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Post by sharpie on Mar 14, 2010 9:17:57 GMT 10
Hi everyone. These are the photos of our viscount ambassador van chassis number D284 .As you can see in the photos it was painted blue around the middle like a valiant.There is no evidence of paint being anywhere else. Hope this may help identify the year of manufacture. Just click on the link below. Thanks Sharpie s772.photobucket.com/albums/yy3/sharpie025/viscount%20info/ |
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Post by Franklin1 on Mar 14, 2010 22:45:15 GMT 10
G'day Sharpie, I reckon your van is amongst the first of the Ambassadors made in 1964/65. Assuming the timber framework in the rear of your van is original, as shown in your Photobucket album, then the van would have to have been made in the very early stages of the Ambassador history. Consider this...the new Ambassador model is launched in August 1964, in time for the annual Sydney Caravan exhibition held in early September. From late 1963 onwards, Viscount had been offering the choice of either timber frames or aluminium frames (for 50 Pounds extra), on all of the Viscount, Valiant, and now Ambassador models. This choice carried through until sometime in the first half of 1965, when it was discontinued and only full aluminium frames were available. In May 1965, a new range of models was released "with the dynamic new twin flash" on the sides of both the Viscount and the Ambassador models. (No mention of what happened to the Valiant model.  ) So, by my reckoning, your van has to have been made between August 1964 and May 1965. Which means that your chassis number of D284 would be the 284th Ambassador made. Maybe the "D" relates to 196 4, D being the 4th letter of the alphabet?? Dunno about that bit. To get a more accurate date of manufacture, you have to guess how long it would take to build and sell 284 Ambassadors, because in that era Viscount built to customer orders, and didn't just pump vans out of the production line. No demand = no build. Sharpie, keep your eye out for Ambassador D001, and then you'll have a really unique piece of Australia's caravan history...the first Viscount Ambassador off the production line! ;D ;D cheers, Al. |
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Post by sharpie on Mar 15, 2010 16:48:34 GMT 10
Hi Al. Thanks for your quick reply this sure is a great site.The timber in the back of the van is all original except for a couple of small repairs. I like your reasoning as to the year of manufacture so for rego purposes im calling it a 1964 model.The last rego on it was in the ACT where they had it as a 1970 model,still not surprised it was the ACT. This vintage van collecting is as bad as old cars as i"ve now been given a Valiant van .I will post some pictures when i get it home,it is only 200 ks away from HARDEN. I will let you know if i find chassis no 1.Thanks again for your info. Regards sharpie aka Kevin.
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