our van

[Franklin1]

G'day humpty,

any-one want to take a whack

Nup, don't disagree with what you've said. But then the same applies to many other brands of van. Viscounts/Ambassadors/Valiants are also guilty of "same old - same old" from 1964 to 1970, and yet we see more of them on the forum than we do of Millards. Why is it so?

One thing I will challenge you on is the statement "... with no real charisma ...except for 1958 to 1965 ;D ". While I don't necessarily say the following van has "charisma", I do think it is the most interesting van that Millard produced.

I give you, the 1968 Millard Sundecker...




I could even see you sitting on the deck at the back of this van, keeping an eye on your harem of assorted vintage 'ladies'.

cheers,
Al.

[hilldweller]

Wow that's cool. Ever seen one in real life?

isambard your van looks great

[isambard]

Jun 14, 2012 21:45:48 GMT 10 Franklin1 said:

I give you, the 1968 Millard Sundecker...

that thing's off its head

[isambard]

Jun 14, 2012 20:17:34 GMT 10 humpty2 said:

I'm gunna stick my chin out now..........any-one want to take a whack
Why are the not many Millards on here?

Maybe because they were/are considered mundane/ordinary vans with no real charisma ...except for 1958 to 1965 ;D
People associate Millard vans with mass productiuon and the 16'X8' is a prime example (but one day)
I will get another member on here to show pictures of his 17'6" 61/62 Millard one day....that will change the conception of Millards.
OK.......go for me

I'll pay that! and admit out loud that I find the post 65 Millards plug ugly - offset front windows and hoppers and awkward body shape etc

my question pertained particularly to the seeming lack of earlier (and much nicerer) Millards. they strike me as being as good looking - if not better looking - than similarly aged, also mass produced, Viscounts. so it all seemed, I dunno, odd

[Franklin1]

The Circus's used them on there travels and towed with small trucks.

That's true, Iris. And they didn't stop at these "smaller, piddly-sized" vans either. In 1970, Phyllis Ashton had a whopping 37ft Millard Grande Villa specially built, complete with retractable rear verandah based along the same lines as the Sundecker rear deck... lace railings and all that.


I've only seen two of these Sundeckers "in the flesh", so to speak. One was listed on ebay in 2010...




...and the other I've seen lying "abandoned" in the long grass at the back of a property on the NSW Central coast somewhere.

Back in the old days, if you had the money to spend, then nothing stood in the way of getting one of these Sundeckers to your property, as this 1968 story shows...



cheers,
Al.

[Geoff & Jude]

hi all

the current caravan world has a lead story of the all new sky deck, made by royal flair.

it's a 5' 7" fold up/down deck on the front of a 21' caravan that folds down onto the drawbar.



the story asks "is this the future of caravan design" but as the old saying goes - there's nothing new under the sun.

in this case it's an old idea put on the other end of the van.

geoff 'n jude

[Franklin1]

Sounds like everything old is new again...

This is part of the article in the archives about the Phyllis Ashton van...






See what you've started here isambard??!!


cheers,
Al.

[Roehm3108]

Gee Al, with only 30 of these sundeckers built, you've seen almost 10% of them ;D ;D ;D ;D Not often you can say that about a mass produced caravan.

Ray

[humpty2]

I know where there is one of those.........it's at Bulahdelah.
Don't know if it's available though......I wasn't interested enough to ask

[hilldweller]

Jun 15, 2012 17:33:49 GMT 10 Geoff & Jude said:

hi all

the current caravan world has a lead story of the all new sky deck, made by royal flair.

it's a 5' 7" fold up/down deck on the front of a 21' caravan that folds down onto the drawbar. the story asks "is this the future of caravan design" but as the old saying goes - there's nothing new under the sun.

in this case it's an old idea put on the other end of the van.

geoff 'n jude

Suppose it was bound to happen . Doesn't look nearly as classy as the old ones though.

[shaneandsimoen]

Hello Geoff & Jude,

saw one of those Sky Deck at the Caravan show in Melbourne, good idea.

Set up took less than 2 minutes.

Shane

[isambard]

well, she arrived safely. and guess what - no numbers or letters on draw bar!

anyway, here she is. still sporting her Brown Carpet

[isambard]

and those godawful flourescent lights! thank goodness original lights still there.

but further to the age question, previous owner says the 1965 date was merely a guesstiomate at initial rego time. plus the complete lack of any sort of number on or near the draw bar or chassis - I think it's pretty safe to say 61 or 62 at this point. either way, happy me!

[Miss Molly]

She's BEWDIFUL! (Brown carpet and all!) MM x

[isambard]

aw shucks, ta, miss mollykins

[Franklin1]

Have you drawn up the plans for the rear deck yet?

I'd go for 1961. If you're ever found out to be wrong, you'll only be out by a year either way.

cheers,
Al.

[Don Ricardo]

Hi Franklin1 and Isambard,

Franklin1 has produced some very interesting info about the development of the Millard range. The thing that I have noticed is that the two Millards shown in Reply #4 and Reply #9 on the DHL Millard thread appear to be very similar (even identical?) to Isambard's van except that the two vans on the DHL thread don't have the wrap around windows. That suggests that they are earlier than Isambard's (and Humpty2's) van OR that the Millard produced non-Deluxe models which didn't have the wrap around windows.

The van in Reply #9 was identified by the seller as being 1962/3. Maybe they were guessing on the date or, if correct, it may add some weight to the suggestion that the Deluxe had the wrap arounds. Both have diamond embossed aluminium cladding like Isambard's and Humpty2's.

What do you think? Isambard can you compare the pics of the Reply #9 van with yours and tell us how similar (or not) they are in terms of fittings, etc? (I know yours has two single beds at the back while the Reply #9 van has a divan, but apart from that...?)

Incidentally the Reply #9 van was bought by someone on the forum, so there's another member for your Millard Appreciation Society!

By the way Isambard - hope you don't mind that the thread on your van is getting filled up with Millard ephemera? Once you show us some more photos of your van it may get back on track (or maybe not! ;D ;D ;D).

Don Ricardo

[isambard]

hi DR. once again, many thanks to the brains trust for taking the time to provide all this interesting material

as regards your question, my van is identical internally to both you mentioned in DHL thread - apart from the berth configuration. can't find a single point of difference. it does seem that these De Luxe models were made concurrently with a "base" model - as per the reply #9 van and the one currently listed on ebay. and further, it seems likely that the De Luxes were sometimes made to order - given mine is a non-standard 14'6"

oh, and I dont mind the ephemera one little bit

cheers, and thanks again!

[isambard]

Jun 16, 2012 21:58:29 GMT 10 Franklin1 said:

Have you drawn up the plans for the rear deck yet?

I'd go for 1961. If you're ever found out to be wrong, you'll only be out by a year either way.

cheers,
Al.

will start on deck (with jacuzzi) tmoro