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Post by King Fisher on Apr 8, 2012 8:11:46 GMT 10
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Post by King Fisher on Apr 8, 2012 7:22:14 GMT 10
Hey thanks for the encouragement, never taught about a hot gun till now that the job's done , darn!!! might have saved some stinging. We will soon know if it caused a hassle. Fingers crossed. It has been a huge amount of work for us and I think it will be worth it in the long run as I'm doing this van up to be used as our family tourer. Hoping to have many great times and countless holidays in her in the future. (just need some kids to fill the bunks in the back ...) And don't worry I love taking photos so I am sure many more will follow...
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Post by King Fisher on Apr 7, 2012 21:02:31 GMT 10
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Post by King Fisher on Apr 7, 2012 20:30:06 GMT 10
The last picture is the interior light, there are no exterior lights apart from the indicator, clearance and break lights. There are two of these lovely round art decor lights in the roof.
Dave, what's wrong with paint stripper? and the answer is yes followed by a hard sanding then a finer sanding.
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Post by King Fisher on Apr 7, 2012 19:19:20 GMT 10
Hey I forgot to mention befor that the table although a bit scratched with ware and tare over the years has a very interesting Australian themed laminate, with pictures of indigenous persons, cookaburras, kangaroos, boomarangs and koalas and more interesting items in the pattern. And yes I am defently keeping the table as is even with the scratches (caracter marks). Also all the original light fittings were still with the van even though some of them were found in the drawers. one of two wall lights near the table one of two internal roof lights
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Post by King Fisher on Apr 6, 2012 7:21:52 GMT 10
Looking great, I too are in the sanding and stripping stage. On the outside the paint was like a rock and I had to use paint stripper and then finished it off with my 'girly' orbital sander. keep up the good work
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Post by King Fisher on Apr 6, 2012 6:34:00 GMT 10
The story so far. We got our little lady for $500 from Phillip Island Vic. Brought her home on the back of a trailer. I was simply after a doo-er-upper and was really looking more at a 70's tinie rather than a bondie. (Knew nothing about vintage vans at that stage) Searching the Trading post we found this one and went and had a look. She had been purchased by the previous owners dad and when he died had been sitting under his holiday house for 20+ years, just being used for storage and a spare bed room. We ascertained by an old RACV tag (adding the years since he died = 1959) and a magazine found in the lower cupboard dated December 1959 that it must have been built prior to that date and I assume that it's maiden voyage was around December 1959. Firstly we removed the old flaking laminate from the cupboard doors and drawers, some came off easily others needed more coaxing The interior had it's original light green paint (Enamel) inside the cupboards and the walls and cupboard surrounds had all been painted over in a blue acrylic. Because of the mix match and the signs of rejection in the paint we decided to strip back all the new blue paint from the wood inside the van. Sanded all the flat surfaces and used paint stripper on the curved surfaces. All hands on deck for the dismantling of the doors and drawers: Finally ripped the front off the van and repaired the whole front, the wood had some rot in the corners and we strengthened up the frame around the corners a bit. Traditional carpenters might want to skip over this bit as we didn't bend the wood but rather laminated smaller pieces to make the curved shape holding them in place with sickaflex, nails and screws. All the metal under the van has been sealed with a rust sealer and is now ready to paint. Next was the decision what to do about the sides of the van. I was tossing up replacing all the wood in a single piece however it's only a small bin in the corners and at the bottom that has deteriorated, and the rest of the ply is in excellent condition, so we have decided to cut it off all the way along (about 30cm high) and soon replace this with new wood keeping the old sides. However as the old paint has cracked and flaking in places, the decision to keep the wood meant that we now needed to rip off all that paint... Oh well... Thanks Wiffie
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Post by King Fisher on Apr 4, 2012 17:53:05 GMT 10
G’day fellow vv’ers, I have been at it now for about a year restoring my ’59 home built vv. Things stalled for a bit due to commitments but now I’m back into it in full swing, hoping to get some travelling at Christmas. So far I’m stripping off the old paint on the outside of the van and have just rebuilt the front under the window sill. Looking forward to not having to sand or paint strip any more… When I first got my VV home: Poor baby had been used as a shed for a bit, Ripped off the front as some water damage had got into the wood in the corner under the front window. Current state of restoration: Outside- Inside- Then it’s onto the roof…
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Post by King Fisher on Apr 4, 2012 17:18:54 GMT 10
I have always named my cars, motorbikes and now I am starting to toss up a name for my vintage van. My first car was called the “Yellow Perril” a 1973 Gallant who’s main color looked like baby diarear ie: yellowish mustard, and had a camo paintjob consisting of an extra 4 variants of yellow paint. My next gallant was green and I called it Kermit While I was living in Vietnam I had a Honda Suber Cub 50 (50cc) motorbike which I called Bear after Bear Cub – Extremely strong and robust bike When the police repossessed Bear (Long story, but basically the shop sold a stolen bike with fake papers… Doh! And I had just done it up beautiful), I then got a new Suzuki Shogun R which I called Shotgun – 125cc/55km per Litre/ top speed 120ks fairly sporty for VN Then back in Oz it was a 1985 white sigma station wagon who got the name Herby because of his stubborn nature, If and I mean IF!!! he started after much grinding and cranking, it was then many prayers that he won’t stop till you get there. Boiled in traffic and hated hot weather, even though it’s A/c was like a blizzard. Many times were spent at the intersections madly trying to restart the little critter. I currently have a CT110 postie bike I call “Pat” after “postman pat” And my wife has a Mazda 121 called “Jelly Bean” And about a year ago we bought what we believe is a 1959 home built vv which we believe is based on a ‘care free’. Needing some love to bring it back to life. Still an ongoing project. We have decided to use my grandmother’s nick name “Bessie” When I first got my VV home:
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Post by King Fisher on Feb 8, 2010 11:03:48 GMT 10
Ok just to throw another option into the mix pot... (Purists please turn away now) How about two-pac? any good for the exterior and cupboard doors?
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Post by King Fisher on Jan 24, 2010 16:55:51 GMT 10
Hi, I think you are right 'cobber', It does look a lot like a "Care free" from the outside, and possibly the windows have been changed. I must admit that it has grown on me more and more and I am looking forward to the swan that will emerge after it's fully cleaned up.
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Post by King Fisher on Jan 21, 2010 12:23:01 GMT 10
Excuse me if i make a big mess of this post, as I am new to the message boards. My name is Kam and I recently bought this old bondwood caravan and would love some id on it. I suspect that it was a home built van which was finished in 1958/9 and first used in Jan 1959 as I found an old magazine with a classic Pepsi add under one of the seats dated as Jan 1959. However the long single windows on the front and back are tossing me as I have not seen this very much at all in old photos. Inside the van on the left is a fold down table/small dbl bed. A kitchen with no fridge, inset sink, double action hand pump and a shields jetflame two burner cooker made by maxco industries in nsw. by james shields co/pty/ltd. On the right is a double robe cupboard with 12 volt car battery box. Next to the tall cupboard is a set of double draws and at the end is a couch which folds up into a bunk for two skinny single beds. The outside of this 'ugly duckling' The kitchen and table folded down The rear bunk beds - top bunk just in view
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