Homeless Harris Van 1960s

[zarah]

Hi all!

What a wealth of knowledge and information to stumble upon! My name is Zarah and my husband (Jonny) and I (and our kids) are going to attempt to restore an old Harris Van.



We picked the Harris up from Moe and she is in pretty bad condition.. I'm sure we haven't even seen the worst yet.. But once we saw her.. We couldn't just leave her there to rot!

We don't have a lot of info from the previous owners, but they found a faint outline of "Harris Van" logo .. Pictured below.



And after some research on this site - she looks most similiar to the amazingly detailed resto job already posted on this forum by Jp63. It's been a huge help in finding any info out about her.

It looks as if ours may have also been a C H Gray built Harris Van. Possibly 1962? Maybe a year earlier or later, as I did note a few minor differences. (Shown below)



The lights (above) And the handles (below)




I searched through the caravan for more clues.. Couldn't find a plate. But did find an old rego sticker that says she's a 1967 Harris Van. But it's possible that owner may have got the year wrong? What's your thoughts?


We are very new to all this. The idea has been driven by a "prompting" to restore a van to (somehow) help the homeless. The original idea was that I would turn her into a mobile soup kitchen (and might still go that way), but the idea is evolving as the research continues. It might become a mobile "access point" or out to raise awareness somehow?.. So purchasing this van has been a big leap of faith and we're definitely stepping into the unknown despite having toured with our camper trailer and family around Australia for about 2 years.. We know nothing of this type of restoration and are hoping to really bring her back to life. Any advice is definitely welcome and we're so grateful to come across such a detailed, informative forum with so many members do willing to help!

Over and out (for now)

Zarah

[zarah]

Okay, here is the inside of the van. There's lots of original features and LOTS missing / needing repair. Some of the inside points to clues for the year though - so please let us know if anything comes to mind.







And the not so good




And the clues to her age:







Please let me know your thoughts on the age? It's so similiar to jp63's 1962 Harris Van in so many ways, I'd be inclined to say its a 1962. Could the previous owner have gotten the year wrong? Vicroads search isn't providing helpful and there was no paperwork.

Thanks in advance!

Zarah

[jp63]

Hi Sarah, I'm so excited to see this little Harris van on here. I remember seeing it for sale and would have loved to bring it home but it was too far away and the husband said to not even think about it haha. I hoped it would eventually end up on the forum so I will be watching your resto with keen interest.

You noted differences with the handles and side lights between the 2 vans, during our resto we found evidence that our van originally had these as well with screw holes in the front cladding where the handles would have been, also an outline of the same shaped lights underneath the retro fitted ones and we believe that the front towel rail was added after the handles where taken off. so I would say our vans originally would have been pretty close to identical.

As for the year We have based ours purely on what the rego says, which is by no means necessarily accurate. Personally, My uneducated guess would be that both of our vans where possibly built closer to 62 than 67 but really who knows?

I also saw you asked a couple of questions on the Harris thread about the metal box, and the original bed set up (there may have been more but that's what I can remember of the top of my head haha) some where along the line we where told that the box was used as a bread box, but hopefully someone will come along and know for sure. Ours still has the original lounge/bed configuration which I am happy to take some photos of for you if you would like.

Once again I'm so excited to see another CH gray Harris van on the site! please feel free to Sing out if you have any questions or need photos of something etc  we are more than happy to help if we can.

[zarah]

Thanks so much jp63!

That really confirms it's exactly the same model as yours. Great news! As your resto is so detailed and informative - that I'm sure we will be referring to it more than twice 😉.

The restoration won't start until we can get her under cover. But I am glad we saved her. Apparently the other interested buyer was going to use it as a cubby house for his kids and not really fix anything.. That would've been a bit sad.

I'm sure we'll be in contact with lots of questions jp63, but thanks for the info so far and the offer of help!

[jp63]

No worries at all and thanks I hope our little resto can be of some help, but yours looks to be in better condition than ours when we bought it home so hopefully yours goes much smoother than ours .

Don't get me wrong my kids would absolutely love an old van as a cubby house but I'm glad that you saved it from that future. Yours is the first I have seen the same and including ours only the 3rd confirmed CH grey built Harris van (The other is a 14fter that was actually saved from a chicken coop would you believe?) that I know of so its nice to know that it will be saved and put to good use.

[zarah]

I'm not sure our van IS in better condition than yours jp63. After about a year of looking for somewhere to store this beautiful van (and losing all hope of that ever happening) I've decided to attack the restoration process from the inside out. Not sure how this will go, but I'm just so frustrated with her sitting there doing nothing - that I have bitten the bullet and HAVE to do SOMETHING.

So today I measured the bed / lounge area and then took it all apart to see what we are dealing with underneath.
Here are some photos of the (very limited) progress so far.






I just LOVE the aluminum in it's original condition.
Anyone have any advice on getting the outside back to this? Stripping and A LOT of polishing?
The framework is rotted and in parts at some of the joins - but I do think I could potentially replace these from inside. I'm going to need to carefully take out the originally cabinetry now, before I do much else. But what have others used as the wood for the framework of their restoration jobs?
And insulation? What has worked best for you?
Thanks in advance!