|
|
Post by cobber on Sept 11, 2011 19:26:33 GMT 10
A couple of months ago a bloke I know.... lives in Western Australia, asked me if I would look at a 9ft. home made, 1951 plywood caravan in Sydney for him. No worries. Thanks for the opportunity Mark (damn now you know his name  )... because it turned out to be an interesting couple of days... first checking out the van and then today picking it up............... for you  Turns out the van was designed and built by an engineer named Wally Ward. Anybody into the history of yacht racing will know of Wally ward, he was the designer of many yachts that were built by Ron Swanson and also Jim Perry...... one of them “Cadence” won the Sydney to Hobart in 1966. Yachts designed by Wally Ward are still to this day admired as being beautiful yachts, and you can pick one up right now if you are quick....... sorry you weren't quick enough, it's gone. Anyway, he not only designed this caravan... he built it. On first inspection I was impressed how it was built for strength and lightness..... and absolutely no wood rot anywhere. It had many ingenious features obviously designed and manufactured by Wally Ward. The suspension... I could not see how it worked without taking a wheel off in cramped conditions but I could see it worked so I didn't bother. I told Mark it was worth buying to use at Cowra next year and then take to Beverly ….......... should have told him it was a dud and then bought it myself, it is a cute van girls.... without a doubt. OK , photos. These were taken after I got her home.    The near side has been rubbed back.... the off side hasn't. This next photo shows the normal position of the wheel in the wheel arch.  When I first looked at the van I was shown how either.... or both sides of the van could be lowered to level the van on sloping ground or to get it into a low garage doorway.  So when I got her home I couldn't wait to get the wheel off to see how that was done. She has independent suspension and It's done by turning a nut at the end of that tube going toward the rear of the van. If you can't see how it's done by the photos you might have to wait until Cowra   The steady legs are operated by a square nut just behind the wheel, you can see the multi purpose handle that does it all..... including the Jockey wheel.... which isn't exactly a wheel, photos of that later.  There are many more ingenious ideas in the way door catches and other bits and pieces are made.... Wally Ward made them all in his workshop. Was it a pain free recovery ?................................ almost Cobber. |
|
BluetangJo
Full Member
1964 10ft Homemade, 1966 Propert, Sixties 15ft Viscount
Posts: 164
|
Post by BluetangJo on Sept 12, 2011 9:07:20 GMT 10
Aww Cobber, what about inside pics??  |
|
|
|
Post by cruisindoug on Sept 12, 2011 10:01:16 GMT 10
Very cool set up for levelling and lowering - who needs airbags!
Is that a cable that pulls the suspension back into place?
|
|
|
|
Post by seeshell on Sept 12, 2011 11:03:46 GMT 10
I agree Jo. Cobber - don't be such a MAN - show us some of the pretty bits.  Cheers Seeshell |
|
noblesgarage
Full Member
A Man with many projects Dosen't have a lot of time."Cause He Walks Round In Circles"
Posts: 363
|
Post by noblesgarage on Sept 12, 2011 11:15:34 GMT 10
 Unusual windows there Cobber Must be a boaty thing ;D put em upside down mate That'll give it that different look.  Well done Taylor  Leveled the ground at the back of the shed yet for the extension 9ft geeees you should be able to squeeze this'n into the bedroom at the front of the building, cause there ain't any room for any more ! Our hang on we could get a couple up on the mezzanine
|
|
|
|
Post by cobber on Sept 12, 2011 11:38:46 GMT 10
G'day Dave, Never seen so many slot head screws and boat nails in a plywood van.  And you're spot on Doug..... the weight of the van pulls it down and the steel cables pull it back up and hold it there …. hopefully Inside photos in a minute Jo 'n seeshell....... Just a few more outside first. You're right about the windows Brian, they're different, a wooden frame with perspex screwed to the frame.... well sealed and show no evidence of ever having leaked.   The power inlets are a bit different too The 240 volt inlet  And the low voltage inlet, there is a cord supplied to connect it to the cars outlet socket  Now the inside..... might need a woMANS touch to make it "pretty" She's single skin with two single beds.... one across the front and one across the rear. No water tank. 240volt = one socket, two lights. Low voltage = two lights. From front of the van looking towards the rear That's the ice box on the right, ice goes in from the top.   Full length wardrobe...sink (no tap)....cooker with storage space and flip up table below.    Then looking from the rear towards the front of the van  Everything fits and everything works ................. except for a couple of things I'll show later. What do you reckon Mark If you don't want it I bags first option . Cobber. |
|
|
|
Post by cobber on Sept 12, 2011 13:05:04 GMT 10
Just in case you think I've been doing nothing all morning but talk to me computer ….. The only problems I had towing her home was, because she had been sitting under a carport for 21 years about 200 yards from salt water the brakes were seized and the lower half of the jockey stand (doesn't have a wheel) had rusted up a bit, so when we tried to wind it up the brass nut thing pulled out of the tube. With the help of the seller I just disconnected the brake cable and bent the jockey stand up out of the way.  This morning I took the stand off and pulled it apart and cleaned it up a bit. Will fix it up and reinstall it latter.  Cobber. |
|
|
|
Post by greedy53 on Sept 12, 2011 16:31:15 GMT 10
now thats a great van a lot to be learnt from yesterday
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2011 21:02:31 GMT 10
Aaaaaaaaaaaah .... Homemade 9ft vans... Once again proving that size and ancestory doesnt matter What a great little van. Hey Cobber.... while you are on a mission repairing mates vans i have a whole stack of rusty bits that need cleaning up before Coledale... wanna help me out ;D ;D ;D Congrats Mark Regards Reddo
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2011 22:13:59 GMT 10
WOW  ......what a unique little van ! ........Cobber's pics are much better than the ones I received. Thanks Cobber & Yvonne,........firstly for checking it out several weeks ago, .....and secondly for taking delivery on the weekend. Its leaves we wondering what sort of tow car I should truck to Sydney next May to tow it back with, ..............maybe a 1951 Citreon CV2 to match the weird suspension ;D ;D The woodgrain interior sold me, beautiful woodgrain ...... Naming this lil van will be no problem ....... Wally of course ;D What sort of wheels and hubs are they Cobber Mark |
|
|
|
Post by cobber on Sept 13, 2011 6:51:05 GMT 10
G'day Greedy, And she's not just a pretty face, among the places mentioned she has been to were Lightening Ridge and in 1972 went over to Perth and back when the road wasn't quite as good as it is now. G'day Reddo Mate this one really is a well made van and has been lovingly preserved, the only modification it's had since 1951 is what looks like newish carpet on the floor........ soon rip that up  Love to help out with your rusty bits but.......... you know how it is, got plenty of me own . G'day Mark, She's already got a name.... “Janaway II” . Back in 1938 the yacht “Janaway” was first launched ...it was designed by Wally Ward and apparently led to greater things........... including “Janaway II” Short article about it HERE ... and I think it's the same one I referred to earlier that you can buy right now. (there's 12 photos of the yacht there you can flick through) What sort of wheels and hubs ??...... big ones You might need new tyres on it... these ones have plenty of tread and look OK but....... they are over six years old. I'll get some fitted if you send me the money  ...... although these ones look pretty good She doesn't have a spare and was originally towed by an Armstrong Sidley.... then a Rover, so maybe the wheels are the same as one of them, 600 x16 ............. Kaybee will have an idea. Cobber. |
|
noblesgarage
Full Member
A Man with many projects Dosen't have a lot of time."Cause He Walks Round In Circles"
Posts: 363
|
Post by noblesgarage on Sept 13, 2011 9:58:27 GMT 10
;D Single beds Taylor may have to reserve a spot I'l take the back one its closer to the ice chest That is one nicely built caravan Cobber and I think you would have Quite a few lining up for it. May have to make room in my shed next to the 9ft 6 Modern. Larry's all set for the drive over so may be able to road train her behind the Sunny. Brian. |
|
|
|
Post by cobber on Sept 13, 2011 11:33:43 GMT 10
G'day Brian, No look mate, Mark has already bought and paid for this van but.......... it's at my place.... i.e. in my possession so ....I'm open to offers Are you coming over to Cowra with Mark ? Did you notice there's no bedding in the van ? might have to start a list of things to get to make it livable...... and tow-able back to W.A. I'm not game to fire the cooker up yet... but I suppose I will eventually, caravan might finish up a charred mess . Cobber |
|
noblesgarage
Full Member
A Man with many projects Dosen't have a lot of time."Cause He Walks Round In Circles"
Posts: 363
|
Post by noblesgarage on Sept 13, 2011 19:58:46 GMT 10
I have been instructed by the grand pobar to attend It'll be a fifo affair so be able to visit friends in the area at the same time. Just hope it don't take 5 months to get home this time.
|
|
|
|
Post by cobber on May 16, 2012 17:44:23 GMT 10
Well Janaway II did make it to Cowra. Soon after I got it home to my place Mark.... in his subtle fashion remarked that it would be nice to have it tidied up for Cowra …........ I took the hint and offered to give it a lick of paint . Mark has asked me to post a few photos of what I did to it...... didn't take a lot of photos..... too busy These two photos are indicative of what the old oil based paint was like.   Lots of paint stripper took it back to what was probably a “Red Lead” or “Red Oxide” undercoat .   The little white dots are steel slot headed screws most of which were just below the surface of the ply and had been filled, filling had fallen out of some of them and there were a few that were flush with the ply. So I dabbed them all with rust converter, painted them and bogged them and again painted them with an oil based primer filler.  I never thought I would think you could use too many slot headed screws on a caravan, ....... I counted 'em..... there are 1100 screws on the outside of this van (not counting those in the roof) and another 500 on the inside  Not sure if my smartest idea was to join all the dots up with a straight line  Because it took a few coats of primer filler and a bit of rubbing to disguise the lines  But the finished coats of water based “Duralex” came up OK........ I think  The window frames were kind of interesting.... laminated wood  .  The wheels provided a bit of entertainment.... we needed a spare.  Those on the van are 16'' five stud with a PCD of six inches...... I looked lots of places for them. Gary “Carapark” was also looking for a spare 15'' wheel with the same PCD for his caravan and discovered he needed early Vauxhall wheels.... he also discovered pre 1943 (I think) Vauxhall Wyvern commercial vehicles had 16'' wheels on 'em...... he also discovered a bloke who had such wheels.... thanks heaps Gary, without your help I reckon Mark might have finished up with a tube and a pair of tyre levers as a spare . Problem was, the Vauxhall wheel had the wrong offset so that cost “the Man” a quid to get fixed. The lights were entertaining too. All the bulbs were single filament double contact bases... not a problem for 12 volt bulbs but if you want to run it on 6 volt those sort of bulbs are hard to get so.... I converted all the fittings to single contact bases. Packed the wheel bearings with grease and checked the brake linings (needs new linings soon Mark) That's about it...in the end I think she came up OK..... I fell in love with the van and when I put it behind my FJ I thought they looked like they were made for each other.  But then she doesn't look all that bad behind Marks FX either.  Cobber. |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 16, 2012 19:52:58 GMT 10
yep , slothead Bob was in slothead heaven during this resto ;D a big thank you to Cobber for all his hardwork with Janaway 11, ......it came up a treat ........ On the Sunday morning at Cowra, the Gofar was loaded onto the truck, ...........and Janaway 11 hooked up to the FX:   Janaway 11 and the FX were driven to their place of storage where they'll stay until the FX / FJ Nats in December this year:     Mark |
|
noblesgarage
Full Member
A Man with many projects Dosen't have a lot of time."Cause He Walks Round In Circles"
Posts: 363
|
Post by noblesgarage on May 20, 2012 11:44:56 GMT 10
|
|
|
|
Post by cobber on May 20, 2012 14:55:08 GMT 10
;D ;D ;D Many thanks to You and your lovely Wife once again for your worm hospertality during our visit. Brian. No worries at all Brian 'n Mark..... you were hardly any trouble at all . Janaway II looks like she is all snug and safely tucked away until December . Thanks to both of you an Ian for all your help in the recovery of the " Windmill” ...... wouldn't have happened without your help although....... you may have noticed I haven't mention anything about your collective sense of direction,well......... not publicly anyway..... yet Grateful Cobber. |
|
noblesgarage
Full Member
A Man with many projects Dosen't have a lot of time."Cause He Walks Round In Circles"
Posts: 363
|
Post by noblesgarage on May 21, 2012 21:01:01 GMT 10
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2013 22:47:37 GMT 10
Hi folks, just returned from a 3 week trip to the East plus 10 days in NZ. The trip included 5 flights, some vintage caravanning in NSW, the Bathurst humpy nats, and road touring in NZ ............ not vintage style. Had a great time, and many thanks to Yvonne and Cobber in Sydney for accomodating Wendy and I (Cobber's "Driftwood" red wine from Margaret River is a delightful drop!), and thanks to Robin & Ian (Marjie2) for accomodating us in Melbourne. Our Melbourne visit was just a quick one to to park up the FX and Janaway in storage, check out a lil bondy ;D, and then fly home........the plan is to fly back to Melbourne next month on Feb 19th, and head down to Adelaide for the Grand Parade. Picked up the FX and Janaway from storage in Boorowa .......the ol' girl fired up without a problem after sitting for 7 months .....  Did a quick service at the servo ;D  and headed off to Bathurst for the nats  went to scrutineering at the showgrounds .... humpys everywhere!  in line waiting for scrutineering .....got told by the bloke sticking entry no's on the windscreen that its the dirtiest windscreen he'd seen on the humpys ......in fact too dirty to stick on the sticker  however the blokes doing the scrutineering were impressed with the originality of the 49, ......as it is retains many early 49 bits.    Stayed at the Rydges on Conrod straight with a top view of the famous track Had room no 327 (the first Holden to win the Bathurst race had a 327!) that was in direct line with the walkway overpass  view from our room  mates from Perth Alan Little and Rod Smith at the opening night bbq at McPhilamy Park  Alan and his brother Joe owns this magnificent FX collection in Perth  did a coupla bog laps of the montain   FX and Janaway parked up at the Rydges  3 "mint" FJ windowless panel vans at the show n shine ......Rod's is the one in the centre   alot of FX/FJ's were trailered to the event including this one that was trucked in a recently comnpleted Dodge truck    For 10 years I've been trying to talk Rod into entering his van in the nats without success............early last year I told him if he won't enter the van into the Nats at Bathurst, I will! .............under this threat, he decided to do it! ....................Alan trucked the panel van and his own FX to the Nats from Perth. Needless to say I was relieved when Rod walked away with 3 trophies, and Alan with one:   vintage caravanning at Junee on the return trip to Melbourne (following 10 days in NZ)  sunset at Junee  next for the FX and Janaway is the parade next month ............looking forward to it, provided that its not going to 45 degree in Adelaide! Mark |
|
|
|
Post by cobber on Jan 21, 2013 12:20:18 GMT 10
WOW! What a great collection of FX vehicles Alan & Joe have ......aye?.... why didn't we go there on the web site tour eh Good to see you're looking after that Janaway II Nice photos, thanks for posting 'em Cobber. |
|
|
|
Post by humpyboy on Jan 21, 2013 17:01:19 GMT 10
Thank you for the pictures and story Mark, wish I had of gone to the Nats now, looks like I missed out on a lot of good stuff.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 21, 2013 20:08:11 GMT 10
Nice photos mark.
I'm intrigued by the chrome strips from the headlights to the guards.
Are they part of the headlight surround and were they a nasco accessory?
I got a few extras for my 52 but haven't seen those before.
Cheers
Brian
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 28, 2013 16:49:22 GMT 10
and so the journeys of the FX and Janaway continue ....... Flew into Melbourne Monday night, picked up the car and caravan from storage in Epping Tuesday morning........ fires through the night in Epping had come within 500 metres of Epping storage in Oherns Road ........if the fires travelled that distance, there would have been no FX and Janaway Also on the Tuesday morning, had a look at the beautiful "Harvey" caravan that was on Ebay, .....what a treasure that is! ..........hopefully it will go to a good home.  then headed down to Narre Warren South to look at a Sportsman teardrop I purchased sight unseen two weeks before, .......then to Malvern to arrange pick up of another little caravan I purchased a couple of months ago........ I'll do a seperate story and pics on these in another post. Then headed accross the Westgate bridge and headed outta Melbourne a coupla hundred ks to Elmhurst to stay with Les & Robin (2up).  Les and his pub mates has us in fits of laughter at the Elmhurst pub during various discussions, one being all about the Central Unrestored National Treasures Society, .....a car club dedicated to stock unrestored cars ......gotta luv the acroynym ;D The publican gave me a guided tour of his car collection that included some interesting cars of the Ford, Holden and Chrysler variety. Les has a nice little set up there in a town that has no general store, ......no servo,....... basically nothing but a pub .....and a post office......what more do ya want ;D The property next door to Les's had a 46 Chev ute in the delapitaed old shed, but unfortunately couldn't get in to have a look:  Next day (Wednesday), we left Les and Robin and headed towards Melbourne. Les has a caravan collection comprising a Olympic stardust beautifully decked out, a 71 Olympic and a 61 ali Wayfarer.  Wednesday was a hot day, and the car didn't want to restart at the stops. ......the oll 6 volt powered "delco remy" starter motors are hopeless once they get hot . Three times Wendy and I push started it ...... luckily the car and caravan are really light, and easy to push on flat ground to jump start. Also on the Wednesday, also, the water pump bearing started getting noisier..... and noisier...... and noisier, so just kept an eye out for water leaks and a close eye on the temp of the ol' girl ......and kept criusing. Even though I have a NOS water pump and gasket on board, couldn't entertain the thought of changing it roadside on a 36 degree day . Do you like the genuine "NASCO" elastic gear stick holder? .....stops the annoying gear selector rattle in top gear  Camped Wednesday night at a caravan park in Mannum SA, at a beautiful spot down by the river.   The Adelaide event was really enjoyable, it was great to catch up with many vintage vanners, and members of the SA Chrysler Restorers Car Club. This is a car club I wish I could be a part of, great bunch of blokes and ladies, and they luv their vintage caravans........ I believe approx 20 of their members have v v's. ......and what's surprising is that mostly they tow big beautiful vans ...little Janaway looked lost amongst them These guys generally don't participate on this forum, which is a shame as they really do have some sweet rigs, as shown in the 2013 Grand Parade thread. And great as always to catch up with some of our members...... even Don R was there! So, all in all a worthwhile event . The FX and Janway are now parked up in Adelaide (thanks beetlesbailey for your assistance) and await our retun in mid April for the Mexican tour. Mark |
|
)... because it turned out to be an interesting couple of days... first checking out the van and then today picking it up............... for you 
Unusual windows there Cobber 
Leveled the ground at the back of the shed yet for the extension 
......what a unique little van ! ........Cobber's pics are much better than the ones I received.
...... although these ones look pretty good 
.
