members in the first year. I couldn’t believe that SO many classic Sprite owners existed out there, all equally adrift from the established classic caravan scene in the UK, who didn’t give the largest caravan manufacturer that Britain has ever seen the respect that it deserves.

A fantastic meeting at Chilford Hall, home of Sprite founder Sam Alper.

Encouraged by this, I co-founded the Retro Camping Club with a few other classic caravan enthusiasts. Our mantra was simple – be nice! This seemed to work, because in just three months we had more paid members than all the other established classic caravan clubs in the UK combined! With a bustling events calendar, regular glossy magazine and a buzzing Facebook group, the RCC made serious waves on the classic caravan scene – resulting in the Historic Caravan Club giving me a ten-year ban on re-joining. Somehow, I think this might have been their loss…

One of the highlights of my time with the Retro Camping Club - the largest meeting of classic caravans in Europe!

The RCC went from strength to strength. From winning ‘Best Club Stand’ at the prestigious NEC Classic Car Show to uniting just over 90 pre-1982 caravans at RetroFestival, it was THE club to be a member of. I’d help anyone that I could by providing information about their caravans, and the community spirit we cultivated seemed to pay it forward as strong friendships were formed. We even went international and brought the largest contingent of classic caravans from the UK to the European Classic Caravan Rally (ECCR) in the entire history of the event. I also got to look after the many loyal supporters from Classic Sprite Caravans by arranging a rally at Chilford Hall, home of Sprite founder Sam Alper. It was an incredible time. Another consequence of this lifestyle was the ability to own lots of vintage caravans – which peaked at one point at around 30 in a rented barn space. I really honed my restoration skills and gradually took on more and more ambitious projects and encouraged other people to do the same. I got to experience everything from cheap mass produced Sprite caravans to exquisite works of art on wheels from a 1930s Winchester to a 1970s Carlight Continental.

A lot of work went into running the Retro Camping Club. My job was to create the membership magazine.

Things tripped by for several years, until just before the Covid Pandemic, someone requested to join the Classic Sprite Caravans group with a little 1966 Sprite 400 that happened to be located in Leeds. Something about it made me investigate it further. Could this be my Grandparents’ original caravan? Or was this wishful thinking and theirs had been scrapped off years ago? I cautiously messaged the owner and explained the situation. Funnily enough, he’d bought it from his neighbour who had worked for Leeds City Council, just as my Grandad did. I went to visit my Grandparents and asked my Grandad if he had anything with the Sprite’s serial number on it. Not one to throw anything away, he disappeared upstairs and re-emerged with his original bill of sale from 1972! The all important serial number was there, and I messaged the owner of the little 400 and awaited his response. To my utter bewilderment, it was a match!!

The photo that made my heart skip a beat - was this my Grandparents’ Sprite 400 after all these years?

After a bit of pleading, the owner very kindly sold me the Sprite 400, and on the day of collection I got to meet his neighbour, who indeed was the man that my Grandad had sold it to all those years ago. The little Sprite had given his family a good few years of holidays before it was retired to the garden. It was an amazing turn of events. And just to think, if I hadn’t have set up the Classic Sprite Caravans group, it may never have found me! Ironically, it was hidden in a housing estate some two streets away from my parents’ house. This was now August 2020, and I got to see my Grandparents for the first time in months due to the Pandemic, and took the little Sprite 400 with me. My Grandad was by now suffering badly with dementia and was a little distant and withdrawn. But there was this obvious lightbulb moment when he realised that it was HIS old caravan, and suddenly he became all smiles and reminisced freely about it for the afternoon. It was a wonderful memory that I shall treasure forever.

Reunited with my Grandparents, August 2020. They were amazed to see their Sprite 400 again after so many years.

But backtracking slightly, to March/April 2020, I’d already had the idea to start NotAnotherWhiteBox. I’d just bought a very rare 1959 Sprite Ariel and had the idea to film the restoration process and upload it to YouTube. The Lockdown served as the perfect time to get on with this task, spurred on by the fact that I could get the Ariel to fit underneath the carport in my house at the time. I guess it was good luck that established YouTubers all suspended content during the lockdown, and I was starting up! Week in, week out, I’d produce a new video sharing my progress. It was an interesting time for sure, particularly when it came to hunting down supplies for the restoration. Timber, paint and electrical fittings were all on the “non-essential” list for retailers, so I had to go to some lengths to get what I needed.

The first NotAnotherWhiteBox project: a 1959 Sprite Ariel.

Almost as soon as NotAnotherWhiteBox began, it nearly got derailed. My ex-partner decided that we should move to France, so by the time that the Pandemic was over, we’d found a house to renovate in Brittany, and the little Sprite Ariel  was dragged over there. Unfortunately, my ex-partner became incredibly abusive, ending with me literally escaping out of the country on the last boat before another lockdown in January 2021. Very long story short, my ex-partner kept all my belongings out of spite – other than my Rover P6 which I drove home in, and whatever I could fit in it. Frustratingly, the Sprite Ariel was nearly finished, but I never got to conclude the YouTube series. My ex attempted to sell it without my permission. Police intervened but were powerless to get it back unless I engaged in a lengthy and costly court battle.

As luck would have it, my Grandparents’ 1966 Spite 400 was still in our shared storage unit in England, as my intention was to have it repainted before I took it to France. The separation was extremely messy and took a big toll on my mental health. But as I’d experienced with my good nature when it came to the classic caravan scene, NotAnotherWhiteBox and its audience was about to get me through this lowest point in my life. I may have lost all my caravans, but I had the most important one still – my Grandparents’ 1966 Sprite 400.

The following summer, I met my now husband, and introduced him to the world of caravanning. He loved it straight away, and we enjoyed lots of trips in the 1971 Sprite Musketeer that had found its way to me shortly after my separation. It was strange, I lost everything but gained everything at the same time. All our friends stuck with me and supported me, I made lots of new friends, and life had a way of sending me what I needed when I needed it. From the bargain £250 1971 Sprite Musketeer that had been barn stored and just needed a bit of gentle TLC to get it usable again to the record shop that was closing down and I bought back most of my record collection for 50% off, there were all these little signs that I was going to be okay.

All smiles in the end. Touring with my 1970 Rover P6 3500 and 1971 Sprite Musketeer.

Sadly, the following winter, my Grandad passed away quite suddenly in hospital over the Christmas period. Distraught, I used completing the 1966 Sprite 400 as my own personal therapy. It was something that made me still feel close to him, and I know he’d have loved to see the finished result. My Grandma on the other hand, was quite dismissive: “how did we put up with this tiny thing for all those years?!” was her first remark when I reunited her with the restored Sprite!

The 1966 Sprite 400 back on the road and looking as good as new. It helped me through the grieving process.

Things just went from strength to strength for NotAnotherWhiteBox. I soon had enough subscribers to become monetised and attracted the attention of the Caravan And Motorhome Club, who supported me tremendously and facilitated my various NEC show tours and new caravan reviews, which remain my most popular YouTube videos. I gained experience of marketing, PR, product testing and of course video editing. Soon, Bailey of Bristol picked me out to be a part of their crew for an ambitious trip to the Sahara Desert in Morocco with some of their products - an experience that I shall never forget. They also let me road test the prototype Bailey Discovery D4-4L, which served as the springboard for my now legendary live-in test reviews, which are like no others on YouTube!

Onwards and upwards! A photo during a filming session at the NEC Caravan and Motorhome Show.

As I enter into the fifth year of NotAnotherWhiteBox, things aren’t slowing down. I recently joined the judging panel for the Caravan And Motorhome Club Design Awards, which I think might be my favourite job ever! I’ve also settled on my core 4-5 caravan strong collection, and I’m blessed to have a beautiful Rover P5b Coupé to tow them with. But what does the future hold?

I intend to put more effort into YouTube over the next few years. I want to keep the conversation going about caravan design and hopefully have some positive influence on the industry and help to safeguard the future of our beloved hobby. I will always fly the flag for classic caravans, and I’m now a Committee member for the Cheltenham Owners Club, which celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2025. I hope to keep evolving NotAnotherWhiteBox as a brand, constantly welcoming new people to the fold and always trying to better myself when it comes to my videos, artwork and writing. I’ve learnt from my experiences that life is so much better when you’re outgoing, supportive and kind, so I intend to stay that way. I also want to keep NotAnotherWhiteBox as OUR safe space that we can escape from whatever is going on in the world and hopefully have an interesting and sometimes humorous look at the caravan industry, generating engaging and friendly conversation over on the NotAnotherWhiteBox Facebook group.

Happily ever after!

To those who’ve followed my journey, thank you for your support so far. To those who are new here, welcome, please do feel free to get involved with all that’s quirky, cool and unusual in the caravan world.