DIFFLOCKEDTHE REGISTRY NAMED MODEL · 1968–71
NAMED MODELSpecial · Expedition & CampersUnited Kingdom

Searle Mini-Carawagon.

The Searle Mini-Carawagon, Carawagon International's compact camper conversion of the late Series IIA 88-inch hard top, with side windows and the folding elevating roof in a short-wheelbase package, offered in 1970 as a Land Rover special-approved vehicle.

Drive it in the gameSources & evidence
Searle Mini-Carawagon — front three-quarter view, registry 3D render
BASE VEHICLESeries II 88″CONVERTERSearle Ltd (Carawagon)IN SERVICE1968–71OPERATED INUnited KingdomPRODUCTIONBuilt to orderLAYOUT4 wheels · 88″

The record

Alongside its 109-inch Carawagons, Carawagon International — the Sunbury-on-Thames firm of R.J. Searle — offered the Mini-Carawagon on the 88-inch Series IIA hard top: the hard top gained side windows and Searle's folding wood-and-metal elevating roof, and inside a compact kitchen and seats converting to a bed made a two-berth camper small enough for the lanes and ferries of a touring holiday. Hermen Vlothuizen's brochure archive holds the 1970 four-page Searle Mini-Carawagon leaflet, whose cover shows the car, XPK 154G, on a seafront with its roof closed.

The registry's model is a Series IIA 88 hard top in marine blue — a period colour chosen for the black-and-white photograph — with the elevating roof closed as a cream cap, hard-top side windows and the brochure's registration.

Specification

MANUFACTURERSearle Ltd (Carawagon) ↗
Rover Company, Solihull (Series IIA) with R.J. Searle Ltd / Carawagon International conversion, Sunbury-on-Thames
MODIFIER / COACHBUILDERSearle Ltd (Carawagon) ↗
International Ltd (Mini-Carawagon)
MANUFACTUREDLate Series IIA; Searle/Carawagon International price list June 1970
ENGINERover 2.25 L petrol inline-four
PRODUCTION RUNBuilt to order; count unknown (Carawagons were the most numerous Land Rover camper conversions overall)
COUNTRY OF ORIGINUnited Kingdom
OPERATED INUnited Kingdom
STATUSunknown
REGISTRATIONXPK 154G (brochure)
ROOFFolding elevating roof; hard-top side windows
RECORD KINDNamed model
MODEL LINESeries IIA
WHEELS4
NOMINAL WHEELBASE88″
CATEGORYSpecial · Expedition & Campers

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.

Variants & colours

Factory colours

  • Marine Blue
  • Limestone

Codes on hover. Hex values are representative approximations of period paint unless a source states a measured value.

AI rendering impression

An AI rendering impression starts from the registry's own 3D model of this vehicle, which an image model then paints into a scene. It is an artist's impression of the type, made to give a feel for the vehicle in its element — not a photograph, and not a record of any particular vehicle.

Proportions, fittings, markings, colours and the setting can all drift from the original in the process. For the vehicle's actual details, rely on the registry's 3D renders, the specification and the cited sources on this page.

Where it was

GB United Kingdom1970–1975
  1. ConvertedCarawagon International, Sunbury-on-ThamesUnited Kingdom · 1970–197251.41, -0.41

Sources

  1. 1Searle Mini-Carawagon (brochure, 1970) ↗Hermen Vlothuizen's Land Rover brochure archive · accessed 2026-09-14SOURCE
  2. 2Searle designed luxury vehicles manufactured by Carawagon International Ltd — special approved brochures ↗Hermen Vlothuizen's Land Rover brochure archive · accessed 2026-09-14SOURCE
  3. 3Land Rover Carawagon ↗expeditionlandrover.info (TeriAnn Wakeman) · accessed 2026-09-14SOURCE
  4. 4https://landrover.vlothuizen.nl/show/list/7077-1.htmlhttps://landrover.vlothuizen.nl/show/list/7077-1.html ↗REFERENCE

Registry record updated 2026-09-16T05:55:32.067Z · status: researched