"Griffin's Den II" - homebuilt bondwood

[griffin]

Having started out in Vintage caravan ownership with an Olympic Debonair, which I'm very happy with, my yearning for an earlier bondwood van continued to linger.

I'm pleased to say it has been quenched with a purchase from eBay of what appeared on the Forum as the 'Whittlesea Bondwood' over a month ago. I've only just been able to get to Victoria to collect it, and view it for the first time, and Barbara and I are both very pleased with it ;D ;D Unlike the Debonair which was spotted within minutes of me picking it up, 'WB' managed to get from Melbourne to Sydney over two days without being detected by the Forum's radar it seems:o

Thanks to Cobber who organised for Margie 2 to have a look at it on my behalf and the wait to hear the result was agonising, given that the seller had a 'buy it now' price and it could have gone off at any time. I was ready to buy it anyway on what I could see, but it was reassuring to have someone other than the seller's word on just what it was like.

So it's home and the work will begin, not that there is much to do, the roof needs repainting, brakes will need to be sorted and eventually there will likely be an exterior repaint. The interior is headed for a good clean up only and some new soft furnishing, I really want to keep it as original as I can.

While I'm no expert on bondwood caravans it appears to be to be well built and finished and it's certainly sturdy, weighing in at 1.3tonne when I put it over the weighbridge at Benalla. I had to know as it seemed very easy to move and I can even lift the drawbar so I was hoping it might fall in the old formula of 1 foot = 1 cwt, unfortunately not so, which means it may not suit the Velox

I had intended to pick it up with the Velox and tow it back with a UVP but the longer it went the more concerned I was about the unknown weight and the fact that it had nothing other than a handbrake so I borrowed the son in laws Toyota 3l diesel 4x4 ute for the job and it towed well and easily behind the Toyota. After checking the tyres a couple of times we completed the trip on cruise control travelling between 100 and 110kph with absolutely no sign of misbehaviour. I’m spoilt now for a tow vehicle now though and I’m wondering if I can graft a Velox body onto a Toyota ute

Now the detective work begins to find out something about it. The vital statistics are; 15 foot 4 inches long (4.7m) and 6 foot eight inches wide (2.3m), all lighting is 12 volt only and there is only 2 x 240 power points fitted. It has a built in ice chest and a 12 volt valve radio. It is plywood with a timber frame with Masonite used on the curved ends beneath the windows, and an aluminium stone guard over the Masonite at the front. I don’t know what the roof material is as yet but it is the only part that needs any real work as the thick paint which is on is it is cracked and coming off in places. The fabric underneath and the roof seems intact though. It has a drop axle with what appears to be Chevrolet 16 inch, 6 stud wheels. And it has lots of quirky little features to tickle a bondwood owners fancy

I suppose it will always be known as the 'Whittlesea Bondwood' but in fact only a very short part of it's life was spent there, it was apparently built and owned by the one family from a small town in N.S.W. between Echuca and Deniliquin, hopefully more detail will surface in time.

Thanks to Margie 2 for their assistance in helping me make the decision and their hospitality for the recovery

George

[Roehm3108]

Looks a great van, and I can see why you fell in love with it. Enjoy!!!

[shesgotthelook]

What a super looking van Griffin. They are out there but the ones of the genre in such good order are the holy grail.
Enjoy
PS would love to see some interior pics

[Deleted]

you can see inside photos in the original ad here:

www.ebay.com.au/itm/CARAVAN-BONDWOOD-1940-ISH-VINTAGE-OLD-UNIQUE-COLLECTABLE-VAN-/321155520217?pt=AU_Caravans_RVs&hash=item4ac65c56d9&clk_rvr_id=510689093935#ht_427wt_1088

conti

[Deleted]

well done George, ......that's a lovely van with many interesting features.

I very nearly hit the "buy it now" button myself, but waited .....oh well...... saves me yet another trip across the paddock ;D

Looking forward to seeing it behind an appropriate tow car, 1.3 tonnes........ you may need a period V8 auto

Enjoy!

Mark

[griffin]

Thanks Mark

We are pleased with it and I have a suitable tow car in mind if it's still available. Just keep signing up for more work just as well I'm retired and have plenty of time - not;)

Love your avatar

More photos in time.

George

[griffin]

Ah well, the tow car didn't eventuate so still on the look out.

Here's a couple of photos of the interior.

Top left, the 12v radio and speaker. top right, the plate storage cupboards above the sink. It is in fact only half depth with a further vertical drop down draw for more plates which are hidden from view when it is closed. The arrow points to a scallop in the side of the drawer which is necessary for the last plate to fit in the rack. One of the doors has a similar scallop and the doors have holders for 6 cups and there are racks for 6 of each size plate in the cupboard. Only one of the plate sizes we have at home will actually fit in the 3 different size racks.

Bottom left, a storage area for glasses or condiment bottles on the left of the plate cupboard. There is another on the other end, but without the raised section and another on the opposite side above the dressing table. Bottom right, the two different style 12 volt light fittings.

Still nothing to reveal the age, I thought maybe some newspaper under the lino or behind the mirror, but no, nothing behind the mirror except a cream coloured paint, the cupboards have been repainted at some time, and under the lino a commercial type underlay of what appears to be thick cardboard. The builder must have been well heeled, we only ever use paper when lino was laid in our house years ago.

The brake drums are GMH origin and I think it could just about go straight on my 34 Big Six Vauxhall. Big 12 inch brakes with excellent linings (not Vauxhall type shoes) and good bearings, but it is in line for electric brakes so they will be sidelined. Hopefully I can retain the axle. The felt seal retainer is stamped GMH too.

The digging continues.

George

[griffin]

I’ve had one wheel off now for weeks trying to sort out electric brakes, all to no avail it appears, nothing will fit the old axle so it looks like a new axle and brakes. After taking a few more measurements I decided to put the hub and wheel back on as I needed to move the van forward. The inside of the tyre and rim was pretty dirty with fawn coloured, mud/dust all over it so I decided I’d clean it, I’m told I’m a bit anal with some of that sort of thing Anyway a bit of water and a rub with a sponge was all it took and then I noticed a name in yellow crayon on the tyre. A common enough surname in Australia, of Irish ancestry, so I thought, what are the chances? How many might have called Mathoura home, where the van came from?

So onto the computer and the White Pages, punch in the surname and the town and up come four entries. One was a Mr and Mrs listing so I thought I’ll try it. An older woman answered the phone and I went through the tale of how I came by the van and why I was calling and asked if they had owned such a van. “No, never owned a caravan.” was the reply a bit of a pause then, “but I did live in one for a while when I was first married, 58 years ago, big heavy thing, belonged to my father in law, he used to take it to Bright.” Well I nearly fell off the chair; the only paperwork in the van apart from some newspapers was tourist information sheets from Bright! We chatted for a while and she told me the van was cream with a darker stripe on the side, it had a hand pump and a radio in the cupboard and a spirit stove, a draw in the end of the table, and red/maroon cushions on the seats. Things were sounding promising, but she couldn’t remember the two port holes or much else and said they had never actually used it on a trip, just to live in for six months.

Her husband wasn’t home and felt he would know more about his father’s van and she would get him to call me. She had an email address so I sent off some photos and waited. About 7pm hubby rang and after a bit of chat about his wife thinking I was some kind of strange nuisance caller said, “I looked at the email, that’s definitely dad’s old van!” He was amazed how good it still looked and said his father had bought it second hand in 1952 from the original builder, as best he could remember a fairly fastidious carpenter. He didn't think it was very old or had been used much. His dad built a shed for it and kept it under cover all the while he had it, and after his death it stayed in the shed until his mum sold it to a local businessman in 1996. He didn’t know what became of it then but that chap is still in town so he is going to follow that up. He could tell me the lino is the original from 1952, it originally had an over-ride type brake on it and his dad towed it with a Ford Zephyr. That made me feel better too, I figure if a Zephyr would tow it so would a Velox, bearing in mind back then I think vans were restricted to 45mph. The stripe on the side was originally dark brown, and it did have a water tank originally, so I’ll have to look harder for signs of where it was fitted, but the gas stove has been fitted at a later stage. He wasn’t aware of the drawbar modification.

So for me a very rewarding day in the life of the van, and all from a name on the side of tyre that may have been repaired or renewed and was marked awaiting collection, and probably before 1988 when the owner died. And there may be some old photos of it to follow as well.

This is the lino.

George ;D ;D

[DC3Td]

Amazing interior & design George.Got to be happy with the old girl.

[cobber]

G'day George,

Very observant and very persistent and very lucky.... you should have been a detective

Good to have confirmation of its age and who made it aye?
That Lino photo is beautiful it belongs in the appropriate thread in the technical section mind if I put it there

Cobber.

[griffin]

Work is progressing, slowly by comparison to many projects, but I'll get there. There has been a lot of procrastinating and in the end I bit the bullet and made some decisions so that I could get on with it. As I want to keep the van as close as possible to original I decided that the gas bottle fitting had to go, and if I use the stove then it will be with a small bottle via a flexible connection in through the battery box. Next, the draw bar extension got the chop and I've fitted an over ride coupling and will retain the original axle and brake set up to see how they go.

The inside is pretty much being left as it is, the outside will get stripped off and repainted cream with the brown stripe, maybe an embellishment or two to add my own touch to it. Doing a bit of archeology sanding a few spots I found the brown stripe on the side has been applied over a blue stripe, and while it looks quite nice I'll stick to the brown.

I spoke to the original owner's son a few weeks back and he had found a photo showing the van, annex and Zephyr, not a very good one he says, but as yet I haven't seen it to pass comment on.

Hopefully there will be a photo attached which shows the biggest timber repair need on the van. (as I attempt to add a photo from my Flickr account, with instruction kindly provided by D.R.)
window before & after by viva gt, on Flickr

Some Earl's Wood Hardener, applied to the damaged area after a clean up, then the patch up with Builders Bog. It all seems to have gone well, some of the other windows have similar damage to a much lesser extent so they will all get the treatment in time.

George

[griffin]

Oops, looks like a fail on my photo I'll try again later.

George

Yee Ha sucks eggs at last, not clicking the right button, for info D.R. I was using the Method B you provided, thanks.
George