1949 Don

[bobandjacqui]

Thanks for sharing such a great memory of your family van Richard. Very special to have a photographic history of your parents adventures.

Cheers Bob and Jacqui.

[Roehm3108]

Hi Don

You are spoilt for choices around that neck of the woods of Vic, which is still my fav state, although Tassie is right up there with it. Sometimes it's nice to be able to go somewhere unpopulated!

[kck]

Can you please share some information about the replacement seals around the windows door and roof?

[Don Ricardo]

Oct 24, 2018 9:01:47 GMT 10 kck said:

Can you please share some information about the replacement seals around the windows door and roof?

Hi KCK,

Sorry for the slow reply to your post.

I bought the rubber for the seals from Clark Rubber. They have quite a wide range of sizes and types. Fortunately we don't need anything too fancy for the seals on a Don - just rubber strip which can be stuck in place using contact glue.

Having said that, I haven't been entirely satisfied with the rubber I used - some seals are too tight, and some not tight enough. I think it may be an issue arising from using metric measurement rubber in imperial measurement gaps! I'm going to have another go at it, and your post has prompted me to get my act into gear. I will give you some measurements in a day or so.

Don Ricardo

[kck]

How did you go with the weather tape don?

[Don Ricardo]

Oops KCK,

I forgot to get back to you about the rubber seals. Sorry for that...

Doors & windows: EPDM414 Supersoft Self Adhesive Tape 12 mm wide x 9.5 mm high/thick. It stretches quite a lot while being applied, and then can retract once it's on, leaving gaps at the corners, so try and take it slowly and allow the rubber to contract as you go.

Door hatch: Finding rubber to fit the door hatch is a bit tricky because there's nothing on sale which is quite narrow enough - it needs to be 7 mm wide. I tried cutting down some rubber strip which was 12 mm wide x 5 mm thick, and with a little raised ridge down the middle which makes it 7 mm thick in total. That turned out to be too thick and has made it difficult to close the hatch without putting too much pressure on the hinges and catch. So now I've bought some strip which is 12 mm wide by 5 mm, but without the raised ridge. I'll need to cut it down to 7 mm wide to fit, but I'll let you know how I get on.  I stuck the strip on the hatch with Selleys contact glue.

Roof hatch: EPDM414 Supersoft Self Adhesive Tape 12 mm wide x 9.5 mm thick. That's been OK, but could afford to be a bit thicker, eg 11 or 12 mm thick.

I obtained the rubber strip from my local(ish) Clark Rubber store, which had quite a good range of sizes.

Hope that helps. If you would like to see some photos of the strip let me know and I can post some.

Don Ricardo

[Roehm3108]

Hi DonR. Have to looked at the Raven weather seals for doors and windows at the big green shed? I bought some rubber hollow core stuff for the Hunter minor window there and will do the same for Cino Vardo. It is self adhesive and easy to instal. I bought ones that were about 5 mm wide (doubled on the roll, so 10mm when you buy it)

[Don Ricardo]

Hi R3108,

That's a good tip. Thanks, and hopefully it will be useful for KCK too.

Don Ricardo

[kck]

Thank you both for the tips.

I wonder if I could finally accept your invitation to come see the 1949? I think I need to see these weather strips in situation. A few photos would help but I’m in the dark with how to select/purchase. A real grey zone for me.
My Don will be a rattle bucket if I don’t get this right.

[Don Ricardo]

Hi KCK,

You're most welcome to come and have a look at our van. I'll send you a PM.

Don Ricardo

[Don Ricardo]

Well it's a Very Happy 70th Birthday to our Don which was born to my parents at the Don Factory on 15 July 1949 after a trouble free delivery. Here's its Birth Certificate:



It's wet and cold in our part of the world at the moment, so the Don has decided to have a night in to celebrate its birthday:

Don Ricardo

[Roehm3108]

Congrats Don461. You don't look a day older than 50. Any younger and we'd have to ban you from the site!!!

[Franklin1]

Hi DonR, what a fantastic milestone to reach! Congratulations and a BIG Happy Birthday wish to the Don!!🎂🥂

And... congratulations to you and your family for the "Aged Care" services provided to the Don over the years.😎

Cheers,
Al.

[cobber]

G'day Don R.

I would find it very satisfying to still have, and be using the caravan I grew up with, you must both have a multitude of pleasant memories.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DON 461 💥🌟⚡️🎂

Cobber.

[Geoff & Jude]

hi don and donna

congratulations on your "baby's" 70th birthday, you both must be very proud parents (or siblings maybe).

now, getting down to business, judy and i have discussed the situation and we're prepared to offer you £750/10/0 for the old Don, that's a little more than 20% profit on the original price of £624/12/6, much better returns than you will get from any of the big banks or current financial institutions.

no need to answer straight away, think it over and give us a ring (we can be a little flexible on the offer if necessary).

hear from you soon.

geoff 'n jude

[Mustang]

A wonderful family ikon

[Don Ricardo]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your kind comments. I’ve conveyed them to the Don, which blushed demurely.

The van is very definitely a family treasure - which leaves our three sons feeling a bit overwhelmed about having to deal with it when the time comes!

And that leads me to Geoff ‘n Jude’s generous offer of £750/10/0 for the van. So kind...but I think you forgot to mention that you wanted to adjust that amount for inflation... You did mean to include that didn’t you? I’ve checked the inflation rate over the 70 years and it works out at 4.98% pa. So that takes the price up to $45,030. Still a bargain!!

On a more serious note, while I was thinking about the issue of inflation, etc, I wondered how the price of the Don compared to the average wage back in 1949. The answer is that the basic annual wage then was £322 pa. The total price of the Don to my parents was £674/12/6 (including an annexe and a portable toilet and the deposit of £50). So that means that the cost of the Don was 2.09 times the basic annual wage.

These days we talk about the minimum wage rather than the basic wage, and the current minimum wage is $38,521 pa. 2.09 times the minimum wage would mean that you had $80,510 to spend on a caravan. You can get a reasonable caravan for that price (although not a high end one like the Don was in its time).

I don’t think that proves much, but it is interesting to think about. Mind you if the basic wage in 1949 had only increased by the inflation rate, the current minimum wage would only be $19,339, so I guess that most of us (but not all!) are better off than we used to be?

Don Ricardo

[kck]

$45,030 is my min sell price. Don 990 😍

[jaynco]

G’day Don Ricardo. Absolutely in awe of your history with the Don. I am a true history buff and to have such a complete and personal history to be able to hand down is just amazing. In my early teens my Dad worked away and bought a mammoth 28 or 30ft van. I think it was a Millard. We had it for about 10 years and he then sold it to my Uncle. He took it to the beach and it ended up rusting into nothing. Oh but the memories I have as a kid in that van are some of the happiest of my life. School holidays at the Endeavour Caravan Park at Peregian Beach were magical. Thank you for sharing.

[Don Ricardo]

G'day everyone,

This month (January 2021) saw our Don out of its garage for the first time in...TWO YEARS!! The Don said it was very excited to be out and about again, although it said some of its mechanical bits were a bit stiff.

January 2019 had seen the van and us at our favourite spot at Tuross Head on the southern coast of NSW. For various reasons - work, overseas travel, etc - we didn't get out again during that year. Then 2020 happened! We couldn't get to Tuross Head because of the fires in January 2020, the VV Nationals in May 2020 were postponed, and then we were confined to 5 kms and then 25 kms from home for a large part of the second half of the year. We were looking forward to getting to Tuross Head again in January this year, and then...the day before leaving...the borders closed.

However, after scouting around a bit we were able to book a site for a week and a bit at the Breakaway Twin Rivers caravan park near Alexandra (Victoria). Only about 100 kms from home, but on the other hand given the border and travel restrictions, it didn't seem such a bad idea only being a couple of hours from home.

It was great to be away and Dona Ricardo and I - not to mention the Don - enjoyed our time away relaxing in a quiet spot:





The caravan park is right alongside the Goulburn River...



...and is also bordered by the Archeron River:





The views from the nearby Archeron Cutting are spectacular:



And one night the Goulburn River looked as if it was on fire as the sun set behind it:



The caravan park is adjacent to the Acheron Breakaway Bridge built in 1918:



One of the attractions of the park is that those with river side sites can practically fish from their chair without moving! Apparently there are quite a few trout in the river. This is one of the fish that got away...



We were camped close to a rather nice renovated 1975 Franklin Arrow:



As with many caravan parks, quite a few of the the Breakaway Twin Rivers sites were occupied by permanents. There were lots of Classic era Viscounts, Chesneys and Millards. The oldest permanent van was a well preserved 14 ft 1969/70 Wayfarer.

Oh, did I mention the birds? There were lots of ducks on the river and wandering around the park:



And there were hundreds of Corellas roosting in the trees above us which woke us up like clockwork at 5.30 am in the morning, did a fly by at around lunch time, and then chattered to each other from 5.30 to 9.00 pm each evening.



Unfortunately there was a down side to being surrounded by the 'wonders of nature'. The Corellas that camped in the tree above our van left lots of droppings on top of the van. There was not much we could do about it at the time, and I gave the van a wash when we got home. However, I found that the bird droppings had burnt through the paint on the van roof and made it blister! So looks like there's a paint job coming up in the near future!

Don Ricardo

[sportsman 1]

Great to get out again isn't it Richard. We took the Clipper (and our modern Coromal) up to Bright for a week at Christmas.

Also we have booked to take it to Powlett River in March and Tassie in April, could not resist the opportunity now the borders are open.

Best we get some trips in while we can.

Leigh.

[Roehm3108]

The Upside to Covid19 lockdown - you get to look at the beauty in your own back yard.😄😄

[Don Ricardo]

Hi all,

Amazing what turns up on occasion…

Cleaning out the chimney cupboard in the Don a little while ago, Dona Ricardo and I found the following behind the chimney:



Based on my “extensive” internet research, I discovered that G J Coles used the style of “Embassy” logo shown on the box from 1971 into the 1980’s. The Embassy brand itself was retired in 1994.  In addition the foil is referred to in centimetres and metres.  Metric measurement for food, etc, was introduced in 1977.

Based on the above I’d say the foil has been in the van for around 40 years.  Does that make it ‘vintage foil’?  Should we start a ‘Show us your foil’ thread perhaps?

Don Ricardo

[Don Ricardo]

Evening vintage vanners,

Today I was sorting through some old old papers, and came across the original registration certificate for our 1949 Don, which is in my mother's name:

The registration is for the twelve months to 28 November 1968 and the payment for registration is dated 14 December 1967.

Given that our van was built in 1949 it may seem strange for me to say that this is the original registration certificate which is dated December 1967.  However, the explanation is that in Victoria separate registration for caravans only became mandatory in May 1967.  Obviously the van didn't need to be registered until it was going to be used, and seeing that the van probably wasn't being used a lot at that point in its and our lives, my mother managed to eek out another six months until November 1967 just prior to it being readied for summer holidays or something like that.

Interesting to see that the annual registration fee was $6.00 plus an additional one-off registration plate fee of $1.00.  I was also interested to see that the van is listed as weighing 16 hundredweight, whereas the Don Caravans' advertised weight for the Don 140 model was 19 hundredweight.

No mention of serial numbers or VIN numbers back in those days, but I note that the certificate has the annotation 'N/R '49' which I presume means either 'No record '49' or 'No receipt '49'.  At that point my mother may not have known where to find the original receipt to confirm the build date.  As a result the van was registered as being built in '1900' which is the default date Victoria Motor Registration Branch used for vehicles where the build date was unknown.  (We have now located the actual purchase receipt which is posted higher up this thread.)

We moved house in 1970, hence the handwritten change of address and the stamp stating 'Alteration Authorized'.

I'm tickled pink to have found this document.  A bit more of the Don's history in place.

Don Ricardo

[kenny]

Oct 9, 2021 21:02:39 GMT 10 Don Ricardo said:

Hi all,

Amazing what turns up on occasion…

Cleaning out the chimney cupboard in the Don a little while ago, Dona Ricardo and I found the following behind the chimney:



Based on my “extensive” internet research, I discovered that G J Coles used the style of “Embassy” logo shown on the box from 1971 into the 1980’s. The Embassy brand itself was retired in 1994.  In addition the foil is referred to in centimetres and metres.  Metric measurement for food, etc, was introduced in 1977.

Based on the above I’d say the foil has been in the van for around 40 years.  Does that make it ‘vintage foil’?  Should we start a ‘Show us your foil’ thread perhaps?

Don Ricardo

Don Ricardo, good call!  inside the WWW Sapphire we found in the barn were lots of old goodies, two quick things to mention, a) Red Head matches, remember when they had a game on the back you needed to use the matches to play with?  A packet of those was beside the stove.  b) remember Pink Scotkins?  "Strong, even when wet" is on the packet!   A box of those was also inside (c1959).