great forty eight

[Deleted]

Just returned from a 800km round trip to pick up another vintage caravan, a homemade masonite van built in 1948 that measures 16' 9", and has an all wooden chassis.

The original owner built 5 of them (all the same) in 1948, sold four and kept one, which he and his wife lived in for 15 years.

I purchased it off a farmer who had bought the van a couple of years ago from the original owner's farm clearance sale.

Features include a bath, full size Aladdin kero stove with oven, full size kero fridge, overhead glass display cupboards and full size house kitchen sink. It has original lino, original seat cushions (kapok) and mattress, original laminex, and original tatty curtains ......its a real time warp.

Being sooo big, the challenge was to fit it on my little truck. Having no jockey wheel, we used a front end loader and the truck's winch to get it on. Widthwise, it only just fitted, lengthwise, about 5' was hanging over the back of the truck, including drawbar.
The front wind down jack stands sat in a couple of car tyres.








It had to sit on this angle to save damaging the rear centre tailight and No plate assembley, which just cleared the truck's cab.





After miles and miles of gravel road, we finally hit the bitumen

It was a long, slow drive to Beverley, taking up most of the day .....the little Isuzu actually got to 90 kph (downhill ;D). I was sooo tired after the days events, and knew it'd be a challenge getting the thing off ......so the plan was to park the truck with caravan aboard in the Beverley shed, grab the HD, and do the hour & half drive back to Perth for a nice shower and cold beer ....





BUGGA ......DON'T YOU HATE THAT .....it wouldn't fit .....I thought the shed door was made to take BIG trucks ......

So, off to the pub to round up a couple of locals I know to help me get the friggin thing (by this stage) off the truck.

After another hour and half or so, and some ingenuity using a 4wd, the great forty eight was home and tucked away in the shed

PICS TAKEN WITH A PHONE CAMERA

[firefighter]

Good find Mark, You shoud have jumped in the bath in the van with your beer ,the old commer in the back ground looks ok I drove one of them for a while
Geoff

[groovy]

Geoff
"the old commer in the back ground looks ok I drove one of them for a while"

I can see by the tone in your voice, that you never had to work on one of the mungrels, lucky bugger
Greg

[firefighter]

Come on Greg ,In the Fire Brigade we had workshop staff to do the dirty work ( Mongrel,s ) no wonder the mechanic,s were not happy when we Buggered something up on the truck

Geoff

[cobber]

Looks good Mark,

Now you realize it would be good to have a loading/unloading dock at Beverley eh?
I bet the Isuzu was nice and light on the steering on the way home

That would not be a light van, is it double skin all over .

Does it have a roof hatch or only those vents on the off side?

Did you ever get around to ringing that phone # I passed on to you, it may have been a disapointment...but who knows??

Cobber

[Deleted]

thanks Cobber .....unloading dock ...never though of that

Yes, its gotta hatch as well as two flutes, one over the kero stove and the other over the kero fridge.

Its not lined on the inside, so weightwise, its not too bad, .....apparently the original owner in Ongerup used to tow it with a 49 beige coloured Chev ute .....

Know anybody whose got one?

[Deleted]

not anymore Col ....she was "demooned" a couple of weeks ago ;D

[61dodge]

I just happen to know where there is a '49 Chev ute in "unrestored" condition. Original paint, wheels, driveline, and rust.
I go past it half way up the driveway every morning.

Dave.

[Deleted]

where's the pics Dave

[61dodge]

Pic taken about a year or so ago, garden has grown a bit since then.

Don't think it will tow a van again.

But it is much better than a silly gnome with a fishing rod

Regards. Dave.

[will and Lyn]

GGGGGGGGGrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!
Gnomes are all good
with or without fishing rods
you are dealing with gnomes rights
a very touchy subject in todays politically correct society

GGGGGGGGrrrrrrr

there aint no place like Gnome !!

Will
secretary of the Australian federation of garden gnomes
protector of gnomes rights in the free world
I can muster 100.000000 armed gnomes in a matter of minutes
be careful Dave
Be very carefull!!!!

but then there are the courts!!!

[Deleted]

Dave,
I couldn't think of a better feature item in the woodchip garden that what you have .......its great

Hillbilly has a couple of rusty relics on his property, a 38 Chev and a 52 Vauxhall .......

A couple of weeks ago, a top photographer from Paris, who's known for her championship winning photos of the Eifel Tower and other famous Paris landmarks, visited his 5 acre property in Gidgegannup to photograph his rusty relics ......actually Hillbilly bit of a rusty relic himself ;D ;D

A world class photographer wouldn't take pictures of a garden gnome with a fishing rod in the woodchip garden now, would they

Mark

[61dodge]

No self respecting photographer would lower themselvs to take pictures of kitchy gnomes, with or without fishing rods
We have our eye on another steel art peice to go in another part of the garden. Pics when it hapens.

Back to the original post, is the '48 van going to be a museum peice or will it see use again? The timber chasis is interesting.

Cheers. Dave.

[Deleted]

Dave,
plan at the moment is to leave 48 van as a stagnent display in Beverley, its unspectacular on the outside, but an incredible time-warp on the inside.

But one never knows ......it may one day come out for a run ......don't think Mr Plod would be happy with the drawbar arrangement though:

[61dodge]

Yeah, looks dangerous. That rope could fall of and get caught up in the axel.

Dave.