Do all Caravelle's have the name Caravelle on them?

[Atlee]

On Ebay there is a purported Caravelle for sale. The ad says it's a 24' Caravelle International

There are a lot of exterior shots but the name Caravelle is no where to be found. The name International is very prominent.

[Stefrobrts]

The Caravel and the Caravelle are different models. Here are some pictures of the Caravelle

80Caravelle

[DKB_SATX]

I cannot claim to be an expert on the model but I've never seen a Caravel over 20 ft. 24' International should be a '68 or earlier Tradewind, I think.

[DKB_SATX]

Originally Posted by Stefrobrts

The Caravel and the Caravelle are different models. Here are some pictures of the Caravelle

80Caravelle

Ah! I'd never noticed the different spelling of the '80s one... and indeed they're all 20' or greater in the '80 model. Good thing I admitted I'm not an expert!

[DKB_SATX]

Frustrating... the page at Airstream that's supposed to have the '80 Caravelle price list is actually a link to the '79 fleet floorplan brochure. It's another pointer to the same PDF that's actually linked correctly in the '79 data, so it's probably a cut-and-paste error. Perhaps they have the same people doing QC on the website and checking for leaks on the factory floor?

[overlander64]

While what I am about to report is based upon speculation and inference, it is something that has circulated about the Vintage Airstream community for several years. The Caravelle was a one year series for Airstream in 1980, and it had numerous similarities to the Argosy Minuet series that met its demise when the Argosy went out of production at the end of the 1979 model year. The Caravelle was offered in three lengths . . . 20-foot (6.0 Metre in Minuet) . . . 22-foot (6.7 Metre in Minuet) . . . and 24-foot (7.3 Metre in Minuet); and the Caravelle was also narrower and lighter than its typical Airstream family members. The floorplans offered were also quite similar to the 1979 Argosy Minuets . . . but there was always a family resemblance in the floorplans so this would not be unexpected with similar sized coaches. Speculation has been that Airstream may have had a surplus of Minuet components at the end of the Argosy line and that this was the method utilized to make good use of those components. The line could have just as easily been a reaction to the call for lighter trailers that could be towed by the down-sized tow vehicles resulting from the late 1970s energy crisis.

Kevin

[timzog]

I found the ad you were referring to and it doesn't look quite right to me but there are a lot of strange things about this era of Airstreams. I have a 20' Caravelle and it does have "Caravelle" on the side and doesn't have International on the side. Looking at my owners manual it looks to me like the ad could be a 24' Caravelle but I haven't seen any floorplans with the two twin beds in back. The weird thing is the bathroom which is on the opposite side from any Caravelles or Minuets I have seen. The closest other possible model that I've seen is the 25' international which could be another explanation. The windows look more like the international especially the front most streetside window which has the little window underneath the big window. I haven't seen that on a Caravelle. The Caravelles are 7' wide and the internationals are more like 8' wide so if they could show you a picture with a tape measure across the interior you could know for sure. If you want to be sure ask the seller for the VIN and people on this forum should be able to help you decipher the code. I would also try to find somebody on the forum with a 24' Caravelle with the twin bed option to compare. Colin Hyde was renovating a 24'er so you may ask him about it.
Good luck with your hunt.
Tim