Vacation van-Neal and Brons-outside

Congratulations - so you guys won the van on ebay! Was VERY tempted to bid myself except it was a little over my budget! It is in perfect condition....loved the colour scheme inside....well done. It has gone to a good home......enjoy!

this is the story of our van . i had put this "somewhere"? on this site but i am still a bit lost in finding my way around ... bron.

thanks Don for the welcome.... i see Neal did not tell you the story of how we came to own the van.....

1. decided we wanted a van as we both love camping but hate the packing and unpacking (and both work full time so holidays tend to be 4 days here and there).

2. wanted a caravan like we both remember as kids , not a newer style . daughter selling her caravan (lives in the country 4 hours from here so we had never seen it) fetched daughters caravan, 1967 Millard, quite nice but the ceiling full of water. On investigation half the ceiling rotted and small amount of frame in the roof. Lots of modifications by previous owner. well done but overkill. bed made of "huge" chunks of hardwood. shelves same wood. etc etc...

3 now fixing daughters van for sale. way to big for us... 16 feet and huge high roof. (oh, and we blow up our car radiator towing it back from daughters house to ours)

4. hunting for van and see the "vacation " van on ebay. decide it will go way to high in price for us and forgot about it. file away in mind as "nice van" and forget about it.

5. look around at vans but nothing up to the "vacation" van style and condition.

6. text the seller of the "vacation " van on ebay and put in offer if first buyer does not follow through. get text back... "sorry , buyer coming on saturday to pay and pick up..."

7. file away in mind as " stupid us should have followed ebay auction" sold for opening price...and forget about it.

8. get text a few days later..... "buyer did not show" do you still want van..... yesssssssss

9. reality check.... van in country victoria ...we are in suburban brisbane...ahhhhhhhhhh

10. talking to eldest daughter about van and how we now own a van in country victoria that we have never seen , and she says " why dont you get dad to look at it...he lives just up the road from there in victoria..........." (my ex husband from 30 years ago )...

11. phoned lovely ex husband and he says " yes not a problem , i will go look at it. I know the bloke selling it".... well he did and then put new tyres on it for us... a new trailer plug and checked all the bearing etc....... and even put us up for the night when we drove down to pick it up.... what a lovely bloke.

12. big day arrives. ( after new radiator, new water pump, new transmission cooler ) leave brissie on the thursday night, drive for 5 hours and have a kip in the back of the station wagon.... drive on and arrive in victoria on the friday night.

13. pick up van on saturday morning.... first lesson on vintage vans...... seller insisted that the towball was a smaller size so we did not use our hayman reese towball....... now you would think that two smart adults would have worked out that if the van was over 40 years old then the towball would also be the same age and maybe we should not use it..... (but we had driven a long way and were tired).... anyway....... just around the corner from where we picked up the van the towball failed..... the nut sheared off the ball and yes..........our van came unattached.....thank god for safety chains....... Neal was outstanding and did not panic or brake but simply drove into the gravel on the side of the road and let the van come to a nice dignified stop......bless him........ no damage to car or van (only doing 30klms hour).

14. off to the local motor shop where the salesman whipped out a set of calipers and measured the offending (and vintage) towball and declared it to be a normal 50m. so on with our tow ball and set off on the trip home.

15. arrive back in brisbane on the monday afternoon and settle the little lady into her new home and bingo, the handle on the coupling to release the towball snaps off......

16. as we had unhitched and hitched that little van more than five times on the trip back we figure she must have wanted to come home with us.... the handle must have hit the tow hitch when she came loose when first picked up...... but she didnt break until in her new home.....

or am i being fanciful............ maybe......maybe not...

17. i think it was all meant to be......

all we need now is a name for her,,,, and a gas certificate and rwc etc etc .....

Just a rough guess......... late 60s Coronet from Ballarat

f/f ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Hi again . a bit more info. not sure if this helps.
-fridge is a MORPHY RICHARD ASTRAL.
-stove is a FLAVEL WESTBURY
-sink is a MIRRA
Victoria rego sticker is 1979.

Looks like ( a bit) similar construction to a van on trading post Cara Rest. similar fittings and window design.... and interior build.....

hi hughdeani and thank you.... this info and the info on the change to white aluminium helps us date the van. neal and i were trying to find out when vans went over to the white.... i thought our van about 1965 to 1967 by the shape but its pure guesswork.

Hi Guys
After A long period of inactivity with the van, owing to the fact that we had just bought a new home at the almost the same time we bought the van. Now after two and a half years of renovations to the house, the usual family things that come up, we have now got to the point where we now have time to start having weekends and holidays away in the van, we decided it's time to get it ready for the road We have had the a chap come to do the gas certificate, and after our concern of possible alterations to the cupboard area over the stove, all he needs to do is fit a new shut off valve in the van, a new regulator, and I needed to fit a new gas bottle holder, all in all really good news.
I have fitted the gas bottle holder, simply bolting the new one to the existing bracket, very simple, the gas fitter is coming next week to do his bit and present us with the certificate, then off for a roadworthy, that will be a formality as the van is all sorted. Other than that we have polished the old girl up, and I am fitting some brackets etc, to hod a of the era radio in place, and also kettle and toaster!! So we are hoping we should be off for its first trip camping in the next two to three weeks.
Neal and Bron

Hi Neal

Regardless of where it's legal to put it, I suggest that you really consider where you can get to it in a hurry. Caravans light and burn so quickly (especially the old tinder-dry ones!) and it's no good if it's in a cupboard or tucked away where in an emergency you can't access it. Ours is near the fridge, but we're in VIC.

Yes, it does disturb the look a bit, but really a small price to pay. We say it because we love you and your family and want to see you heaps at events!

Cheers
Seeshell

I figured the first place I was going to run to is the door! So we put the extinguisher there, mainly so I'd remember to use the thing in the moment of, let's face it...sheer panic! And at about shoulder level so it was easy to grab!!! Has never bothered me with interrupting the "look" of the interior....Also, a fire blanket lived near the stove and a smoke alarm unobtrusively lived attached to side of cupboard...facing towards the diner area (kinda pointing to front window) if that makes sense to you!?

Overkill you may be thinking, well......when I was a youngster, a van went up in flames in a park our family stayed at....and yes....there was a tragic outcome. Will never ever forget it. I don't believe my Dad did either as he stood helpless with burns to his hands trying to get inside......took less than 10/15 mins from memory!

As Seeshell commented....we want you all safe.....

AND I love your van...............I nearly bid on it 2yrs ago! Bit out of my price range at the time. Didn't think to "make an offer" at the time. Like you I dismissed it.....from memory it was like brand new!

Enjoy your vacation in your vacationer!!!! J

Update... .
We have been following the other posts on Vacation vans with interest ... Built by an undertaking firm in Ballarat out the back in quite time... Thats a nice thought... Our van got built because no one died... very good omen :-)
Our Vacation failed its roadworthy..seems the brake lines were copper ( a no no in queensland)... had to replace them and then she passed with flying colours... $300 to replace so not to bad. Big uproar at the RWC place as the van does NOT have a handbrake... They finally decided that they would pass her anyway... NO HANDBRAKE on original manufacture then .. NO REQUIREMENT TO HAVE ONE.
We decided we would put two fire ext. in. on near the door and one near the bed plus a couple of smoke alarms.. However if she ever burned it would be just straight to exit.. dont think we would have enough time to fight a fire in this van as it is mostly nice old dried out wood... hope we never ever find out.
Thank you for all the people who helped us decide with their own experiences..

We still cannot get away in the van at the moment.
...Neal is finally up for his hip replacement at the end of May and is now using a wheelchair off and on until the big day... 2-3 months of R&R for him and then hopefully we can take her away for a few days...in the meantime it is giving me time to make curtains and do the pretty up stage now all the official rwc stuff is done. ...

We have been told about a place in queensland that may have old laminex offcuts to replace some damaged on one of the cupboard... if he does have a stash as i have been told i will post the phone number here.


We will post more pictures when she is finished.