1949 Bondwood Jennison Pathfinder Conservation/Restoration

[King Fisher]

Looks fantastic, came up a treat (looks better in cream then silver) always love a canvas roof. Looking forward to seeing more picies as the resto continues. Keep up the good work

[Jennison]

Love your work Andrew ! Maybe you're right and I should redo mine to its original cream and green.... Then I'd have to buy another matching towcar.... Lookout that's divorce talk!!! Looks great mate. Jenno

[akeepsake]

Geoff , Jude and Penguin. I think you are all barking up the wrong tree I too rang NASA ( Needs Another Sanding .....Again!) and they said its nothing to do with tiles or glue but it's all in the preparation . No matter how good the batch of flour 'n water is its only as good as what it's sticking too!!! So remember next time you grab that brush or roller and open that tin of topcoat ( or glue!!) .......remember N.A.S.A!!!!!!!!

kfisher. Thanks for the encouragement ! I'm loving it! Loved your restoration .Your van came up a treat !

Jenno I told you so! Don't worry about changing tow cars just get a matching throw rug for the back parcel shelf of the Chrysler!
Look what came today!!!!

There are 2 btw!

[akeepsake]

Sent my "easicleeen wheels to a local powder coater the other day and got them painted to a close match with the soon to be van colour .Very happy with the job they did
Sandblasted ,etched primed and powder coated !
Fitted new 600x 16 firestone 4 ply tyres from Antique Tyres in Melbourne
Not sure which hubcaps to go with??? The left one is from a truck shop ( thanks for the heads up on that Cobber!! ) and the right one is NOS off ebay Personally
I like the latter as it is very close to old original?
More to come soon!

[cobber]

G'day Andrew,

Gee some blokes are perfectionists aye?...... me, I just slapped paint on my 'Easicleans'.

But looking at yours, I might just pull 'em off and get the job done properly.

And you're right the NOS hubcap is the goods.... the moon caps look like.................... moon caps
Are the hub cap lugs on both your wheels in the same place ? as I mentioned each of my wheels needs a slightly different size hub cap......plurry nuisance.

Cobber.

[akeepsake]

Cobber I'm only following the example of others perfectionist on the forum ... eg, you
It cost $80 a wheel for the full treatment but the only drawback is you have to pick the colours available , no mixing or matching . Had to pick the colour quick so think it's a it lighter but will be surrounded by blue painted spat so can't be too fussy
Hubcap lugs are the same on each wheel . The NOS caps will be a bit of a squeeze but when they're on I don't think they'll come off in a hurry!
Hoping to have a good crack on the old girl ( still haven't settled on a name yet ) over the long weekend so more soon !

[akeepsake]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's amazing what a difference decent wheel a tyre and cap makes ! Really happy with how they turned out!!!

BTW found this label under the cup holder in the cupboard today ?? Any ideas what it's off .........a turkey???


Look familiar Hilldweller?

[hilldweller]

[quote author="akeepsake" source="/post/106006/thread" timestamp="1394357386
Look familiar Hilldweller?

[/quote][/p]

Wow that's virtually identical, except that yours is more up-market (real timber rather than hardboard and ply). Have you got plate holders too?

Your wheels look great Looking forward to pics once the cladding's been painted.

[akeepsake]

Hilldweller Plate rack fits in same cupboard to the right

[akeepsake]

Anyone recognise what the brakes are off It runs an 11" drum and when I piled the drum off to repack the bearings I found a broken shoe!!!



Bearings were like new with no wear at all!!!


Was going to get electric brakes down the track but think I might do it sooner than later Want to keep original stud pattern ( of coarse) so doing some investigation to see if anyone can do it here in Tassie

[griffin]

Hi akeepsake

That broken shoe is a bugga, they are identical to the ones on my bondwood, but your backing plate is different and I believe they were purpose made for the caravan industry so you won't match them to any car make.  I took them to one brake place and the guy said he had been in the business for 45 years and had never seen any like them!  Your backing plate is identical to the style shown in the 1953 Carapark Parts and Accessory catalogue for their drop axle, and it would make sense, to me anyway, that Jennison would have used a local supplier for his basics.

The bearings on mine have been replaced with more modern Timken style which were identified as a Chevrolet, and were still available, at a considerable cost, the original style like yours were also available for about $110.  Mine are in good nick and I'm leaving the original brakes intact to see how they go.  I spent a lot of time looking into electric brakes and you can get hubs with six stud of the same pattern (Landcruiser) to retain your nice new wheels and tyres.  Some places were trying to sell me a 10" brake rather than the 12" that are on it which seemed ok as they use 10" on vans heavier vans than mine. 
BUT, in NSW at least, the ADRs require a van of my weight on 16" tyres to have 12" brakes.  When you look at the specs for brakes you find the weight rating is reduced considerably if using 16" wheels.

Cheers

George

[akeepsake]

Thanks for the reply George. I am at the early stages of going where many have gone before and will no doubt encounter some curve balls along the way!
Regarding my brake backing plates I reckon you're on the money re a standard catalogue item at the time . My wheels are 5 stud and the PCD is 139.7mm (5 1/2 ")
I reckon 10" drum conversion is the go but will most likely have to change axle hubs
The Jenno weighs in at around 780 kg so will need brakes to keep it legal as the original vac brakes just aren't worth mucking around with even though I have the hand controller
Stay tuned!

[Franklin1]

akeepsake, there's a Spotlight catalogue starting 20th March. On Page 14 top left corner there are tapestry patterns shown. The bottom roll "June" looks like the sort of pattern you might find in the 1940s/50s. Click on that left hand box and you'll get another view of that box. Click on it again and you'll get a slightly larger picture.

cheers,
Al.

[akeepsake]

Thanks for the heads up Al looks like that style could work ! I will have to head to spotlight ! Supercheap is next door too
Defiantly want a heavier tapestry so will let u know how I get on!
Cheers

[akeepsake]

Well in Jennos original 1948 pathfinder sales brochure one of the features listed is "All body corners rounded off" which I think is a pretty unique feature ( not sure there are other vans with this feature???)
Previous owner Jack had at some stage had them covered with canvas and aluminium mouldings ( matching the original moulds holding the canvas roof down) in an effort to protect them . The original filler that was thickly applied over an open material webbing and feathered back along the sides had cracked in places and maybe this was the reason for the modification???




I toyed with leaving them on but it bugged me and I think it took away from the curved feature so with a sudden rush of blood to the head I ripped them off You can see below remenents of the white filler and open weave material which was under a darker layer of primer ( I think it's primer ?) then over that was undercoat etc The red lead primer was added at the time of the modification


Sanded and ready for the next step


WARNING ! if you are a purest to the upmost degree the following scenes may offend!!! Some viewers may want to look away now!!
They say that wisdom is found in many councillors so after much deliberation and idle chatter I decided to use some resin stuff that you mix with some activator stuff and apply with some tape that makes you itchy I think it's called ...... ( Forum guidelines prohibited swearing so will blank out so not to offend)........F$be#gla&s please forgive me


A couple of coats and a LOT of sanding and Jenny has her curves back again!!!! .......now a fine day to paint!!!!
Seriously . Very happy with the results just itch a lot now???

[seeshell]

Hi Akeepsake -

I like the fibreglass repair - very tidy, and restores the original look. Who could argue with that?

Cheers
Seeshell

[cobber]

G'day Andrew,

I can't think of anybody who would argue about the use of glass fibres and goo to give strength to the area you have applied it to.. looks really neat  ...well on the way to another great restoration 

Cobber.

[Deleted]

Very neat job Andrew,love the no moulding clean look!
Don caravans used this on their Cadet models and I have a 1955 bondwood at home with the same feature.
cheers
hughdeani

[Don Ricardo]

Hi Akeepsake,

Excellent work on the corners of the van. The result is fantastic, and much, much neater than the previous 'temporary' repair/modification.

I don't think you can argue with the materials used if they do the job, and return the van to its original state.

Don Ricardo

[Jennison]

Looks fantastic Andrew keep the story going!

[akeepsake]

Thanks everyone for your encouragement. My restoration is a minor one compared to what a lot of you have tackled on the forum in the past (and present, Murray so I can afford to spend the time on the details ! Which pay off in the end .... I hope!

This is what I got up too this arvo..... Was only going to sand it back but the heat gun was just there..... I couldn't help myself


The bondwood is in such good knick maybe taking it right back is overkill but in the end I think it's easier than sanding of the not so adhesive blue coat!
It's going to take a while but hey I've got the rest of my life!!

[akeepsake]

Thought I should rub back and expose the outline of the original painted wheel spat before stripping it and made a template so I could recreate it to original size when I repainted

Template (yes Jenno will do one for you )


Jenny B after 5 hours stripping
note the bondwood side panels are made up of 5 small 6'x3' sheets .Was wondering if that was the largest sheets available early post ww2 or it's been done to fit joints to frame

[hilldweller]

Boy you're really on a roll! Those spats are an awesome shape Will they be painted on or something else?

[akeepsake]

Mar 24, 2014 17:07:19 GMT 10 hilldweller said:

Boy you're really on a roll! Those spats are an awesome shape Will they be painted on or something else?

Hildweller I should have added you on the list of " major renos! " your roof so coming on nicely! Great work!
The spats are an original painted decoration .In this case they are a dark royal blue . It's amazing how a bit of paint can change the look of the van so can't wait to paint them on!!! This is what it'll look like. Cheers

[cobber]

G'day Andrew,

That design around the wheel arch is really distinctive and is a Jennison trade mark, even though it wasn't used on all Jennisons all the time. I dare say somebody will have an idea when that particular livery was in vogue.
I've often thought this model I have is based on a small Jennison because of the general shape and the wheel arch livery, maybe I should put a super large roof hatch on it to seal the deal , not everybody can be lucky enough to own a real Jennison you know   

Cobber.