Viscount build date help.

[sharpie]

Hi everyone,
Does anyone have an idea of the build date of a Viscount van Chassis no A2199.
The van has wraparound windows and is unpainted aluminium with side flashes.
Interior laminex is a greyish white.
At this stage we do not have any photos which i know helps but we thought someone maybe able to identify it by the discription.
Thanks and cheers Sharpie.

[donald80]

hello all i have the same problem as sharpie the chsssie no is N1379
has wraparound frount window a single back window not as wide as most
the taillights are the ones standing out the ones that are like the old american
style cars had, it has an alloy viscount name plate frount and back which has
a crown in the centre and is gold in colour ,the aluminium clading is a pressed
dimond patton the interrier is typical ambassador.
sorry i can'tsend photos i havent worked that part out yet, if we can't come up
with an answer will have to leave it untill the nationals.
thanks to all donald80

[Franklin1]

G'day sharpie,

I'll definitely need a photo of the side flashes on your van to confirm its age, but at this stage your chassis number is somewhere in the mid-1960s. The tricky bit with the Viscount model chassis numbers is knowing whether they kept going back to A0001 and how often in the 1960s they might have done that. Are you asking what the heck I'm talking about? Yep, don't blame you.

We know of a Viscount that's got the chassis number of A854 and that van is from 1965. We know of another Viscount with the chassis number of A4492 which has the 1968 side stripe pattern on it. Do you reckon Viscount made only about 3500 vans in that 3 year period? Doesn't seem like a lot, does it? They were the leading manufacturer in Oz at that time, so I would have thought they'd be churning out more than 1200 vans a year. Maybe what happened was that the chassis numbers got up to A9999 sometime in the mid-1960s and then went back to A0001 again, and were back up to A4492 in 1968. That would mean there were 13,500-odd vans built in the 3 year period from 1965 to 1968, or about 4,500 per year. That's the sort of figure I would have thought was more likely.

All of which means that in your case, a photo of the side stripe is necessary.

------------------------------------------------

Donald80, your van is a bit easier to pin down, and is most likely from 1963, based on the info we've collected so far. The "N" prefix in the chassis number means it was built in the Sydney factory (N = New South Wales). Viscount also had factories in Adelaide and Victoria in the early 1960s.

If you click on this link, it will take you to the Viscount thread in the Down History Lane section of the forum. Have a read through that thread and see if there's anything there that matches your van.

Hope this helps,
cheers,
Al.

[sharpie]

Hi AL,
Thanks for that info. As it appears to be built in the sixtys we'll bring it home as it is quite a good van and the wife likes it, so i have to be in front. I will post some photo's when we get it back to Harden.
Thanks again for your help,
Cheers Sharpie.

[donald80]

thank you franklin 1 for your help .i did'nt give you that my van was wood frame
and is 14 feet six inches long thanhs a lot donald80

[Franklin1]

sharpie, it WILL be from the 1960s if the aluminium cladding is mostly plain silver. Viscount didn't start offering the white painted cladding until about mid-1969, and even then it was an option which some people avoided.


donald80, Viscount started offering the choice of "aluminium aircraft-type frames" in late 1963. Up to that time, I guess all Viscounts would have been made with timber frames. You'll still find Viscounts with timber frames that were made in 1964 or 1965, though. Some people didn't want to pay the extra dollars (or Pounds) for the ali frames so they chose the cheaper timber framework. By early 1965 the timber option had been discontinued, so all Viscounts after that would have got the full ali framework.

cheers,
Al.

[donald80]

thanks again to franklin 1 YOU HAVE helped a lot ingetting to the bottom of year built
it is getting down to how many a year viscount turned out in sydney or it may be
a bit more complicated than that....thanks donald80

[sharpie]

Hi AL,
Thanks again for the info. Deals been done so van will be home in about a week.
Our 1964 Ambassador chassis no D 284 is timber framed so hoping the new one is ali.
Will post photos when it gets here.
Cheers Sharpie.

[jcole]

Hi all, we have a viscount ambassador with the chassis no. E908 and it is registered 1964. It was apparently custom made? I think more so meaning the extras such as clock, wraparound windows etc. it is aluminum frame. I will try to post pics with photobucket soon if I can get my head around it. We have just acquired another with the chassis no. C 203. This one seems to be much the same however maybe the poverty pack edition as more basic, but same laminex etc. It is also a bit more rounded at the back. Hope some of this helps. Cheers

[Franklin1]

G'day jcole,

You've previously given the chassis number of your van as E978, not E908, so could you tell me which one is correct, please? By coincidence, I've just used the photos of your van to help a person who came on "the other forum" and who has an Ambassador with the chassis number of E909.

When (if) we get to see photos of your latest C203 acquisition, I think we'll find it will be a Valiant.

cheers,
Al.

[jcole]

Jan 29, 2012 8:52:17 GMT 10 Franklin1 said:

G'day jcole,

You've previously given the chassis number of your van as E978, not E908, so could you tell me which one is correct, please? By coincidence, I've just used the photos of your van to help a person who came on "the other forum" and who has an Ambassador with the chassis number of E909.

When (if) we get to see photos of your latest C203 acquisition, I think we'll find it will be a Valiant.

cheers,
Al.

[jcole]

Hi AL, whoops sorry your right, it is E978...trying to use iPad to type and not doing too well. Yes, I think you may be right with the other one, although all interior fittings etc are very similar ie laminex, fittings etc. Will get some photos done and loaded. These viscounts sure are confusing to date arent they. The power of sharing info will hopefully get some answers. Thanks so much. Cheers janelle

[Daggsey]

G'day Franklin1 and others,

I can't remember if I have mentioned this before, but in a previous life (3 years ago) when we were travelling in "Lady Madonna" (a Valiant), we met a chap near Rockhampton who was an accountant for Viscount in Sydney in the early 1970's. I queried him re chassis numbers and he reckons they were partly based on the month and year of manufacture (with only one of the numbers representing the year).

I have tried to apply this theory to some of the numbers mentioned here and in other threads, but I can't for the life of me work out any sequence that would give this statement any credence.

Maybe donald80's van was the 79th van built in Jan 1963 and Sharpie's the 99th van built in Feb 1961.

Or maybe this is just another "urban myth" to throw into the melting pot

Daggsey

[Ian and Steph]

Hello to all ,

We have just bought a 1959 Viscount classic ( so we were told ) with rego no. N1074 . and judging from members comments it was built in NSW. It was in original condition and very well looked after. We have repainted inside And now doing the outside. The advice on what to use from the members forum has been fantastic. We will try and post photos when we work out how to do it.

Ian and Steph

[Franklin1]

G'day daggsey,

Sorry mate, I didn't realise you'd posted in this thread until just now, so I'm a bit late with a reply.

We worked out on "that other forum" that Viscount chassis numbers from 1973 to 1979 inclusive have the year of build as the first number in the full chassis number. If the first number is 3, then it was built in 1973, etc. It's a shame we didn't have your Accountant on hand a couple of years ago, because it took us a fair bit of time to crack the code.

The challenge now is to work out what happened during the 1960s. Viscount seems to have used various letters for various vans they made throughout the '60s. The Viscount models got an "N", "V", or an "A". The Ambassadors got a "D" or an "E", and the Valiants got a "32", a "B" or a "C".

Once a letter was applied to a series, the numbers then just cranked up one by one as each chassis was constructed, or so it appears. I'll only ever know for sure once we've collected a heap more vans numbers. I've tried doing what you've done with the numbers, but nothing has made sense in the past.

Never fear though. We eventually cracked the coding for the Franklin vans from 1965 upwards, and I now understand how the Millard system worked, so the Viscount system will become obvious once another hundred vans are brought to the forum.

.........................................................

Ian and Steph,

N1074 is more likely to be from 1962 or 1963, rather than 1959. We'll get a better handle on your van once you've posted some photos.

cheers,
Al.

[sharpie]

Hi Everyone,
We were all set to pick up the Viscount when at the last minute the deal was cancelled.
As we were buying from a deceased estate we were dealing with the executors who were family members. Unfortunately one of their brothers has now claimed the van as his and not part of the estate. So we have dipped out. We can't even get back to take any photo's to help with the dating of Viscounts.
Cheers Sharpie.

[molly]

Can I please ask would anyone know what the Viscount A7233 would be dated at?

[Franklin1]

Hi Molly,

The Viscount chassis number A7233 could be either from the late 1960s, or from 1977, so check the appearance of the van to be sure.

Your best bet is to go to the Viscount Owners Facebook page (run by one of our forum members "twocutekelpies" aka Shelley): www.facebook.com/groups/ViscountCaravanOwnersAustralia/

Shelley has been keeping a database of Viscount chassis numbers and the related year they were built.

cheers,

Al.

[Don Ricardo]

Hi Molly,

Franklin1 is correct in what he says...but given that your serial number consists of 'A' followed by four numerals, my guess is that your van is a 1969 Viscount. The 'A' would indicate that the van is a Viscount (as opposed to an Ambassador or Valiant, Viscount's cheaper models in that era), and the numerals would indicate that it was the 7,233rd van built since whenever the series started.

Without going into too much detail, Viscount changed its numbering system in mid-1970, and then again in 1973, just to keep us on our toes! All the serial numbers I have seen from 1973 onwards consist of a letter and five numbers. The letter indicated the model, the first digit the year of manufacture, and the remaining four digits the number of the van built. So from 1973, 'A' indicated that the van was an Ambassador model, then say '7' would indicate the van was built in 1977, and the remaining four digits the number of the van. However, your serial number only consists of a letter and four digits, hence my guess that it's most likely a 1969 Viscount.

If you can show us some photos of your van we will be able to confirm that one way or another. And as Franklin1 said Twocutekelpies is the Viscount serial number guru.

If you want to post photos, there are instructions on how to do that in the 'Forum Guidelines & Helpful Hints' section of the forum.

Don Ricardo

[janetwood]

I just found out have viscount i know it was built April 1965 this was under a drawer when water tested in factory chassis A979 can anybody confirm

[hughdeany]

Hi Janet,You could also look on here in the Down history lane section and find lots more pictures.
I’ve seen your van on fb and it’s definitely a Viscount and it’s a 1965 model with aluminium frame.
Cheers
hughdeany

[Don Ricardo]

Hi Janetwood,

Just confirming what Hughdeany said, I’ve checked the Viscount register compiled by one of our Forum members and A979 is a 1965 Viscount Duralvan.

Don Ricardo

[glenn66]

Hi all
Newbie here. I have a Duralvan I have commenced restoring which unfortunately the hatches and windows were all leaking.
This is one had a red flash (very faint now over all that dulled aluminium)
It has Chassis A5039 and I was wondering if anyone would know the year of manufacture?
Also, any paint code for the red flash?
Regards
Glenn

[Don Ricardo]

Hi Glen66,

Welcome to the Forum.

I've checked Forum member Twocutekelpies' Viscount register, and a Duralvan with the serial number of 'A5039' would have been built in 1968. I presume your van has white acrylic coated cladding with 'lightning flashes' on the side? If not let me know.

I can't help you with the paint colour for the flashes, but someone else may be able to.

Don Ricardo

[glenn66]

Hi Don

The Duralvan I have is unpainted aluminium with red flash, the dimply looking aluminium look.

Cheers
Glenn