Carawagon Continental

History

R.J. Searle Ltd of Sunbury-on-Thames built Carawagon camper conversions on Land Rovers from the late 1950s, and the Continental was the version based on the factory five-door 109 station wagon rather than the hard top: the roof was cut and replaced with Searle's folding elevating roof of wood and metal, raised on struts at camp to give standing headroom and berths, with a kitchen unit, seats converting to beds and, on the Continental, a rear annexe tent that zipped to the tailgate to double the living space. expeditionlandrover.info's Carawagon page illustrates it with a Series III example in grey under a full-length roof rack with its tan and orange annexe erected.

The registry's model is a Series III 109 station wagon in sage grey with the elevating roof closed under the rack; the annexe appears only in the registry's showcase renders.

Imagery

Registry record

Manufacturer

Searle Ltd (Carawagon) ↗

Land Rover (Series III 109-inch station wagon) with Searle Carawagon conversion

Manufactured

Series III Carawagon production

Modifier / coachbuilder

Searle Ltd (Carawagon) ↗

R.J. Searle Ltd (Carawagon Continental)

Engine type

Rover 2.25 L four-cylinder petrol

Production run

Production conversion; count unknown

Country of origin

United Kingdom

Operated in

United Kingdom

Status

unknown

Catalogue data

Record kind

Named model

Model line

Series III

Wheels

4

Nominal wheelbase

109″

Catalogue fields describe the vehicle's structure and body as this registry records it. They are not certified factory measurements, and no performance figures are published here.

Sources & citations

Researched sources

• Carawagons ↗ — expeditionlandrover.info (accessed 2026-09-11)

Catalogue references

• http://www.expeditionlandrover.info/Carawagons.htm http://www.expeditionlandrover.info/Carawagons.htm ↗