Global demand fires Silver Bullet Caravans to success
Silver Bullet caravans have an undeniable retro 50s charm
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Wednesday, 20, Jun 2012 04:38
by Tom Lowenstein
Business is booming at a small caravan maker in the West Midlands, whose retro 1950s-style caravans are shooting out of the door faster than they can make them.
Demand for Kidderminster-based Silver Rocket Caravans' hand-made trailers is growing all the time and having already doubled its workforce to ten, the company could add a further ten workers within the next 18 months as demand hots up.
A bulk order from the Netherlands for a new mobile barbecue business is just one example of the kind of customers taking an interest in the rock 'n' roll tourers, according to a report in the Express and Star.
Having initially launched the company with only his daughter Lydia as well as his business partner, Silver Bullet managing director Peter Carrick has overseen rapid growth and a year ago was forced to find bigger premises to make the retro aluminium trailers.
With orders stacking up, this 9,500 sq ft factory in Easter Park is already looking too small and Mr Carrick could soon find himself working with a much larger army of staff in a plant three times the size.
The 59-year-old told the newspaper: "There is a big revival of retro fashion in all kinds of things at the moment.
"We've exported to Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Spain, Belgium and Holland, as well as having a lot of interest in the UK."
For Lydia, 24, the big attraction of the caravans is their shininess and rock 'n' roll style.
"They're so much more individual than the modern fibre glass caravans - they are all bespoke and you can have whatever you want inside to create your own little home from scratch," she said.
The firm currently has five different models on the menu, ranging from a 16ft single-axle version called the Grasshopper all the way up to the 23ft twin-axle Constellation.