Newbie Says Hello

[kennexandannexe]

Hi All

First time owner of a caravan, let alone a vintage van and it's being serviced pre re-registration during lockdown 6.0.
I'm at a loss without it in the driveway!
Viscount Ambassador A5594 - 1968 (Electrical Installation Certificate dated 13 Aug 1968)
Original pink stripes, original (I think) annexe, and someone has repainted inside but otherwise everything is in working order, no leaks etc.
Any changes/repairs (curtains, seats and window seals (rock hard) documented on Instagram kennexandannexe
Id love to attend a get together like the thread for Port Fairy Sept 2021, if all goes well Covid/lockdowns in Vic I might see you there 😊

Attachments:

[Roehm3108]

Welcome to the forum. A great, original and unmolested vintage caravan. That's what it's all about!

[Don Ricardo]

Hi Kennexandannexe,

Thanks for telling us about, and showing us some pics of your van. It certainly does look like a great van and I’m sure you’ll create lots of wonderful memories with it.

I’ve been trying to match up some of the information you’ve provided about the van. Please don’t see this as being critical, just an attempt to match everything up, and maybe provide you with some additional information about your caravan.

You’ve told us that your van is a 1968 Viscount Ambassador. The profile of the cladding and the ‘racetrack’ flashes on the side fit with a 1968 Viscount van, so all good with that. I note that the van has wrap around front and rear windows. The wrap around windows were standard fittings for the Viscount Duralvan models at that time, and were an extra cost option for the Ambassador model. (The Duralvan was the top range of Viscounts, the Ambassador the middle range, and the Valiant the ‘budget’ range of Viscounts.) So it’s quite possible that your van is an Ambassador with the optional wrap arounds.

What made me start scratching my head though is the serial number you gave us: A5594. Usually (prior to 1973) a Viscount serial number starting with ‘A’ would indicate that the van is a Duralvan, whereas the serial number for an Ambassador would start with an ‘E’. So looking at your van with the wrap around windows and an ‘A’ serial number, I would expect it to be a Duralvan rather than an Ambassador.

But there is an additional question about the serial number. A forum member, Twocutekelpies, has compiled a massive register of Viscount serial numbers. Based on that, the serial number A5594 should belong to a 1969 Duralvan. The 1969 model Viscounts had white, acrylic coated, ‘log cabin’ cladding, with ‘lightning flash’ flashes on the side, so looking different in several ways to yours. Just to confuse matters, Twocutekelpies register currently lists serial number A5594 as being branded as a Valiant! (There are instances where serial number prefixes don’t match the normal model designation. It seems that people had bad days in the office even way back then! )

So you can see why I was scratching my head! A couple of questions for you: First, does your van have actual Ambassador signage on it, eg on the front above the windows? Second, can you double check your serial number? Maybe even post a photo of it. Sometimes they can be hard to read but Twocutekelpies is a dab hand at it.

Let me just emphasise, none of the above is a criticism of your van. It looks like a beauty. And none of the comments I’ve made affect in any way the value of the van, or its value to you or the pleasure you will have from it. It’s just that vintage caravans every now and then throw up a puzzle that some of us like to work out if we can, and sometimes we learn something about the history of the particular make of caravan along the way.

Hopefully we’ll get through all this Covid stuff, and we’ll get a chance to meet you in person at one of the vintage caravan events as you’ve indicated.

Don Ricardo