The Towing Incident.

by Bas de Voogd: Back in 1938 my parents had the idea of having a place near the beach in Holland, where they could spent their leisure time. A holiday house could not be afforded and caravans were not really en vogue yet. The idea came up to see if a second hand gipsy caravan could be found. One chap in the village, a former horse tradesman called Henkie van Aalst, a hunchback who originated from Eastern Europe, had some connections amongst gipsies. A suitable caravan was quickly found. Once the caravan was delivered to my parents' house, drawn by a horse of course, the contraption was parked in the street in front of the house. It didn’t take long before the neighbours started complaining and the police arrived, demanding that the caravan be moved to the nearest gipsy camp. A suitable camping spot was found on a farmyard near the beach. But how to get the caravan over there? My father’s Fiat Topolino was not powerful enough to tow the damn thing and also was there was no proper provision on the Fiat or the caravan to be towed by a motorcar. Henkie van Aalst came to the rescue again! He had a friend with a Model T Ford pick-up that could be used. The Ford was placed in front... (Click photo to see the four men and pickup Model T ; photos collection Bas de Voogd)

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