With this cat’s back plus ‘egg’, Frank is the attraction of the campsite

That is how it must have been in the mid-1960s: the better-off Swedes go out during the (summer) holidays in their reliable and powerful Volvos, which have no problem with the modern houses on wheels of the Swedish company SMV for that time. They discover the beautiful interior or go on an adventure abroad, to rest on the folding chairs they brought with them at the place of arrival and thus enjoy nature and the coffee, crispbread and canned sausages that are displayed on a Formica table. We encounter almost the same scene at the classic meeting in the summer of 2022 in Tilligte, Twente: the cat’s back as a dizzy draft horse, with a small, egg-shaped caravan set up diagonally behind it.

This Volvo P544 celebrates 60 years in the Netherlands in November

In the bend, Frank Meinders sits with his family on folding chairs around a table. Instead of food, there is a small radio on it, from which you can hear that Max Verstappen has achieved his umpteenth Formula 1 victory. When we visit Frank later that week in his hometown of Rossum, the romantic thoughts of nostalgic summer vacations are far away: it’s raining cats and dogs. But even now the sturdy Swede does his job imperturbably: with the SMV on the hook we head for the Kroeseboom in Tubbergen, a forest giant that is many times older than the car and the caravan. The rainy weather does not matter to the Volvo. He is used to the Dutch climate, because he has been driving around here since November 1963. Frank pretty much knows the complete history of the JR-16-67. “The first owner was a certain Mr. Sjoers, who worked at the Ministry of War. After four years and 60,000 kilometers he traded in the car. The Delft ENT doctor Cool became the new owner for 2,000 guilders, right after he had obtained his doctorate in Medicine.” This doctor undertook several foreign trips with the Volvo. In 1968 he visited Yugoslavia and the then very troubled Paris. “When he started a Pediatrics internship at a hospital in Kensington, London, the Volvo came along,” says Frank. “At a mileage of 90,000, the Volvo made way for a Sunbeam Tiger. After that the track almost comes to a dead end; presumably the car ended up in Arnhem. An LPG installation was installed in 1996, three years later it was for sale at a garage in Oldenzaal. I bought it there, for 3,900 guilders.”

When purchased, the Volvo had a valid MOT and it was drivable, but that was about all said. He barely braked, the lights failed to work and my door wouldn’t close. Frank: “With a thick rope I closed it as good and as bad as it went and that’s how it went home.”

Cat’s back soon became daily transport

Once there, Frank conceived the plan to take care of the sheet metal, but the job turned out to be so big that he had to outsource it to an acquaintance who had been a sheet metal worker. “It took him three years. In the meantime, my father and I pondered the technique. The Volvo has been completely dismantled and in 2005 it was back on the road.” Father Frans was only too happy to drive the Volvo. The 1959 Triumph TR3A, another family-owned classic, was increasingly stalled, in favor of the Swede. “It even went so far that he started using the Volvo as a daily means of transport. On one of his trips, light signals from a vehicle behind him stopped him. It turned out to be a former owner who recognized his car after 35 years!”

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Frank is also regularly approached when he is on the road with the Cat’s Back and certainly when the SMV is connected. That brings us to the moving house. “My parents always had caravans or folding trailers,” says Frank. “They came up with the idea in 2007 to buy a caravan that matches the Volvo. Initially that was just an old caravan, until we came across one that turned out to be from the Swedish brand SMV. Finally, we found this model 10 through the Dutch SMV Friends. It was not in top condition, but leak-proof. It was also a very nice model to see. We just drove him home on the road.”

Piece of history

A new father-and-son project (because the Cat’s Back was also restored by Frank and his father) presented itself in this way. “We spent almost a year on the restoration. Again, we did everything ourselves, except for the spraying.” Toilet and shower cubicle were still there, the heating was gone. “We left it that way. We only drive it in the summer anyway and it saves space.” Frank also has a piece of history ready from the SMV 10. In 1964, a certain mister De Laet from The Hague ordered this copy from the importer in Amsterdam. Price: almost 7,000 guilders, a royal sum at the time. The following spring the mobile home was delivered, ready for the camping season!

Frank’s parents followed suit. “They became members of the Dutch SMV Friends and went on several camping weekends every year. In the beginning they were the only ones with a classic car and caravan and that generated a lot of interest. Later more members came with an ‘old tractor’. In turn, Frank and his family (three children) also traveled with the SMV. “It works best with an awning. I also sometimes go to work with a Volvo plus caravan, just like with the Triumph or with my Solex. After all, it has to run, right? For me, they are utensils. That does mean that the PV544 is no longer underarm fresh. The restoration is already eighteen years ago, so there will be some spots. But it is still start and run, something that also applies to the TR3A. Maintenance is not too bad: once a year, all vehicles go to a friendly garage on the bridge for a thorough inspection of brakes, tires and lighting, among other things. During the restoration of the caravan, we decided that the chassis had to be made of stainless steel, so that is not a problem anyway.”

Finally: with several classics (both two- and four-wheelers) and a classic caravan, there is not much left to be desired, right? “Well, I would like to own a classic motorcycle – preferably a Norton – as well as a classic motorhome. But before the latter becomes reality, we will be happy to go on an adventure with the Cat’s Back plus the ‘egg’!”

De Kattenrug met ‘eitje’ is not the only historical camping combination you can encounter on the Dutch roads. Recently we wrote about this very elderly Ford with an equally antique caravan.

This story was previously published in AutoWeek Classics 6 2023.