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Post by Don Ricardo on May 21, 2014 21:59:13 GMT 10
From an email from new members Vandalay and posted on their behalf:We have recently purchased an old unregistered caravan in Perth. The door is missing and it has no identifying marks except for "957" welded onto the draw bar. It is structurally A1 but gutted internally. As you can see it has a "Dymwood"jockey wheel clamp, "Trailezy"coupling ( for which I can find no record, old "XSY" WA Plates and additional WA The Wildflower State. It is flat patterned aluminum construction and has very solid timber floor cross beams? Is it possibly a Baravan? Any information with as to Age, Make and Model would be great.        The sticker under the rear window says"Fred Holman Caravans". It also has an old stove inside "Flavel of Leamington" brand, (everything else the prior owner gutted) whether that is of any use?
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Post by vandalay on May 22, 2014 15:58:50 GMT 10
G'day,
A big thankyou to Don Ricardo for posting the photos and info on our 'new' van.
The main reasons we thought it may be a Baravan are that it bears many similarities
to the 1964 model[John Fenn's?] featured in thread by 'TRUE BLUE' on Baravan history.
It also has the seemingly customary 3(or 4) digit number welded onto drawbar.Ours is
957 & we originally thought it to mean (9)-september (57)-1957, but this may be our
mad curiousity getting the better of us.
Maybe a home built kit through Baravan??
I've read BruceB whose father owned Baravan could supply helpful info and would love
to contact him.Any ideas??
We'd love to see the original interior.
Then again it may not even be a Baravan..AAAAARRRRRGGGGHHH!!!!
thankyou,
'Vandalay'
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Post by vandalay on May 24, 2014 12:27:02 GMT 10
G'day All!,
Was hoping someone might have had a stab at my vans age and make
by now...don't be shy..I'll take anything!!! (next step-begging!   )
In lieu of an identity miracle I'm trying to deduce individual components age or origin.
Already "cobber" has kindly done some incredible detective work on the 'trailezy'
tow coupling.Now I'm curious whether things like the old round brown bakelite
'main'switch,the aluminium cladding profile,the timber floor crossbeams(wood type)
hold any diagnostic clues? I eagerly await your replies!!
Thankyou,
vandalay
p.s.by the way, the van is 14 feet long (rookie error!!!  )
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Post by Franklin1 on May 24, 2014 15:25:02 GMT 10
G'day vandalay, Well, I've had a go at doing some forensic work on the identity of your van, but I've come up empty handed. The Dymwood name is readily known, but the Trailezy name is not so well known. It gets a mention in this other thread, but that's all I could find on another van on the forum. The "Fred Holman Caravans" name came to nothing when I searched the online archives (Trove). The Flavel stove is fairly common to old vans. When I look at the cabin shape of your van, that high vertical flat face at the front is pretty distinctive. I can't recall seeing other vans that have such a high flat face as yours does. It can't have been a great design for towing against headwinds. I searched through all the WA brands in the index in our Down History Lane section, and nothing showed up that looks similar to yours. The aluminium windows seem to be from around the 1960-ish mark. Is there any sticker on any of the frames on the outside of the frame at the bottom, to say who made them? (eg. Qualicraft or Alfab) Do you know what sort of wheels are on the van? That might help with estimating the age of your van. I'm thinking your van is likely to be from around the early part of the 1960s. The window frame appearance looks to be the later version that has the rubber dust seal included in the opening frame. Other than that, and the fact that the jack stand holding the drawbar up is a Supercheap Auto brand purchased in May 2013, I'm not much help. (ok - just guessing about the purchase date for the jack stand  ). cheers, Al. |
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Post by vandalay on May 24, 2014 17:29:26 GMT 10
G'day Franklin1,
Thanks for havin a look at the van and your efforts to
identify it.Yeah its frustrating to keep runnin into dead ends so far...
Not sure on the wheels type or age yet but the windows have stickers like this
72.5251
Qualicraft
N.S.W.
Don't know if that means anything to you??
ta,
vandalay
p.s.Oh and you were eerily close to the purchase date of that supercheap stand 
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Post by Franklin1 on May 24, 2014 20:45:55 GMT 10
A few years back I spent a couple of months researching the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper archives, collecting information relating to caravans. When I look through everything I collected, I see that Qualicraft first got a mention in late 1959, where they were advertised as now being fitted to the Tennyson brand of caravan (and by coincidence, the address for the Qualicraft factory was the same as the address for the Tennyson factory, so I presume there was a connection there). There were a couple of Qualicraft adverts during 1960, and this one from October 1960 might offer some leads for you to chase up...  All of those brands should be in the Index for the Down History Lane section, and I'll leave it to you to check them out and see if there's anything similar to yours. I honestly don't know whether Qualicraft windows were used by interstate manufacturers, or only by NSW builders. You may not get any closer to the truth about your van with what I've given you, but you'll be more certain about what it isn't. cheers, Al. |
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Post by vandalay on May 25, 2014 22:01:35 GMT 10
Thanks Franklin1,
I've had a poke around the van index but nothing's really
ringing a bell..For all my hunting around the closest thing to my untrained eye
that I've seen is John Fenns 1964 Baravan from your thread on the history of
Baravans? The similar shape,same position of porthole window and concave
water fill.Also the three digit welded drawbar number and geographical
location albeit a different size and model...Any chance???
ta,
vandalay
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Post by Franklin1 on May 25, 2014 23:39:00 GMT 10
Not based on the shape of its cabin, it doesn't. The main part of your cabin that I find unusual is the sharp radius at the top of the front. Most vans you look at have a much more generous radius at that point. Consider the side-on photos of the Roma van in this thread (4th and 7th photos showing each side): Groovygramps 50's Roma Bondwood? If you were to overlay your side-on pictures over the top of the Roma pictures, notice how the front top and rear top corners of your van have a much sharper radii than the Roma? It looks the same difference when I compare the Baravan as well. It's that shape of the cabin of yours that I find distinctive, and that will ultimately be the thing that helps you match it to another van one day in the future, I reckon. cheers, Al. |
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Post by vandalay on May 26, 2014 20:45:07 GMT 10
G'day Franklin1, I appreciate your expert appraisal mate.i have to admit I'm feeling a little deflated with not being able to put a name or age on the van but it wont put me off.Regardless of concrete evidence of age I'm still goin to restore her as a vintage van.I guess for now she'll just be our 'Mystery Mudblood'!  Thanks again, gray |
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Post by vandalay on May 26, 2014 21:39:33 GMT 10
G,day all,
Can anyone tell me the name of the aluminium profile on my
van?There is a close up on original post...
Ta,
gray
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Post by Franklin1 on May 26, 2014 21:46:17 GMT 10
Don't feel too down about it, vandalay. There have been countless people on this forum over the years who never found out the origin of their van accurately (me included). Sometimes you just have hope that one day someone will come on the forum with information that makes you go, "Bloody heck!! That's the same as my van!!"
In the meantime, start planning on rebuilding your van to match something like a 1960 van. You won't be too far off the mark when it's all said and done. Keep posting updates as you work your way through it. cheers, Al. |
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Post by Franklin1 on May 26, 2014 21:49:24 GMT 10
Oops, you snuck a post in while I was creating mine. See this thread in the DHL section, and see if it answers your question about the cladding: Aluminium cladding "library"cheers, Al. |
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Post by Don Ricardo on Jun 7, 2014 14:56:59 GMT 10
G'day Vandalay,
Well, we're not much further in discovering the origins of your van. But having reviewed the information Cobber was able to discover about Trailezy couplings, I reckon there is quite a high chance that your van was built in WA, so that at least narrows down the search area a bit!
Don't despair too much though. Sometimes it just takes a bit of time before somebody posts info that will assist in working out who built it. In the meantime, we look forward to hearing about the restoration/re-building of your van.
Don Ricardo
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Post by cobber on Jun 7, 2014 17:03:56 GMT 10
G'day Don R, vandalay also asked for help identifying his van over on the tow coupling index threadI did a little more research over there and I'll send you a PM regarding that Cobber. |
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Post by vandalay on Jun 10, 2014 18:04:25 GMT 10
G'day All,
Just a quick thankyou to 'cobber' & 'Don Ricardo' for their continued
efforts in discovering the origins of our van. Stoked to see you posted the old
'Trailezy' van ad from 1953,sorry I wasn't more help with that..
Had a bit of a look at the 'Ali cladding profile' and the pattern on the
1963 Clipper(out of S.A.?) looks similar but smaller I reckon so I'll keep hunting.
Also was told our van looked like a 'Skyline' (from S.A.?) but I'm not convinced
and tend to agree with you that ours is 'sandgroper' made with the 'Trailezy'
coupling and all...
Yep can't wait to start the reno and utilizing the knowledge and experiences
of all the members.Its makin' it real hard to concentrate on the jarrah pool deck I'm
building..stupid drunken promises .
ta again,
vandalay.
p.s.will definetly get along to 'Vintage collective market/car show' in Middle Swan
on sunday 29th June to check out the vans..
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Post by lee0808 on Mar 22, 2015 19:57:49 GMT 10
G'day,
A big thankyou to Don Ricardo for posting the photos and info on our 'new' van.
The main reasons we thought it may be a Baravan are that it bears many similarities
to the 1964 model[John Fenn's?] featured in thread by 'TRUE BLUE' on Baravan history.
It also has the seemingly customary 3(or 4) digit number welded onto drawbar.Ours is
957 & we originally thought it to mean (9)-september (57)-1957, but this may be our
mad curiousity getting the better of us.
Maybe a home built kit through Baravan??
I've read BruceB whose father owned Baravan could supply helpful info and would love
to contact him.Any ideas??
We'd love to see the original interior.
Then again it may not even be a Baravan..AAAAARRRRRGGGGHHH!!!!
thankyou,
'Vandalay' |
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Post by lee0808 on Mar 22, 2015 19:59:56 GMT 10
G'day,
A big thankyou to Don Ricardo for posting the photos and info on our 'new' van.
The main reasons we thought it may be a Baravan are that it bears many similarities
to the 1964 model[John Fenn's?] featured in thread by 'TRUE BLUE' on Baravan history.
It also has the seemingly customary 3(or 4) digit number welded onto drawbar.Ours is
957 & we originally thought it to mean (9)-september (57)-1957, but this may be our
mad curiousity getting the better of us.
Maybe a home built kit through Baravan??
I've read BruceB whose father owned Baravan could supply helpful info and would love
to contact him.Any ideas??
We'd love to see the original interior.
Then again it may not even be a Baravan..AAAAARRRRRGGGGHHH!!!!
thankyou,
'Vandalay' |
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Post by lee0808 on Mar 22, 2015 20:02:33 GMT 10
Hope im doing this right,just joined.lol...how on esfth do I use this site...I'm a baravan hoarder:) to 64,s. And 73 princess 4SD! |
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Post by lee0808 on Mar 22, 2015 20:03:49 GMT 10
Gshhh how to I post pics! Lol
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Post by kingswood308 on Mar 22, 2015 20:21:32 GMT 10
Number plates in WA that started with X were issued in the early/mid 1970s. Prior to that they started with U, so I doubt they would be the original plates. The van is a good find |
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