Holden vinvannin' ....all too easy ...

[Deleted]

Last Sunday, I returned from the WA Spring Tour after a 410 km drive from Albany to Perth in the Holden, with the lil nameless bondy in tow .

The drive home was the longest day of the tour, I was all alone, the rest of the spring tourers made their own way home, in their own time.

I had plenty of time to reflect during the 5 hour drive, and was thinking that vintage caravanning on this day, and in fact the whole week, was all too easy .

The bog stock 49 Holden shod with modern radial tyres cruised the modern highways effortlessly ,





there was little challenge in the drive, plenty of fun , but little challenge .
Up & down the hills she went, only slowing substansially on the steepest of grades, even then...... rarely did it slow below 30 mph, and rarely did it necessitate a downchange to second gear.
Even the day before, on the tour between Denmark & Albany, the Holden kept up the same cruising pace as the V8 ZC Fairlane and V8 AP5 Val, arriving in Albany behind the two V8's.






And on the drive home to Perth, some caravanners following in their 4WD tow vehicles with thier modern Jaycos in tow didn't even bother overtaking, obviously the Holden was cruising at an adequate pace for them .

And the Holden was comfortable, too comfortable, the bench seat is the most comfortable old Holden seat I've sat in, and the ventilation via the windscreen mounted vent was excellent ,





and the weathershields did a great job keeping the breeze outta my face. The small split windscreen allowed only little sun in through the front of the car, unlike modern cars with their huge windscreens allowing the hot sun to beam down on the driver.
I arrived in Perth feeling fresh and relaxed , not feeling at all as though I'd just driven 410 kms in a 60 year old car .

Not even the stock brakes concerned me .......the brakes, well they sorta worked ;D.....good enough for me to tackle the busy Albany traffic. On the Friday, I lost the others in heavy Albany traffic, the plan was to follow the leader who had directions to the caravan park. I pulled in for fuel, went to get inside the caravan to get the directions to the caravan park, but the caravan door handle had come adrift , and wisely, my tools were stored inside the caravan, so, I couldn't get into caravan . Not knowing where to go , I headed for the busy main street of Albany, and much to the amusement of Albany people out and about everywhere, did bog laps up and down the main street whilst trying to find car and caravan parking outside the Albany pub. I learnt early in my life, when you're lost, and you can't find your direction, head for the nearest watering hole ;D ;D.

The original Holden ......were they good ....yep, too right , bloody good ;D .....its little wonder there were two year waiting lists in the early 50's for new car clients to get their hands on one of these units .......

A more challenging vinvan run for me was a couple of years ago, when I took the 39 Chev vintage vanning with the 46 Holiday Home in tow.......






now there was a challenge .....the old Chevy with its beam-axle front end and 16 inch rag tyres was a bastard to steer, especially with 900 kg of Jarrah framed masonite caravan hanging off the back, and slow .......soooo slow ......the torquey 216 ci big six pulled allright, but three on the floor coupled with a 4.2 rear drive ratio, we were never gunna go fast ....and the sloppy gear shifter .....which gear are we in ......yeah, that was true vin vannin .......littIe wonder I was stuffed that day when I finally got the rig home ......thats the way great grandad would've done it .......

So, forever up for a challenge, and thinking that caravanning in the Holden was all too easy, I'm going to have go back ........way back , to caravanning 1930's style ......and off road would be good ;D .......

I have a little prewar caravan,:


little don



I'm just going have to find a smallish mid 1930's tow car for it, or why not late 20'ish........ and hit the dirt, lets see just how comfortable vin vannin' will be then .....great gran did it ......why can't I













Mark

[cobber]

G'day Mark,

Nice photos mate... the 48/215 and the 'van with no name.. HEY ! That's what you should call her “The 'Van with no name”.... look real good.

But of course you are stating the bleeding obvious, why wouldn't a well restored, and well maintained, 50 or 60 year old FX or FJ perform as well now as they did 50 or 60 years ago...... old 'oldens just keep 'olden on.

I was very proud of my rig on the trip to Mount Gambier in March.... got a bit warm in the 40deg temperatures on the way down (never boiled) but apart from that not an ounce of trouble..... 2200 miles.

Lunch stop at the end of the Great Ocean road, Vic.


Amongst the Tall Timbers on the road to Toolangi, Vic.


Overlooking Eildon State Park, Vic.


Dinner time & an overnight stop on my 70th Birthday in a paddock beside the Goulburn River @ Alexandra, Vic.


If I was old, retired......... and rich, it would be a good way to spend the rest of me life.

Cobber..... not rich

[Deleted]

Cobber says: "But of course you are stating the bleeding obvious, why wouldn't a well restored, and well maintained, 50 or 60 year old FX or FJ perform as well now as they did 50 or 60 years ago...... old 'oldens just keep 'olden on."

sorry Cobber ol' mate .........I'd forgotten how good these things are .......bought mine 6 years ago from Castlemaine Vic, and apart from the annual outing for concessional reg, have done bugga all with it .......until it was dusted down a few weeks ago to tow nameless


The FX was originally going to tow this van:







until the caravan went over the weighbridge

[urkel1965]

Hi Mark,
Nothing wrong with the golden oldies. A couple of years ago, I went to a car rally in Hamilton Vic, then went on to Mt Gambier, The Coorong, Tailem Bend then home to Pinnaroo, via the Riverland. The trip was about 1100km.
All good
Cheers
Steve

[tinnie]

Hey Mark,
Call the van with no name "trinity".
See if you cam figure that one out. ;D

Mark, Cobber, Urkel. Yeh must admit these holden things go ok.
Even the 'modern' kingswood has now clocked up about 2,000ks in my possession, and not missed a beat, oil leaks and all ;D. As yet haven't had a vintvan hanging off the back of it.

Gristy

[humpycara]

[Don Ricardo]

Thanks for the pics Humptycara!

There's something there for almost everyone to drool over, even those who can say 'Yes' to the question "Do you fit into this picture?"

Don Ricardo

[cobber]

Thanks for those great photos Humptycara..... just shows that what old Holdens did, old Holdens do.
Where did those photos come from......... your family album ?


Here are a few from my album....around 1993/94.









This could develop into “Preserving the Heritage of the 48/215 & FJ Holden Touring Australia with caravan” thread.

Cobber.

[Daggsey]

Hey Cobber,

It probably could, except someone,
(with obvious impeccable taste ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D)
"spoiled" the photo
with a modern car..........
the FE .

Daggsey

[cobber]

You're right Daggsey........ it did spoil the photo, but he was a good bloke, so we let him come anyway

You can't see the wheels on his 'van but they were about the size of an FJ's hub cap........ he used that as the reason he couldn't keep up with the FJ's .

Cobber.

[bobt]

Great Photos Guys

Please keep em coming

[Westozal]

Hello,
Just thanking you for the photo,s .....just loved them.
Regards AL.

[jrod]

Love the photo's!

Particularly the one of Mark pulling 55mph in the FX.. Yiha ;D

I do have to say that passing modern cars in the HT with the Franklin in Tow gives me a little grin (the few times) it happens! haha

J-Rod

[Don Ricardo]

Hi all,

Thought I'd add my contribution. Even though it's only a photograph out of a Winser book, it's a pretty neat combination.


(Source: Keith Winser, Caravans and Touring in Australia, Book 5 for 1953, p 7)

The caption reads 'A good Australian combination belonging to Mr "Don" Robinson, president of the Caravan and Trailer Traders' Industries Association of Victoria.' Don Robinson was also, of course, the designer and manufacturer of the van he was towing with his FX.

I wondered if in fact the car and van in this picture were the same as the ones appearing in the 5th photo in Humptycara's series. However, the van in Humptycara's pic is a 12 ft van, whereas judging by the front window, the one in the Winser photo is a 14 ft van.

Don Ricardo

[Don Ricardo]

Evening all,

Another interesting little caravan snippet from Don Loffler's She's a Beauty about the development of the first Holden:



The caption reads: The Koo-Wee-Rup (Victoria) Holden dealer, Tom Burton, and his wife with Holden No.370, his original demonstration vehicle, and caravan. Burton was one of the first, if not the first, to fit a towbar to a Holden. Photograph most likely taken in 1949.
(Source: Don Loffler, She's a Beauty [Enlarged and revised edition]. Wakefield Press, 2006. P 238)

IF this car was the first Holden to be fitted with a towbar and IF the caravan in the pic was the first van towed by this car, then the first caravan to be towed by a Holden was a...Don... SHUT UP MY MOUTH

Nobody will believe me, but my main interest in posting this pic was what it tells us about the history of 48-215's being used for towing. True dinks.

Ricardo

[firefighter]

Hey Don R

Don 257 got his Don caravan from Koo- Wee- Rup maybe this was Tom Burtons Don van ?
f/f ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[Don Ricardo]

That'd be a nice turn-up wouldn't it F/f? I wonder how much Don257 knows about the history of their van?

Don Ricardo

[cruisindoug]

Old thread but there must be a few new combos by now aye?







Thanks for pointing it out Cobber!

[cobber]

No worries Doug

Some of these older threads are starting to develop their own aura of nostalgia about them I reckon, doesn't hurt to revive and update 'em aye ?

Cobber.

[Deleted]

Speaking of Holdens...................

What size tyres do FX/FJs have ??

5/90 x 15 imperial what are they in metric ??



J

[cruisindoug]

Found another one ...

[shesgotthelook]

I wouldn't say she tows it easily but they look pretty good together IMHO Although. on re-reading this thread, I am probably going to the naughty corner as my vehicle is rather modern!

[cobber]

In 1994 and 1995 some members of the 48 & FJ Holden car club got interested in vintage caravans and organised various runs with them.
There were two long runs... the first in 1994 was called the “Great Caravan Caper”.. 9 days over a distance of 1153 miles, out as far as Coonabarabran, and the second one in 1995 was called the “Great Holiday Caper”... again 9 days to Jindabyne, travelling 1034 miles.

Would like to say all FJs/FXs performed faultlessly but there were minor problems with some which only made the trips more interesting...allowed us to explore some towns more than we would have otherwise

Just a couple of photos, some duplicated above... but at least they now have captions, and look better in black and white ...... I reckon

Prior to the big tours we had many weekend excusions..... “Shake down trips” we called them.
This one was to Cesnock in April 1994.


This photo was taken in the main street at Dunedoo during the “Great Caravan Caper”



Again during the “Great Caravan Caper” the Holden dealer at Dubbo cleared the used car lot so we could display our cars & vans to the public and the media.
The entire tour was used to promote and support the Apex clubs “Child Protection Trust” with sauage sizzles and displays in the towns.


This photo is the line up just outside Bega during the “Great Holiday Caper” to Jindabyne


And the good time keep rolling on .

Jg 33... my FJ is wearing 165R 15 87S tyres

Cobber

[Deleted]

Thank you Cobber.

Do they come in 6 or 8 ply ?

[urkel1965]

Hi jj33,
I have a new set of 5.9x15" tyres turning up in the next day or so. The first set I put on 10 years ago cost me about $90.00 each including tubes, fitting and balancing.
This time I had to go through an antique tyre place and including freight, just under $1000.00 for a set of four....plus getting them fitted and balanced here.
Me being silly, I wanted the cross ply's again.
Cheers
Steve