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Post by hilldweller2 on Feb 12, 2022 17:18:21 GMT 10
Through the 1940s Tanner and its by then fairly extensive network of agents/distributers were on a roll and actively promoting the vans through invitations to visit their sale yards, displays at shows and events and a travelogue publication showcasing various destinations. Tanners were also popping up regularly in private 'for sale' and 'wanted' ads. But also, and this is where Mabel fits in, the range of offerings had expanded so that as well as selling factory built vans, new and secondhand, and offering them for hire, they were advertising chassis and blueprints for the home builder. Tanner chassis ad Ashburton Guardian 21 Oct 1947 by Mabel Conway, on Flickr I have had a good look at Mabel's underpinnings and this is definitely her chassis, except that hers is only 10'6". Tanner chassis pic Hutt News 19 March 1947 by Mabel Conway, on Flickr Her build date remains something of a puzzle. Tanner and its agents were all over the newpaper ads until 1950 and then vanished. The date on Mabel's roof was 1952 but her styling is 40s, not 50s. Perhaps she was started in '49 and was a non-progressing project for a while back then too! There's a stamp on her chassis with 9104 - just possibly the 9 is 1949? But actually the bigger puzzle really is that since Tanner were clearly pumping out complete vans, and chassis, at a fair rate of knots nationwide (in NZ) for close to 20 years, WHERE ARE THEY ALL??? Mabel and the two factory-built vans I have seen online can't be the only survivors, surely! I want to go on a caravan hunt LOL!
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Post by hilldweller2 on Feb 12, 2022 17:44:23 GMT 10
Oh and one more thing in case life gets in the way and I do another disappearing act. Several of the Tanner ads mention Runlite coal/wood burning stoves as part of the factory fitout or accessories available to the home builder. These stoves were also being advertised by their manufacturer, Champion, as being specifically designed for the caravan market. IMG20211121184705 by Mabel Conway, on Flickr Champion was a popular make of full-sized coal/wood ranges common in houses of that era but I'm thinking there must have been a fair demand from the caravan fraternity for them to have gone to the trouble of designing and promoting a miniature version. So again I ask: where are all these vans? As it happens, since Mabel has an obvious hole for a chimney and an empty stove alcove, I found a Runlite on TM a few years ago, thinking that it might be what she originally had (and also half hoping to be wrong because who puts a cast iron wood-burning stove in a caravan, seriously? ). I'll get a picture tomorrow to show how small it is. Like a little dinky toy! Edited to add pics, with 440g baked beans can for scale Firebox and grate on the left, oven on the right, two little hotplates to boil the eggs for breakfast, and chimney at back left which is the right place given the position of Mabel's stove alcove and where the chimney hole was in the roof. I think it's complete apart from chimney but would need to get someone who knows to check. The hotplates are sitting in the oven wrapped in newspaper. It's proper cast iron and very heavy - with all the removable bits removed I can just manage to lift it and stagger a few paces. IMG20220213104717 by Mabel Conway, on Flickr IMG20220213104824 by Mabel Conway, on Flickr
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Post by Don Ricardo on Feb 12, 2022 20:44:28 GMT 10
Hi Hilldweller2, Good to hear you may have tracked down some of the origins of your van. That's always very satsifying. Like you, the idea of a wood burning stove in a wooden caravan fills me with a little bit of anxiety. They have never been a "thing" in Australia, although in the 30's, 40's and 50's it was common for people to use petrol and metho stoves, which sounds almost as risky.Many people won't use that type of stove in a van these days, but we had a petrol stove in our van up until the 70's and it worked very well. If I still had it, I'd certainly give it a go (after experimenting with it outside for a bit!!). Of course in the UK wood or coal burning heaters and quite possibly stoves were the standard fitting. I guess, like parts of New Zealand, the cold weather made it a necessity. A few years ago I took some photos of a big, luxury caravan on display at the wonderful motor museum in Glasgow. The van had a gas space heater as shown below. Again something you'd never see in an Australian caravan, but some people are now fitting diesel heaters in their vans. Don Ricardo
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Post by hilldweller2 on Feb 13, 2022 8:42:19 GMT 10
Wow that is amazing! Not just a space heater but the whole mantelpiece thing, carpet and even an armchair!!! I wonder what that van weighs? I haven't looked much at pics of UK vans but it makes sense that like the NZ ones they would have considered heating much more of an essential than the Australian manufacturers. I'll have to have a look.
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Post by Roehm3108 on Feb 14, 2022 8:15:23 GMT 10
Love that stove HD! Forum Member Murray, a resident of another one of our islands, once posted a photo on Cino Vardo's thread, vintagecaravans.proboards.com/thread/17226/meet-cino-vardo which raises the possibility that a stove such as what you show may have lived in the stove alcove of these roads dept work trailers.
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Post by hilldweller2 on Feb 16, 2022 16:00:21 GMT 10
What a weird design! Those chimneys are almost as big as the van to which they're attached. Must have been pretty toasty in there with the fire going I wonder how long the roads dept workers were away from home at a time? And in a further example of how to pretend you're making progress without actually touching the van LOL, I've scored 5 and half proper old wooden awning poles in good condition on TM. So gradually collecting bits that will be useful one day.
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Post by hilldweller2 on Feb 17, 2023 17:15:54 GMT 10
A very sad week here in NZ with the full extent of the damage from Cyclone Gabrielle still emerging, but I am fortunately in one of the unaffected parts of the country and very grateful to be able to do this sort of thing while others have lost so much. So firstly, where has the time gone? I realised at Christmas, while sleeping in a tent , that it is ten years since I found Mabel and eight since I moved from one region to another, had a bit of a change of lifestyle, and backed a naked and skeletal Mabel out of the shipping container in which she had travelled and into an open-fronted shed temporarily 'just until I could get to back to her'. And haven't touched her since Entirely appalled at that realisation and worried at the obvious deterioration to the framing along the front from sun and wind, I decreed 2023 The Year of The Caravan and booked a powered site for next Christmas at my regular holiday spot. Next, part of the problem was not really having anywhere suitable to work on her. So I bit the bullet and found a builder to turn the badly configured shed into a nice comfortable home for Mabel. Currently work in progress, but it won't be long now.... While that's happening, Mabel and my tools are packed up out of the way and I really can't do anything at all here but it was nagging at the back of my mind that my initial attempts 8 years ago at making a start on creating three new wooden windows really weren't very promising So now, after a flash of inspiration, I'm doing a woodwork class one night a week with the aim of getting the windows done, and have someone who knows what he's doing and a whole workshop full of very cool tools at my disposal. And finally... fiiiiiiiiinally... there is some actual progress towards getting Mabel back on the road. Currently at the jenga blocks stage LOL but its undeniably progress and I am very excited and hope to be able to post more soon. And regularly. Until she is finished. By Christmas. Definitely!!!!!!! Pics are the 'jenga blocks' and framing from one of the old windows with a complicated looking joint I will need to recreate 12 of over the next few weeks. The new timber is kahikatea and very nice to work with. The timber people identified the original framing as kauri, which you can't buy any more.
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Post by Don Ricardo on Feb 17, 2023 20:03:50 GMT 10
Hi Hilldweller,
It is very sad indeed to read what impact the cyclone has had New Zealand. Such devastation .
Great to hear your plans for Mabel in the 'Year of the Caravan' though. We'll all be barracking for you along the way and standing at the finishing line to wish you a very happy holiday!
Excellent idea to do the woodworking course with it's accompanying access to tools and expertise. Maintenance I can do, but I would need something similar to the course you are doing if I was to tackle a ground up restoration I think. One of our other Forum members KCK arranged to restore her caravan in a shed/factory belonging to a wooden boat restorers club. I think they made fun of her at the beginning and doubted that she could do it, but provided advice and tools, etc, and in the end I think had pretty much "adopted" her! I've seen the finished product and must say she did a superlative job.
Anyway it will be great to hear about your progress and see some pics along the way.
It will be really helpful to have a shed to work in.
Don Ricardo
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Post by Roehm3108 on Feb 18, 2023 7:36:08 GMT 10
Congratulations for coming out of Vintage caravan restoration hibernation! With a lady like Mabel haunting you, I'm surprised it hadn't happened sooner. That is one complex corner window frame joint. More power to you for attempting to master the art of building the same. I'm sure you'll succeed, based on your past performance. Good luck with your project and just make sure you keep us posted. Going back to the previous stove chats for a minute. A huge inspiration for my Cino Vardo build was an American chap who had built one on similar lines. Even with such small vans, wood-burning stoves are still popular and you can see from this pic that this guy installed one too, just inside the rear door. It's pretty over-sized, but he got it for free!! They're OK as long as you make sure you have a hearth and insulated walls around them.
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Post by hilldweller2 on Feb 25, 2023 17:06:30 GMT 10
That's another lovely van. That one and Cino Vardo together would have been a great site. Pretty toasty in there with that big fire going Nothing photo-worthy to report but thought I'd better post in case anyone thinks I've done another disappearing act. The jenga blocks now have lots of pencil marks and hoping to get the mortises cut, or at least started, at class this week. Mabel's new home is waiting on various building materials which shouldn't be too far away. In the meantime I've reconfigured a work table purchased cheaply on Trademe in anticipation of 20ish sheets of hardboard to cut and begun making a trolley to store the offcuts. It is good I am practicising on these things and not on Mabel as my hands and my brain are both very clumsy after such a long time. I'm enjoying it though. I had forgotten how relaxing woodwork can be Oh and I've ordered some Lino from the UK!!! Can't quite believe I've done that but the original stuff has completely given up and will have to be completely removed as it may or may not contain asbestos, and I could not find anything period-appropriate locally, new or used. The stuff I've ordered is very reasonably priced if it's as good as it looks, but the postage and rigmarole associated with getting it shipped was unbelievable. It should arrive mid March or thereabouts, assuming it doesn't get lost en route. I am not very confident
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