J-Rod & Sam's Franklin

[jrod]

Hi All,

Well, this site sure is addictive. 2nd day as members, we got our hands on our first caravan! It’s a 69 Franklin that we rescued from under a tree in the front yard of the previous owners. We have named him ‘Franki’!

This is a picture of when we picked him up. Very grubby, but we saw the potential underneath



After a couple of days of hard scrubbing and a little elbow grease, Franki came up trumps!



We have some plans for the inside. The table for the dinette is missing so we will need to knock one up. The kitchen and wardrobe is to stay as is, however the original single beds were removed and replaced with a shit effort of a DIY double bed. I took the liberty of removing it (an estimated 15min job), however 3 and a half hours later we were done. Nailed, screwed and glued in place, the frame of the bed finally gave in. The glue was the main problem, and it has left its legacy via damaging the laminate.








So our plan is to keep the inside original, but freshen it up a little.

Cheers, J-Rod & Sam

[Deleted]

Franki's in bloody good nick for a 37 yo van ......a good find guys ...

Happy vintagevanning

Mark

[groovy]

Are you sure of it being a 69 model, I thought Franklin wre still using plasply to line their vans then and didn't start using the laminate in your van until the early to mid 70's. I bought a 68 or 60 model in 85 and it had the plasply lining. The Regent model which yours is, ran from midish 60's to late 70's when it was replaced with the Hunter model.
Someone else will know for sure what year they did the changeover.
Greg

[jrod]

Thanks Mark & Greg,

For $500 it was a cheap buy to satisfy our unique hobby..! So after the freshen up and electric brakes, it will be a cheap van..

Apologies for typo! I refer to it as a 69 era/vintage as I have a 69 HT that will be the tow car. Going by the laminate (which is going by the way), it is a 70. I think it was a June 70 build. Would have been nice to find a 69 plated build but couldn't let this one pass by! It has the late 60's shape which is what we were after!

I looked at a 67 Franklin which was exactly the same but it had a different laminate. Pic below. We like this lining better so this is what we are aiming to line ours with.



The Caravelle superseded the Regent in 71/72 when they added the bumps to the top front and rear of the van. Then I think Hunter came in around mid to late 70's. Out neighbor just sold his and i think it was a 76.

Cheers,

[groovy]

jrod
Why not just paint the interior and make it look like the very early versions. The plasply lined version like the one I had were white with coloured cupboard doors.
You have made me doubt the model mine was it must have been one of the first ones.

BTW A friend had a HillnDale whcih was a mid 60's and looked identical to the Caravelle with the bumps over the windows at each end. They are so similar I thought that franklin had bought out HillnDale, maybe to get the thermopanel construction technique, but that is pure conjecture on my part. He seemed to think that HillnDale were a made by the people who used to build Globetrotter, if this is the case it may explain the similarities between Globetrotters and Franklins.
Greg

[jrod]

Hi Greg,

You wouldn't happen to have any pics of your old Franklin interior by any chance would you??! Im just working out the best way to remove the laminate, as even though there are products that let you paint over the top, it has creased in several areas and painting over the top really wouldn't be the best. Im also thinking that relaminating would be a nightmare, so painting i guess would be the go.

Kingy did a great job with his van and i guess mine would be a similar kind of job so i may draw some inspiration from there too, like the stainless steel around the stove, curatins, painting etc.

You may be on to something there. Firefighters Franklin has been identified as being similar to another members Globetrotter.

Cheers, J-rod

[groovy]

J-rod,
Sorry but I don't have any photo's of the van at all. I bought it about 1986 and the white plastic coating was peeling off the ply, so I used a heat gun (wife's hair dryer) and finished stripping the lot off, then wearing a maggot suit I sprayed the interior with undercoat and then a very pale grey enamel. As I had taken all the cupboard doors,drawers etc out I rubbed them back and sprayed them in a duck egg blue, as the exterior had Blue stripes, when finished it looked original.

Greg

[veedubnut]

Hello J-Rod & Sam,

Really nice old Franklin van you have picked up! A good clean and what appears to be some minor re-construction work and only $500

Some people have all the luck ;D

Cheers

Greg

[rexbuick]

Hi J-Rod & Sam,
we were given a Franklin Caravelle and it was first registered in 1968



we were then given a Franklin Regent which was still registered and had a bit of restoration work done.
Here she is on her maiden voyage 3 weeks ago



Going on a sticker on the back of the original fridge, the fridge at least was made in 1970, so I can only guess that the van was built at the same time.

The Victorian rego on the Caravelle started with H54 and the Regent which has the original Rego starts with H67.

Our Regent also came with a full annexe. you can be lucky



Franki sure looks good with a clean up. great van

here are some shots of the interior of our Regent during restoration





I will post some shots of the finished interior shortly

[jrod]

Thanks for the info Greg. Will let you know how we progress. Im tempted to leave the laminate (even with the odd crease) on the walls and just change the darker stuff and the roof (as 2/3rds has peeled) for the time being.

Thanks for the shots Rex, both great looking vans. Would be great to see some finished shots too. Also, you wouldn't happen to have come across many spare parts places as we are not far from Rowville?? As a few of the hinges on out van are buggered.

Thanks again, J-Rod & Sam.

[jrod]

Thanks for your comments Greg (Veedubnut)!
We were very lucky with the van. It was literally a random knock on the door one Saturday arvo and 2 hours later we picked it up!

Looking forward to seeing your Vdub & teardrop on a run next year!
Cheers
J-Rod & Sam,

[groovy]

Hi J-Rod and Sam
One other thing I did was to make the rear windows opening and put a sunshade on the back as well. This was done as at the time I worked 11 day fortnights and had every 2nd weekend as a long weekend so we toured around for the 3 days. Without an annexe and not being in one place long enpough to set one up anyway, it seemed to get a bit to hot in the van so the opening windows came about which cooled it down. To hinge them I used SS piano hinge and bought the catches, stays etc from caravan accessories (now Camec) then got some hatch sealing foam tape from a marine chandlers to seal them and fitted some radiused timber blocks in the bottom corners of the windows.
Just an idea for you to chew on.
Greg

[will and lyn]

;D
Hi there Franklin owners
I bought my mum a 70 franklin
and mums been working on it for the past 2 months
mum has done the inside and my stepfather the outside
I gave my mum Elvis a 59 classic and it burnt down (left the building) 6 months ago when they were working on it
I will post some photos later this week of the new franklin van it has come up a million dollars
Oh yeah mum is eighty
the Van is taking its maiden run to bunbury at christmas
unless we have a WA run before that
I think that will make mum the oldest member of our group now
Sorry Gentleman Jim

;D ;D ;D

Will

[chris]

Hi

We purchased a 73 Franklin, same shape as yours. Excellent condition, unfortunately sold it after our trip around Australia as I had no where to store it long term. We did the trip with three kids, no problems at all except for two tyres that went flat. Being tubeless tires it seems the air leaked through the rims - tubes fixed the problem. Sold it for more than i paid for it, another added bonus.

[jrod]

Hi Greg,

Thanks so much for your info.. Its greatly appreciated.. A few hinges are not exactly in working order, so if parts is a push up hill, your comments will come in very handy.. THanks again,

Will, Good on your mum for still being so active considering her age! We wish her many happy times in her franklin and look forward to seeing some pics!

And Chris, like you we do hope to do plenty of miles.. Even if 3 kids is a little way off on my agenda!!

Cheers, Jrod & Sam.