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Post by kyliegirl on Apr 25, 2012 14:15:13 GMT 10
Hi again. opening up a thread about Betsy in the hope that someone might be able to tell me more about her, and as a place to update with resto pics. the seller said that she believes our van was made circa 1953 and that she thinks it is a "rowville". she has no identifying marks externally that i can see but i did find some scrawls inside her cupboards.    the only negative so far for me has been her curtains. they were filthy and rotten, and as i had feared, even though i was so gentle with washing them by hand, they just disintegrated. fortunately she has a privacy curtain stored in the cupboard which is in lovely condition. one day i may make some cushions or something for her from this original curtain. fortunately i have found a fairly similar seersucker to make some replacements for the windows! |
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Post by greedy53 on Apr 25, 2012 16:38:48 GMT 10
welcome i see in then first pic that you are using a vv hand brake i'm not much help with naming your van
i do like that shape,and seems to be in great shape
steve
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Post by Don Ricardo on Apr 25, 2012 16:40:24 GMT 10
Hi Kyliegirl, Congratulations on your acquisition - looks like a great little van, and I reckon you and your family will have a lot of fun in it and with it.  My suggestion is that your van may be a Globe. I'm pretty certain that it is a South Australian built van because of: - The general shape.
- It has a canvas roof, which was a feature of many South Australian vans, but not so common in other states.
- The design incorporates a distinct dividing point between the roof and front and rear walls, which again was a feature of many South Australian vans. The roof of vans produced in other states tended to join the front and back panels in an unbroken curve.
- It is registered in South Australia. That sounds a bit simplistic, but up until the mid 60's caravan manufacturers tended to only sell vans within their own state. The vast majority of vans unearthed by forum members have been found within the van's state of manufacture. Strange but true!
OK, now the reasons I'm suggesting it may be a Globe are as follows: - The shape which is very similar to pre-1960 Globes.
- Like Globes, it has a single cambered roof as opposed to a double cambered roof. This means that if you look at the roof line from the front or the back it only curves from front to back, not side to side. If you look at a picture of a Rowvan, which have a double cambered roof, you'll see how the roof line curves from side to side as well as up and over from front to back, which is different from yours.
- The roof seems to have a little channel to direct water at each corner. This was a characteristic of many Globes (and I can't think of any other brand that had it).
- The very obvious 'eyebrows' above each of the side windows.
- Like Globes, the inside does not have a tudor ceiling, which was a feature of most other South Australian built vans. A tudor ceiling refers to having exposed ribs/joists across the ceiling. Again have a look at some photos of Rowvans which had tudor ceilings.
- Like many Globes, the inside head height cupboards are fitted right into the corners of the van at both the front and the back. Again not a feature of all vans.
Your van has different shaped wheel arches to Globes, but my guess is that they may have been modified when some repairs were made to the external ply cladding along the floor line, as indicated by the additional pieces of ply attached along the floor line and around the wheel arch. Have a look at the vans on the Globe thread in the DHL section here, and see what you think. There are no vans there that are exactly the same as yours, but enough similarities to at least give us a working hypothesis. There are some more features of your van that I can point to, but have a look and tell me what you think. One of the tricky things about early Globes (or what we think are early Globes) is that Globe didn't seem to put a logo or brand name on their vans until the mid-50's, which makes life hard for us 60 years on! Regarding the date of your van, and assuming it's a Globe, I'd say that 1953 is quite possible, because of the side windows which have wooden framed windows with 90 degree corners. Soon after that date many manufacturers - including Globe - adopted 'Bosse and Eunson' style windows which had wooden frames but curved corners. Then around 1955/56 many manufacturers - including Globe - adopted aluminium framed windows. By the way, what do the scrawls in the cupboards say? Often caravan builders actually wrote the date of manufacture (or a serial number) in pencil inside cupboards or draws. I will look forward to hearing what you think about the above. Don Ricardo |
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Post by kyliegirl on Apr 25, 2012 19:51:23 GMT 10
Hi Steve! thanks for the welcome (= Don! thank you so much for taking the time to give me such a detailed response. many of the vans in the thread you linked to have similar features to our Betsy. from memory the wood on the trim above Betsy's wheel arches is a little rougher so perhaps not original as you suggest! this one that i just copied/pasted from that thread has a very similar/practically identical shape: ------------------------------------------------------- Here is another van that looks similar to the one above...  (source: taken from this forum, relates to punkyfunster ) ------------------------------------------------------- as for the cupboard scrawls, one says 'REED' written in lead pencil, capital letters. then there is a painted 'LR' in the Left Rear cupboard, painted in caps, same colour as the cupboards (assuming this means it was to be placed in the left rear of the van..... unless maybe Lou Reed made it?) and then in the bottom of the wardrobe, is this - unfortunately i think it says 'box cleats' which i guess means our van is made from secondhand rubbish??  |
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Post by kyliegirl on Apr 25, 2012 20:02:43 GMT 10
Rod (my better half) is actually freaking out a bit - there are some parts on her lower half which are rather fragile and he thinks she might need re-skinning. *sigh* a bit overwhelmed at our lack of expertise, and also excited about the challenges ahead
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Post by Don Ricardo on Apr 25, 2012 22:36:55 GMT 10
Hi Kyliegirl, Yes, I agree the Globe you have referred to is very like yours. It has aluminium framed windows, so is probably from 1955/56 onwards and therefore younger than yours, but the shape is almost identical to yours. It has the little horizontal window over the galley which yours doesn't, but they only seem to have been introduced around the time of the Globes with 'Bosse & Eunson' style windows (say 1954 onwards). One more thing about your van is that it has the additional reinforcement under the A-frame which can be seen on almost all Globe caravans (including the Globetrotter models). I think that pretty well clinches it for me that your van is an early 50's Globe. I can understand why Rod might be freaking out a bit about some of the things he's found. However, there are lots of examples on the forum of people who have replaced the cladding on their vans, and even some of the frame where necessary. It takes time, obviously, but is by no means impossible, or even all that difficult (not that I've done it  :  There are plenty of people who have 'been there, done that', who I am sure will be happy to give you advice and encouragement. Olfarts is one, but there are many others. Have a look at Franklin1's current project for example - he's actually taken his van apart right down to the chassis and started to rebuild it from there. You won't have to do that, but it shows what is possible. Regarding what is written in the cupboards - sounds as if it doesn't tell you much in this case, but REED may have been the name of the customer for whom it was built. I note that the van has clips for an annexe on the door side. Did you get the annexe with it by any chance? Bonus if you did. Don Ricardo |
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Post by kyliegirl on Apr 26, 2012 7:37:06 GMT 10
no Don - there was no annexe in sight. it must have been lost or perished because the seller would have passed that on to us if it were lying around somewhere. one day we would love to get something custom made for her, but for now we shall be relying on tarps.
thanks for the encouragement, Don.
Hi again, Dave. had a quick browse through the thread - thanks for the link! there is a LOT of info here (it's great). i shall have a proper look through with Rod when he is home from work tonight.
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Post by takeiteasy on Apr 26, 2012 12:02:18 GMT 10
Kylie, I recently bought a van, not suspecting it needed much done to it. I also was/am a bit overwhelmed at my lack of expertise; however, one step at a time and it gets done. I am actually quite enjoying the process and am not sure what I will do with myself when its finished.
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Post by kyliegirl on Apr 26, 2012 17:28:06 GMT 10
I am actually quite enjoying the process and am not sure what I will do with myself when its finished. haha! that's easy - buy another (= thanks for the encouraging words! do you have a thread open where i can view pics of your caravan? |
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Post by takeiteasy on Apr 26, 2012 22:54:12 GMT 10
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Post by hilldweller on Apr 27, 2012 10:38:51 GMT 10
Rod (my better half) is actually freaking out a bit - there are some parts on her lower half which are rather fragile and he thinks she might need re-skinning. *sigh* a bit overwhelmed at our lack of expertise, and also excited about the challenges ahead Ah yes, I remember that stage LOL. Take it slowly. Start with the bits you feel reasonably confident about. Look closely and take pics of anything original before you take it off, so you can see how it was put together. Most important, when in doubt, have a look at some of the threads on here and ask questions, or in person if you get the opportunity - there's a wealth of expertise on the forum and some very generous people willing to share their knowledge. I'd never done anything like this before starting on my van. There are certainly some parts that are best not looked at too closely  but others have come together really well and I'm learning and gaining confidence all the time. All the best with your van. |
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Post by kyliegirl on Apr 28, 2012 8:52:24 GMT 10
wow, Bill - chellenging indeed - looks like you are doing well so far (=
thanks, Hilldweller for the good advice. trying to work my way through some of the posts here before i start pestering people with questions. shall certainly be taking pics and looking lots before leaping. the whole reason i hunted this place down was to take advantage of expertise. thanks for your welcome!
Kylie
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There are plenty of people who have 'been there, done that', who I am sure will be happy to give you advice and encouragement. Olfarts is one, but there are many others. Have a look at Franklin1's current project for example - he's actually taken his van apart right down to the chassis and started to rebuild it from there. You won't have to do that, but it shows what is possible.
but others have come together really well and I'm learning and gaining confidence all the time.