Vintage Lino patterns.

[cobber]

G'day seeshell ;D

Thanks for posting all that great reference material and attracting some ladies to what was a pretty dry old thread
All we need now is some more photos of Lino in people's vans so we can get an idea if the van manufacturers of the day were using the most modern Lino available at the time........ I tend to think they would have, but we need more examples to draw a conclusion...........aye?

Cobber.

[boblor]

Hi seeshell
You are a wealth of knowledge, you are a great asset to this forum. How do you find time to work on your van . I think I know, you just instruct that man of yours to his daily tasks.
Cheers and keep up the good work, and I may catch up with you in the New Year.
boblor

[humpyboy]

Hmmm getting some good ideas here, keep them pics coming.
Will try to get a picture of the tiles (or whats left of them) in the Roadcruiser at some stage.

[Don Ricardo]

Hi all,

Thanks to Cobber and Seeshell for their terrific contributions to this thread, and to everyone else who has also posted examples of lino. Who would have thought that the history of lino could be such an interesting subject?

Surf Tragic has already commented that the leadlight Don series all seemed to have variations of green lino, at least in the vans produced after WWII. This is correct as far as I am aware. This is the lino in our 1949 Don:



This is very similar, but not identical to the lino in Mark T's 1950 Don that Surf Tragic provided a photo of above.

When my parents bought our van, my mother set about fitting this lino in the bottom of all of the floor level cupboards and the wardrobe:



Being a woman who lived through both the depression and then WWII, I think my mother would have used up some scraps of lino for this task that she got from somewhere or another, but in any case this lino and the pattern would definitely be pre-1950.

On the subject of the lino in the leadlight series Dons, this is a photo of the lino in Mark T's 1956 Don:



Sorry for the rather poor photo, and it doesn't help that there is a layer of dust over the floor (the pic was taken before Mark purchased the van and restored it). But it does give you an idea of the lino being used by Don in 1956. It is a green fleck design which is similar, but again not identical to the lino on the floor of Mark's 1950 Don.

We have commented before that you could have a post-War Don in any colour you liked, just so long as it was cream with green trim. We can now add: And you could have any colour lino on the floor you liked so long as it was green without a distinct pattern... ;D ;D ;D

Don Ricardo

[cobber]

Can't believe I started this thread without showing the Lino in Ol' 36 or Driftwood.
Also find it hard to accept that the craftsman who built Ol' 36 put four bits of black Lino on the floor and painted around the edges with green paint...... but that's what was on the floor when I got her.



Maybe new Lino was hard to get after the Great Depression ...... Maybe it was put in the van after WW11 .....nah, we've see good examples of Lino in 1930s vans.
I wish this van could tell me her life story.


Driftwood (late 1950s) has 12'' square inlaid Lino tiles.



There..... I've shown you mine, how about you show us yours

Cobber.

[cobber]

Here's a class act

This is a Lino hall runner JBJ bought back in 2009 off eBay


And here it is after having it laid in Lucille by somebody who knew what he was doing


Cobber

[cobber]

Lino in a 1959 Propert


Lino in a New Zealand van from the 1930s ? Very similar to that used in the early Australian Don caravans ?


Lino in a 1950s Home made

Nice aye?

In a 1959 Ramsay van


In an Adventurer van, 1950s ?


Cobber.

[cobber]

The Lino in this very special 1947 Botterill & Fraser caravan



Cobber.

[grandad]

Howdy all,
I'm working on a 1969 Franklin Mini. It would appear the original square tiles were covered with a more modern lino at some early stage of the van's life as they are in quite good condition.

I have no need for them, so if anyone is restoring a 1960's Franklin and you could use them, shoot me a PM.

Here's a snap of one.
www.byers.net.au/jim/100_0995 (Medium).JPG[/img]

The bright sun has washed the pic out. They are actually a bit more greenish/olive?
Theres a dozen or more.

Hope someone can use them. They're in Bendigo.
If not, they at least serve as one more reference to early patterns.
Cheers
Jim

[seeshell]

Sourcing Vintage Flooring

In the 1950s both vinyl composite and linoleum were used. They could be solid colours, or frequently had a streaked effect.

Continuous Sheet

Forbo Flooring systems make Artoleum Piano which has a two-tone speckle effect on a primary colour structure. It comes in 14 bright colours, and some which would suit later vans. This streaky lino is too bright to replicate early streaky lino from the 1930s and 1940s, but would be perfect in the 1950s and 1960s.

www.forbo-flooring.com.au/Residential-flooring/Products/Marmoleum-Global-3/Artoleum-Piano/

Additionally the Scala range is a multicolour lino which would also be applicable in later van applications – from Forbo’s Commerical range:

www.forbo-flooring.com.au/Commercial-flooring/Products/Marmoleum/General-purpose-Linoleum/Marmoleum-Global-3/Artoleum-Scala/

Toli Linotesta also produce a streaked flooring which might suit your applications:

www.cbcflooring.com/toli/results.php?category=2&secondary=6

Lino Tile Options

Armstrong Commercial floor tile in Excelon Imperial Texture comes in 75 colours

www.armstrong.com/commflooringna/product_details.jsp?item_id=381

They also make true linoleum as does Forbo Marmoleum. These options are beautiful and traditional, but not completely waterproof and do require more care including hand washing/scrubbing and sealing on a regular basis.

Congoleum is quite an old company which continue to offer their CX series which are tiles with light backgrounds with a streaking effect – very reminiscent of late 1950s to early 1960s used in kitchen applications. They come in white/grey, white/pebble, beige/white, and white/deep blue streaking.

congoleum.com/com-products.php?product_line=CX%20Series

Example of white/deep blue:



Another streaky floor supplier is Azrock Cortina line. They come in an incredible range of colours many in a vintage palette ranging from light colours up to quite strong darks. This company even offer shuffleboard kits – some people may remember these from their youth!

www.azrock.com/Products/tabid/242/Default.aspx?cid=64

Some examples of Cortina line (a light and a dark):





More Tile Looks

In the early 1960s with the roman revival, many flooring options included pebble, terrazzo, mosaic looks, flagstones, slate, and Moorish looks. A parallel look was atomics. Colour block tiles still continued but were moving away from patters to more Mod looks.

1960s Kitchens







This type of tile sometimes come up on eBay and also at restoration centres where there is old stock. And of course it shows the traditional black and white squares that is often considered a "stylised diner look" but was popular and used in homes.

Plenty options of the black and white are still available - either in more modern vinyl or by combining black and white tiles.

As I find other suppliers I'll add them.

Cheers,
Seeshell

[uglyroadkill]

Hi, Just new to this forum. Attached is a photo of the lino tile in my Trendsetter that I bought off my grandpa before he died. Don't think they are original but they do have a great pattern.

[humpyboy]

And finally the tiles in my Roadcruiser ;D

[shesgotthelook]

1963? Viscount original floor.
Also stands for Vintage Caravan ;D

[cobber]

The Lino tiles in a '63-'64 Valiant van...... see how Murray saved the tiles Here



Cobber

[mikeoz22]

I found the following remnants of this lino patter in the valiant caravan project - not as exciting as the 50s patters though.

[cobber]

These pages are from a Nairn catalogue I've had in safe storage since we built our house back in 1966



The Marbled pattern came in both sheets and tiles


Tiles only


Some suggested designs from Nairn.


Cobber.

[cobber]

Very nice Lino in a 1955 Atlantic caravan


You can see the van on this thread

Cobber.

[cobber]

Original Lino fitted in custom made 1952 caravan
( Thanks George )



Cobber.

[cobber]

The Lino in Stephen and Julie's no name ::) van




Cobber.

[seeshell]

Hi All

I think that the lino in Trish_M's homemade van is a different colourway of Stephen&Julies ManorVan (as I'm going to call it!).

Trish_M's Homemade Van's Lino:



Stephen&Julie's Lino:


You can note how the colours get "brighter" as we get closer to the 1950s - but the continued to use the same tooling for a long time. The tooling was expensive, and people tended not to change house styles and decor as often as we do now - so "looks" stuck around for much longer.

I would still say though that Trish's van (being homemade) would have sourced some offcuts - being the practical souls they were. So the flooring probably predates the van by some time.

Cheers
Seeshell

[cruisindoug]

While I think of it here is the lino that was in the 1962 Sunliner:



Cheers

Doug

[seeshell]

Lino in a 1955 Furness



Seeshell

[Franklin1]

A number of the photos "pinned" to this Pinterest page have been lifted from this forum, but there are some others that still might be of interest: Vintage caravan vinyl/lino floors

[cobber]

G'day Al,

The owner of that page is ...... I think, a member of this forum.

Maybe they would like to contribute to this thread some of the patterns we don't have

Cobber.

[akeepsake]

From the homemade van in the Launceston museum ( late 30s???)