Carawagon Mobile Education Unit
The Carawagon Model 80 mobile education unit, one of R.J. Searle's standard 'special versions' of the Series IIA 109 three-door Carawagon: an outdoor classroom on each side of the vehicle with a large extending awning, a folding blackboard and audio-visual connections, an insulated cupboard for heat-sensitive tapes and films, an internal central AV console with a fixed swivel chair, and its own generator.
History
R.J. Searle Ltd of Sunbury-on-Thames built Carawagon camper conversions on Land Rovers from the 1960s, the Model 80 on the long-wheelbase three-door Land Rover being the most common. Alongside the campers Searle offered a range of standard 'special versions' — a mobile clinic, a mobile bank and this mobile education unit — aimed at export customers and aid agencies working in remote areas. The education unit carried an audio-visual-equipped outdoor classroom on each side of the car: a large extending awning on each side, two folding blackboards, AV connections on both sides feeding from an internal central AV operations console with a fixed swivel chair, an insulated cupboard for heat-sensitive tapes and films, and an independent generator so that it could run film and tape lessons anywhere. How many were built, and for whom, is not recorded in the source, which is the brochure summary preserved on expeditionlandrover.info.
The registry's model is its civilian Carawagon with both awnings extended on their poles, the blackboards folded down on their stays, AV connection panels and a ventilated generator box at the rear; no photograph of the education version survives in the source, so the fittings follow the brochure description.
Imagery
Registry record
- Manufacturer
- Searle Ltd (Carawagon) ↗Land Rover (Series IIA 109 three-door); Carawagon conversion by R.J. Searle Ltd, Sunbury-on-Thames
- Manufactured
- Carawagon Model 80 specials, 1960s-1970s (dates not stated in the source)
- Modifier / coachbuilder
- Searle Ltd (Carawagon) ↗R.J. Searle Ltd (Carawagon Model 80 mobile education unit)
- Engine type
- Rover 2.25 L four-cylinder petrol or 2.6 L six-cylinder (Series IIA 109 options; not stated in the source)
- Production run
- Unknown — a catalogued Carawagon special version
- Country of origin
- United Kingdom
- Status
- unknown
Catalogue data
- Record kind
- Named model
- Model line
- Series IIA
- 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 (Model 80 special versions: mobile clinic and mobile education unit; brochure summary) ↗ — expeditionlandrover.info (accessed 2026-09-11)
Catalogue references
- http://www.expeditionlandrover.info/Carawagons.htm http://www.expeditionlandrover.info/Carawagons.htm ↗
Registry record updated 2026-09-11T10:48:03.082Z · status: researched