millsy
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Post by millsy on Oct 26, 2011 23:08:19 GMT 10
Our family lived in Wittenoom in the mid fifties when I was only 3 or 4 years old. Dad worked in the mine.
I don't remember too much except that's where I started my love of flying. I used to jump off high things! But on one of those jumps I broke my leg, and still have the pic of me trying to ride my little three wheeler with one leg straight out in a cast.
A few years later we were living at Marble Bar, a bit further north. Dad organized the weekly DC3 fruit and veg plane to transport the eleven kids from the primary school down to Wittenoom for the annual sports day. Every other year before that the parents drove the kids down. So we did it in style that year.
But even in the fifties the Marble Bar kids had heard the rumours about all the widows in Wittenoom. A hush came over us as we were bussed down the long main street, and we were whispering to each other about which houses could be the ones with the widows in mourning.
The people of the Pilbara knew there was a problem, way back in the fifties, but whether they knew the men were dying from the ore they mined I am not sure.
Dad was a chain smoker and when ever anyone mentioned that he should quit smoking he just laughed it off saying that the asbestos would get him first. His post mortem at the age of 64 was inconclusive, although he did rely heavily on his bottled oxygen.
And then I had niggling thoughts myself through the nineties, forty years after living there. That's the danger period. But I seem to have survived unscathed luckily.
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millsy
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Post by millsy on Oct 17, 2011 6:04:10 GMT 10
Broome?
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millsy
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Post by millsy on Oct 16, 2011 21:44:33 GMT 10
I think this is in Winton, Queensland. Went through there about ten years ago. Bit of a guess. Just remember some weird 'ornaments' decorating the main street, and lots of big corrugated iron ornaments.
And well done on The Princess Royal Fortress. I reckon Dave got away with that one!
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millsy
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Post by millsy on Oct 16, 2011 8:34:41 GMT 10
I think it is at the highest point of the mountain, another 100 or maybe 200 metres up from, and behind, the Desert Corps Memorial statue. Here is a pic from roughly the same spot, if I am correct, looking back towards the magnificient memorial. And from the front and the plaque at the bottom explaining the history of the memorial. It has travelled a long way! It was a windy day, and the vision was not nearly as clear as your pic Don. But 20 minutes after I was at the top of the Mountain I was having a great swim at that beach just in front of those pine trees, Middleton Beach, at the Albany Surf Life Saving Club. The water was crystal clear despite the good surfing waves. The kite surfers were having fun nearby, and the little nippers were out training also, under the watchful eye of their instructors. And the public change rooms on the side of the new club house had HOT showers. And they were still open at 6 am the next morning when I drove 30km back to Albany to retrieve my bathers, towel and goggles. They were still hanging up in the change rooms where I had forgotten them the evening before! Lovely spot Albany.
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millsy
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Post by millsy on Oct 16, 2011 0:08:29 GMT 10
Gee OlFarts, you just beat me to it every time. But I reckon the few minutes it took me to check out the name of that spot in Albany might have been worthwhile after all!
So my answer is Mount Clarence in Albany. Was there last Xmas.
So Don, what's the answer?
And anyway, you should be in bed by now!
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millsy
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Post by millsy on Oct 11, 2011 21:35:36 GMT 10
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millsy
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Post by millsy on Sept 29, 2011 19:51:33 GMT 10
I wonder whether it is worth doing a 45 degree scarf joint? Especially in the light of the difficulty you have shown us. But well done on your ingenuity!
When I did a bit of training to fix plywood gliders we had to make a practice joints with a 16:1 gradient. We just did it by hand, using a sanding block and the different colours of the ply layers and the glue between them to help guide the process. A 45 degree has only a 1:1 gradient. I dropped it back to a 8:1 ratio when I scarfed in 8 patches on an old sailing dinghy.
As far as I undersand the scarfing is to do with making sure there is no weak point, or stress line, as a result of the join. But with a double skinned wall on a caravan wouldn't a simple butt-joint, reinforced by being supported by a batten along the joint, be plenty strong enough?
It would think it should be easy to make, fill and sand to give an invisible joint when painted.
But I must admit I have not attempted such an invisible butt-joint on my old vans as yet. I Have done the joint many times when replacing sections of rotten cladding, but have not bothered to attempt to make them disappear behind the paint.
I am interested to hear what you, and others, have to say about the underlying theory here.
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millsy
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Post by millsy on Sept 28, 2011 23:53:17 GMT 10
On second thoughts, it has that Strathalbynish look about it?
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millsy
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Post by millsy on Sept 28, 2011 23:52:26 GMT 10
Nup, don't know where that park is mate, but hope your missus doesn't know you are taking pics of good looking young gals like that. You might end up sleeping out in the Wayfarer by yourself! But not a bad sort of dog-house I guess!
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millsy
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Post by millsy on Sept 28, 2011 22:42:16 GMT 10
Too easy! I thought it might be a tricky one. Here is a bit more info about the place, with a few quotes that I copied off that billboard;
After getting home and checking some of the billboard photos of Menzies I found that my 'middle of no-where’ feelings about the place were shared by a foreigner a few years earlier, a well respected sculptor. But he put it in a far more poetic manner!
The photo of the billboard is hard to read, so I have typed a few of its explanations out. I found them interesting, and maybe if I had paused to read them while I was ‘in town’ I may, or may not, have driven out to Lake Ballard to check it out.
Inside Australia
This inspiring artwork comprises 51 sculptural figures, and is located on a portion of Lake Ballard, some 50km north-west of Menzies. It was commissioned to mark the 50th Anniversary Celebrations of the Perth International Arts Festival 2003. It was created by acclaimed British artist Antony Gormley;
“Inside Australia was one of the most difficult, long distance, intense, exhilarating, fatiguing endeavours of my life – and the most rewarding.”
Celebrating place and community Apart from two passers-by, the 51 sculptures on Lake Ballard are based on the body scans of inhabitants of the small Goldfields town of Menzies. Gormley wanted to celebrate a community as well as a place. Each abstract figure reveals attitudes, emotions and personal history . . . the passage of that person’s life.
At the edge of endlessness Gomley recalls his first experience of Lake Ballard as;
“absolutely magic . . . of being on the edge of the lip of the world.” Out on the salt lake the figures are ‘markers’ in a vast space where they create a relationship with each other, the land and the horizon . . . the limit of our perception.
What can you throw at us OlFarts?
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millsy
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Post by millsy on Sept 28, 2011 21:56:06 GMT 10
Yes Don, it has been a while since I lived near Burra, but revisited the Monster mine with some 4x4 mates about 18 months ago. And also slept in the car there one night on the way through, a few months later. We left Manoora in '89. That cottage looks familiar too. I am thinking it might be not too far form Porter's Lagoon, the salt lake about 15km south of Burra. I have fond memories of all these places from flying my old wooden vintage glider, often at heights just above the ridge tops, both just north of Burra, and just south of the Lagoon. These being en-route, early in the day (about 12.00 noon - early for cross country glider flying) or late afternoons, when the thermals were weak and not very high. Launch point was from the Barossa Valley Gliding Club, east of Truro, heading out to places like Peterborough, Orroroo, or Quorn. And speaking of salt lakes, here's one about 3000km from Burra! I must admit I only came close to this amazing place. These pics were taken off the tourist info billboard as I stopped at the closest town, about 50km from the lake, last December. Next time I happen to be passing by that way I will definitely make the effort to go off the bitumen to have a look.
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millsy
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Post by millsy on Sept 28, 2011 13:49:54 GMT 10
Those hills in the background sure look the hills north west of the Monster Copper Mine at Burra, SA. Not too far from where I used to live at Manoora. Manoora being only about 5km from where I just discovered a few posts ago that Tom Kruse came from!
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millsy
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Post by millsy on Sept 16, 2011 22:26:54 GMT 10
Daggsey, you are taking me down memory lane too! I was brought up in the north of WA in the fifties. Mum a bush nurse, and Dad a prospector/mine worker. So we lived in some of the towns you have already passed through, and some you are headed for. We lived in Yalgoo, Meekathara, Witenoom Gorge, Marble Bar, Port Headland, and Broome. We left the west for Adelaide, via 6 months in Maryborough Queensland, at the end of '59. We used to drive down to Perth via the 'inland' road through Meekathara, for our annual 2 week Xmas holiday. It used to be dirt all the way from 'the Bar' to not too far out of Perth. It used to take 5 days. Except for the time the upper wishbone snapped on the Humber Snipe, just out of Nullagine. We did the next 500km or so to Meekathara at a speed of 10 miles per hour, with the front wheel leaning over at a 45 degree angle. My sister and myself loved it. We got to camp in the creeks each night, under the ghost gums. More fun than any boring little hotel room! We came over the hill just out of 'Meeka' about 9pm, three days later. We saw the lights of the town, gave a big Hooray, all four of us in unison, and about 1 second later there was this huge bang as the front wheel fell flat to the ground. We had to be towed in the last 2km! I also remember an earlier trip down to Perth when Dad owned a little Austin trayback truck. Looking at an old photo, it appears this truck was hardly as big as my Commodore. But in his prospecting wanderings he actually drove it across the Tanami. Stopping halfway across to do a valve grind job! My pet dog was on the back, and when we stopped for an icecream in the hills near Perth. But when we came out of the shop she had jumped off the back and we never saw her again. I was very upset! That dog used to look after me well as a young kid, 2 or 3 years old. She always brought me 'home' whenever I took off into the scrub. This was when we lived in a tent on the banks of the river in Port Headland. Anyway I visited Marble Bar to look up some mates from the fifties last December. Went via Kalgoorlie, Wiluna and Meekathara, Newman and Nullagine. But did not go into Witenoom. As you say, trucks everywhere. And all the little outback towns, like Leonora, all freshly painted up and with new bitumen, kerbing and street lighting. They are getting a share of the mining profits too. So I am certainly following this trip of yours with a lot of interest and nostalgia! Thanks for the great report. And good luck with your search for an old 'friend'. My quest failed in the end. The two people I was wanting to catch up with both live in Geraldton now. And they are not related! Just a coincidence I suppose. So I am looking forward to another trip across the Nullabor!
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millsy
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Post by millsy on Sept 11, 2011 9:48:03 GMT 10
Thanks for your reply Don. As far as the Newlands van is concerned I need to contact the Newlands company and ask them when they started building caravans. I could send that pic to them in an email and ask them if they have any pics of their early vans that match it. If quality of the internal furniture is anything to go by, it was either built by a good company who made quality vans, or it was built by a craftsman who took great pride in their work. Too bad about the philistine who thought he could save a dollar by turning it into a closed trailer! The second van has an aluminium roof, unlike van#1 which probably has the canvas roof covering that I have been reading about on various posts. Was checking out the inside of Van#1 yesterday. I can see that the wooden tie rails I have installed around the walls are going to come in handy as the support for one side of the bed that I can fabricate. Also to lash the golf bag and buggy to keep them secure! I still like the idea of keeping it as roomy as possible. Other than the bed I don't think I want to clutter it up with cupboards and sinks etc. Probably just a bench table across the front for breakfast. And some slide-out storage boxes under the bed, like in the back of a four wheel drive. I like a bit of room to move around in without bumping into things. At least it will still have its original outside character preserved.
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millsy
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Post by millsy on Sept 10, 2011 22:17:14 GMT 10
Well it looks like I found the answer to my first question. Simple really. It just occured to me what I used to read on the rego certificate every year - Newlands! Checked the sticker on the window. Newlands it says.
Tried looking for info on Newlands caravans on the Web and all I could find was that it seems that they are still in business - making big flash new vans and selling second hand vans.
So whether the van was actually made by the Newlands factory, or whether it was just sold by a Newlands many years ago, before I bought it, is the question.
Does anyone know of any vintage Newlands caravans. And if so, do they bare any resemblance to mine? That being van #1 in the post above.
Hoping some-one can shed some light on the mystery. I have not seen anything like it in all the threads on the forum as yet, and I have looked at quite a lot of them.
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millsy
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Post by millsy on Aug 27, 2011 21:30:01 GMT 10
Great work there jamieson. Shows me the sort of things I could be doing to one of my old vans next year. I hope I don't need to pull the floor out though! I think it has a really solid steel frame under the floor, and I know it has a good solid wooden floor. Well it did 25 years ago when I ripped up the lino and replaced it with carpet. But I am going to have a go at reinstalling some furniture. And I definitely want to put the back wall back on. I had knocked out all the original, quite perfect, wardrobes, cupboards, beds etc. to turn it into a closed trailer. Now I don't need a trailer and so the plan is to do a rebuild. But I will make a decent sized bed up the side. The original bed was too short across the van. Maybe I should just go and buy another VV. Am going to have a look at one tomorrow morning in fact. But that would make three in the front yard! The neighbours will love it!
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millsy
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Post by millsy on Aug 17, 2011 23:17:01 GMT 10
I have been waterproofing and repairing my 60 year old bond wood van using old cotton sheets that my wife throws out. I paint on patches of cotton cloth over sections of the exterior ply that are cracking open. I just use acrylic paint. I first paint the deteriorating surface, then put the patch onto the wet paint, and then paint over the cotton patch to fill the cotton with paint.
I thin the paint a bit, but not too much. Or use a thinner mixture in the gluing process, and then let it dry. Then go back over the dried, or part dried, patch with a thicker mixture to fill the pores and weatherproof the patch leaving a smooth glossy finish when dried.
My van has sat in the weather since I bought it 35 years ago. I have found that these cotton patches last many years. I put some patches on back in the early eighties and they are still doing a geat job of preventing the old ply from opening up in the sun and rain.
Of course if you want to do a neat job you would need to cover the whole side of the van with cotton so their are no 'edge bumps' as there are on smaller patches.
The roof has some sort of thicker covering over the ply. Maybe a bitumized or rubberized fabric. I don't think it is canvas. Where it has cracked open I have just used strips of cotton sheet and painted these strips over these crack lines also. Seems to work quite well. And provided the roof gets it recooat of paint about once every three years, or even once every two if you are keen, the cloth patches last 'forever'.
This method is how the old wooden gliders used to be built. I used to be member of the Barossa Valley Gliding Club and have restored one of the gliders. As well as the wings being 'bagged' in cotton material, or dacron these days, the fuselage ply is also covered in a layer of simple cottn material, just like a bed sheet. So that's where I got the idea from.
Just lately I have even used the same method to repair rust cracks appearing in my old galvanized rainwater tank. A 5 minute job and it works very well. Basically it prevents oxygen from getting to the iron from the outside, so the rusting process is slowed right down.
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millsy
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Post by millsy on Aug 13, 2011 9:50:12 GMT 10
In my first post on the forum I described the two old vans I have, and put up some pics. But I missed putting the outside pics of van#2. I suspect van#1 might be a homemade one because of its unusual shape. But maybe van#2 was built in Adelaide. Not sure if any members could verify that, or offer any other suggestions. The bees built their hive in the chest of drawers, so that is a temporary repair job after I had to cut out the side to remove the nest. I will wait till the summer before I fix it properly as I want to make sure it is completely dried out from a drenching the wood received in a heavy downpour. Those flashings seem to be doing a pretty good job letting the wood dry, even in winter, without letting in too much new moisture. At least I got a couple of buckets of honey out of it!
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millsy
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Post by millsy on Aug 11, 2011 22:45:06 GMT 10
Thanks for all the info Steven. Gives me an idea of what I need to put in the piggy bank. I just checked the set up. The drop axle already sits on top of the springs! So there goes that idea. Anyway, first job will be to pull out the old bearings and take them down to CBC and see what they have and what they cost. The van is quite low at the back anyway, so a straight axle, still on top of the springs, might give it some extra clearance to get through the rough stuff behind the Patrol. I do like to get out in the bush a bit. Actually have headed bush regularly every 12 weeks for the last three years! Have alwyas slept in the car, at window height, so it will be luxury to sleep in the privacy of a caravan! If you want to see what I am playing with I put quite a few pics and info up this morning. See the thread called 'New Member form Adelaide'. It's on the Home Page in the General area - posts after 2008'. Not far from top. By the way, your EK sure does make me wish I still had my beautiful FB. It was gunbarrel grey, almost like yours. I think mine was just a shade lighter. Mine might even have been an EK too, because I dropped in on an EK /FB meet on the weekend. My first car was definitely the EK, with the two tone paint job - green body and white roof. Had it for 10 years before it rusted out. Loved it so much I spotted this gorgeous FB in Freeman Motors car yard. Only $1000 and looked as new. But as I said, it looked just like your EK. No chrome stripe up the side, and just plain grey all over. I asked the guys at the meet what the difference was. They said the FB had the vertical grill slits for the cabin air intake under the windscreen, while the EK had the long horizontal intake grill. Too long ago for me to remember. Only had it a year. Soon after I bought it the motor 'blew up'. Cannot remember the symptoms now, since it was back in '82. The car cost me $1000 and three weeks later I had to spend another $1000 to have a reconditioned motor fitted. The local 'copper' said I should not be driving the car. He was a restorer of old Holdens himself. A fanatic for detail. he had a close look at the glossy paintwork and could not pick any hint of overspray. And all the window rubbers, and door seals, were all like new as well! It was too good to be driven he said. It needed to be preserved in a shed, up on axle stands! But I was too young to value vintage vehicles. I had bought it to drive, and tow my glider to all the comps. That motor only lasted 12 months and it dropped a big end one night, out in the 'sticks' north of the Barossa. I was so angry I just slept the night at the gliding club, and next morning limped it back to the nearest dealer in Nuriootpa and traded it in on a nice Torana. That car lasted me for twenty five years and 450,000km before my son wrote it off for me! About 3 years after I had parted with the beautiful FB (EK?) I saw it on a front lawn in a side street in Nuriootpa. The lady of the house told me that her husband, a panel beater and a spray painter by trade, could not believe the condition of the car. Neither could I, or my policeman friend. The first thing I did when I bought it was to climb under it to give it some anti-rust fishoil treatment. I found the whole underside of all panels, especially the front fenders, just like new. As if it had just rolled out of the showroom. And the car was already 22 years old! One day I might bump into it again to see how it is 'travelling'. So it's good to see that you are enjoying a great EK there too. They sure have heaps of space inside. Especially between driver and windscreen. They don't make them like that anymore! What's the story with yours? Had it long? Did you restore it yourself, or have it painted? Or were you lucky to pick it up as is? Now I look at your pics again I see that your's is actually blue, not grey. Oops. Cheers, Millsy.
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millsy
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Post by millsy on Aug 11, 2011 20:42:37 GMT 10
Good work there, with the new axle and brakes. That's a really spiffy little rig you have there. Love those reflections in the mirror like gloss you have there! I will be starting to do up one of my vintage vans soon, when I retire in about 145.3 days , and I could well do the same thing. I tried finding a spare wheel for it back in the seventies and had no luck after visiting lots of wreckers. I did up my very old sailing dinghy. Four years of work just in that, but loved every minute of it. And then finally got around to do the trailer. They were both built in the fifties I thinkm maybe even earlier - lots of rotten wood and rusty iron in the trailer. I found that the wheel bearings were going to cost me $140 for a pair. Very rare. And I suspect the van's bearings will be the same, or a lot worse! It only cost me about $130 to get a new axle for the boat trailer, complete with hubs to suit more modern rims. So I will probably end up doing the same with the van. But two issues to work out. The van has a drop axle, so if I just get a straight axle its going to pop it up a lot higher. Stability issues maybe. And I am not sue how much its going to cost for electric brakes. The van currently has mechanical/cable brakes. They always performed well, but it has been off the road now for about 18 years!
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millsy
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Post by millsy on Aug 11, 2011 19:53:09 GMT 10
Had the same thing happen to me in '83 while on our honeymoon trip. Was towing a 16 footer aluminium van behind our trusty LX Torana. We had travelled from Riverton, across to Blanchtown, and thenfollowed the River Murray up to its source, over the Great Divide and up the coast to have Xmas in a national park just on the outskirts of Northern Sydney suburbs. Kuringai Chase I think it was called.
Then down the Hume to Melton, just west of Melbourne.
Luckily I was only doing about 40km/hr in a back street when I spotted a wheel overtaking me down the middle of the street. The wheel that had just fallen off the van hitched on behind! Very lucky no cars coming the other way!
Yes, the wheel nuts were too small for the holes in the rims. Amazing that they lasted that long. No damage done to the van.
Also reminds me of when my old bond wood van jumped off the ball when we hit an expansion joint on the Blanchtown bridge over the Murray. We were doing about 85km/hr at the time. A bit scary when you are on a narrow bridge, 100 feet above the water, and the van is skidding around the highway, side to side, behind the car, with only the chains keeping it behind the car. And the effect of this on the back of the car giving merry hell to the steering effort!
Good thing the chains were long enough to let the A frame slide on the bitumen I suppose, because that kept the van from bashing into the car.
I hooked her back on and went slowly back to a servo not far from the bridge. Had a chat with the mechanic there about the problem, and found that the van needed a 2 1/4 inch towball, not a 2 1/8 as I had thought all this time! And he happened to have a spare one in his junk box!
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millsy
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Post by millsy on Aug 10, 2011 23:46:08 GMT 10
Hi there. I have a couple of old bondwood caravans that I plan on restoring when I retire in a few months time. If anyone has seen anything like Van#1 I would be interested in hearing about it. Have not seen anything sinillar on this forum as yet. Van#2 looks a lot like many others, but whether it is a factory product or not I am not sure. I bought Van#1 in about 1977 and it appeared very old and quaint even then. A simple 'boxy' shape, certainly no aerodynamics, except for a curved entry roof 'bulge' about 35cm deep at the front, and simillar shape at back. Just a semicircular bulge at roof height, front and back. And a bit of a curvy front wall, but overall no backward slant in it to help with airflow. I will take some pics on the weekend and post them. It has a couple of wrought iron scrolls bolted on each side under the roof bulge at the front. They give it a gypsy sort of look! I believe the van's last owner was an old felow that lived in it at Kingston on Murray, in South Australia. When I get it back on the road I will take it up there for a weekend and see if I can find an old timer that might recognise it and tell me a bit of its history. Chances would be very slim I would imagine. My guess is that it was maybe built in the 40's or 50's. It did have beautifully crafted cupboards and wardrobes, but I needed a closed trailer for two s/h furniture shops we ran in the eighties. So I removed almost all of this, except for the three ceiling height cupboards across the front. I also cut the back wall off and put some barn doors there to load furniture into it. It has a drop axle with mechanical cable brakes and a 2 1/4 inch tow hitch. I have had to replace rotted exterior ply at all four corners, and just lately a largish section just in front of the door. I screwed an internal framework to the walls to tie the furniture up tight that I was collecting for the furniture shops or delivering to customers. This old van served us well as a delivery trailer over the 6 or 7 years that we were in the business. It knocked up a lot of kilometres both in the city and the country, Manoora, where we lived and had one of the shops in the same premises. The other shop wass in the city. So lots of high speed towing backwards and forwards, often loaded right up to the ceiling with big loads. I used the van to shift all my daughter's furniture and belongongs to Geelong on one occasion. A very slow trip for safety reasons. It was a bit overweight! First job will be to refit a new back wall. Then refurbish the wheel bearings and try to find a spare wheel that matches the existing wheels. Then a new wiring loom and new brake lights etc. The old tow hitch will probably need upgrading to suit current traffic regulations as it just has the star shaped nut with the little spring clip to lock it. I think that's not acceptable anymore. Finally I will reline the interior, and will not bother with rebuilding any wardrobes or cupboards. I will be happy to just find a suitable full length bed to throw in and I'll be ready to hit the road. The van is only 6 feet wide, so the two original beds were a bit too short for me anyway. It will be turned inot a nice modern 'open space' floor plan - one bed, one table, and plenty of room for the golf clubs etc.! Van#2 is still quite old, but a bit younger than #1. Probably from the fifties. Bondwood sides and aluminium front, roof and back. It is a lot wider than Van#1. All the internal furniture is still there, but the quality of this furniture is unfortunately not very high. Nothing like the nicely rounded and perfectly fitting cupboard doors of the other van. Van #1 had proper press button release catches on the bottom hinged doors, but this van just has cheap plastic 'flip catches' on side hinged doors. No brakes on Van#2, but from the only trip I did with it, up to Kingston on Murray as it happened, about 15 years ago, it showed me that it was so much easier to tow than Van#1. Maybe lighter, and maybe the shape had a lot to do with it also. I have had to do some re-skinning on this van also. It is generally in much better shape than van#1, and a lot less work to get it back on the road. But my sentiments are with #1, and so I will be doing that one up first. I have a couple of oldish cars to tow these vans with, both of 1982 vintage - a VH Commodore and an MQ short wheel base Patrol. Both up to the job because I just keep playing with them to keep them going well. Rebuilt the motor in the Patrol about 30,000km ago, and she is purring along nicely now. And the VH drives like a new one! Both on LPG. So now I just need a an old van hitched up behind. Cheers, Millsy.
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