Dinky caravans are a bit overlooked. Even Ramseys relegates them to 'Accessories'.as of little value. There is 30g the pre-war style one, 190 Streamline Caravan quite common and identifiable as an Essex Touring Caravan from Copford Essex. Then 188 a more luxurious affair, and modified for more play value as 117, but what is it as Dinky would not have invented one (as may have occurred post '64......)??
I've often wondered what the prototype was for 188/117, the 'flicked out' tail just doesn't seem right - 'vans of that era generally had the rear-end rolled under, in my experience. Aside from the obvious addition of the transparent roof for 117, the other windows got deeper at the same time, and 188 was deleted from the baseplate - which can be found in gloss or dull black finish. To compound the situation, these bases also turn up on the 'wrong' bodies. I have a green/cream 188, gloss base, tan interior, small windows, a blue/cream 188, gloss base, cream interior, large windows, transparent roof, a blue/cream un-numbered gloss base, cream interior , large windows, transparent roof and a yellow, matt un-numbered base, red interior, large windows and transparent roof. The three large-window versions all have red table tops, blue carpets and a silver sink unit, the small-windowed 188 does not have these details highlighted. I do not recall seeing any version with '117' stamped on the base. None of mine had doors when I got them - were there any colours other than cream or yellow for these? (I have tried to post photos of them, without success)
The real Austin Seven had a wheelbase of 75 inches (1905 mm), so measuring the wheelbase of the Dinky and dividing that into the full-size measurement will give you the scale.
