When David Tandy retired to the Isle of Wight in 1979 he thought he was going to take up farming and in his leisure time enjoy his luxury yacht but his wife was not so keen. She preferred motor caravans so David set about designing one for her and that launched a new interest for him.
He had bought the Fernhurst factory opposite Ryde High School for £95,000 as an investment in the previous August and had been approached by Manpower Services Commision who wanted to lease part of it. This left him an area that was soon to be put to good use as the birthplace of Tandy Industries. With his wife as co-director and a staff of five dealing with every aspect of the business.
One of the important aims he wanted to achieve was that the vehicle should be tough, at the time he estimated that the early vans should have a working life of 15 to 20 years. So he consulted one of the Island's leading boat manufacturers, Copland Boats of Ventnor who, with their long established use of Fibre glass and plastics used their expertise to produce a body shell.
At the time just one other company were using GRP for body shells for vehicles ... Reliants who had been making the Kitten, Scimitar and the three wheeler car the Robin for many years. They also made their own engines. An all aluminium engine that was extremely reliable and gutsy for it's weight. They agreed to supply Tandy with the engines.
The first design to go into production at Tandy's was called the Fox RV and was finished just a few hours ahead of the opening of the Caravan and Boat Show at Birmingham in February 1984. It was available in 2 versions, £5,250 and £5,950 including Vat and motor tax. It was 12ft 9ins, could reach 70 mph, cruise at 60, did 40mpg, slept two and had an option of either cooker or fridge in the pricier model.
The show brought in 50 orders and follow-on orders soon meant that Copland Boats by the end of next March were producing one shell daily.
After the Fox RV came the adaptation of commercial vehicles. the Austin Maestro and the Hyundai Pony.
1987 saw the launch of the biggest of the motor caravans to be manufactured by Tandy, the C25.
At the Earls Court Camping and Caravan Show of 1987 the C25 was unveiled by the Beverly Sisters. The C25 was based on a Citroen commercial chassis. Prices went from £10,978 to £15,00 depending on engine spec (1800cc petrol to 2.5l turbo diesel) and on how the interior was fitted out. All were fitted with a shower, toilet, full oven, fridge, mains hook up and hot water.
At that show, orders were taken with deposits of £200,000. 3 vehicles a week were being made by Tandy Industries.
Four years later (1989) RG Industries acquired Tandy Industries and renamed it Tandy Motorhomes. RG Industries was owned by Roy Grimshaw who became the managing director. Their van, the Sportbus, was specially designed to attract skiers, the idea being that if the snow was not so good in one place they could easily drive to where the snow was.
In February 1989 Roy and 2 fellow ski enthusiasts drove through France and Germany to "prove " the van and to promote it, while they were in Austria they negotiated with a travel agency to put together a ski-safari package using the Sportbus. Tandy Motorhomes were to hire out the 50 buses to the agency.
The Sportbus could sleep up to 4 and seat up to six skiers with all their equipment and featured not only a TV but a video recorder and a hi-fi !!
The exact date and reasons for the final closure of Tandy Motorhomes is not clear but appears to be about 1995.
I am interested in contacting other owners and in displaying photos of their van and any other information that can be offered.