Mark T's whatever ????

[Deleted]

With all the economic negativity around at the moment, business has been quiet, so I'm using the opportunity to carry on with the Wee Kenda project, well, what I thought was a week kenda until lately, maybe its a Carapark Hunter Minor

It'd been sitting for about 9 months with nothing happening, until a few weeks ago .














The cupboard doors were all stripped back to barewood, however the grain in the timber is too nice to be repainted, so've been varnished instead








I started to remove the old lino tiles, but whata hell job , I was ripping up half the floor at the same time, so now the old lino tiles will be the underlay for the "new" lino ;D ;D











The window frames had grown bigger than the sheets of glass, so the beading has been removed, and new glass will be fitted to the repaired frames













painted in primer, ready to be colour coded to match the drab convoy grey 49 X ........

[firefighter]

mark

love the picture of the holden on the wall

and the van is starting to look good
f/f ;D ;D ;D ;D

[phargan]

Hello Mark and it is great to see your pics of the inside of your van. It looks very similar to my Caravan Park Ltd. Hunter Minor even down to the venier on those three similar cupboard doors, exactly the same wood grain ( or, almost a lack of grain ). The other two doors look nothing like mine though. Maybe later installations. Yours even has the 240 power intake in the same place, through into the wardrobe. Also the very short draw bar with the same wind down jocky wheel. Does it have the stabalising wind down legs with huge butterfly wing nuts on the threads to lock them down??? The major difference though is the window in the back and the shape of the roof around it. It doesn't seem to slope down as much as mine, which would give more headroom inside at the back. Also there are no ali stone guards on the front corners as mine.
You've done a thorough job of it though and all credit to you. Was there no identifying plates on it at all?? as mine has 'Hunter Minor' brass plates on both sides at the front and a Caravan Park Ltd. brass plate inside.
Looking forward to seeing the finished article soon.
Regards, phargan

[Deleted]

Reddo says:

"I find the hardest part of doing a tidy up on an old van is staying enthusiastic about the whole idea. Especially in the depths of winter.......
Bloody hard to drag yourself away from the warm fire and TV to head off down into the shed and get the wheels of progress turning. "

too right Reddo ....spot on ......I've most definately fallen victim to this phenomenon over the past few months ........

Prior to winter, ....... was going full speed ahead resoring this lil van,
then stopped ......nil..... zilch....... nothing happened after I'd got this far:









........until, 2 weeks ago, and inspired by Reddo's "Mildred" project, I thought Spring is in the air, no more "its too bloody cold excuses" ;D .......betta get stuck into ....and actually finish this lil van ........so, with renewed enthusiasm, have been working flat out to get this .... still unidentified lil van accross the FINISH line

The first job was to do something with the floor .....the original vinyl tiles were a mess (as pictured above) .....
In 2004, my mate the late Trevor Roberts rocked up to the "Brookton Old Time Motor Show" with a roll of 1950ish vinyl .....Trev was a carpet layer in his hometown of Bridgetown, and had pulled up the lino ......rather than chuck it, and knowing I had a coupla caravans to restore, he thought of me
Its only taken me four years, but I've finally put some of it to good use

[Deleted]

To recap, .....this little caravan was bit of a mess when I took delivery of it in February last year .......looked good in the picture I saw of it





















lotsa paint painted straight over the top of old flaking paint








So .......it became another full resto job

[Deleted]

So, after fitting the lino, next was to put it all back together:











all new glass & window beading .....





varnished cupboards .....








that lino again





the little fold out table was all busted & broken ......not anymore








early 50's retro annodised lamps fitted ....





the floor now matches the green sink






new wardrobe mirror .....





ice chest & stove alcove all cleaned up ......luv the position of the ice chest in this lil van, right by the door ......means you don't have to get outta your fold up chair (outside) to grab the butter outta the fridge ;D ;D





the flywire flap door was missing, so is now replaced






and finally, on the its way to Beverley for the fittment of period external lights, & Beverley registration ........





Jobs left to do:

Jmoulding ......thanks to Reddo for helping me source jmould
curtains
wheels & tyres
make a water tank (original is missing)
source a metho or kero stove ........
work out a name

Another coupla weeks should see it finally finished

[Deleted]

Hi Mark

Aahhh the fruits of your labour finally ripening. ;D
She looks good. Colours suit it. No bells and whistles or fancy gadgets . Just a good tidy plain jane layout that will provide comfy accomodation and be quite at home amongst other vans of its age.

Good to see another old bondy heading for the road again.

One question... Your window hinges
Is that the original position for them


Reddo

[atouchofglass]

Veeeerry nice job Mark

Did I spy Stainless steel hinges on those cupboards?
My second favourite material ;D ;D ;D

Nice to see you hunted down an appropriate door handle as well
Absolutely love Art deco pieces

And the red lipstick on the pretty woman is a nice touch (over the windows)

Keep at it and it will be time to use it real soooon

Cheers

Atog

[firefighter]

Hi Mark


another nice restoration comes out of your shed .....
like the grey stripes on the outside
I dont think you will be grabing the butter from the ice chest from your folding chair...... me think it might be liquid ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
f/f ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[sugarshack]

Hi Mark, what a great little van ,it's good to see another bondy saved and back on the highway to fun again.Old vans MUST have a stripe in my eyes- it gives it 'the'look .Lino was a nice touch ,lucky it wasn't brittle when you cut it. Should be your choice for Cold-Dale teamed up with the humpy.



Sugarshack

[bobt]

looks great Mark

Glad it was you stripping the old paint off not me..

Like the colours

[Deleted]

thanks guys for your comments

Yeah Reddo, that's where the hinges were .....dunno whether thats original or not ......guess they should be hinged from the inside ?
mmm.... .... points to this lil van being homemade

[Deleted]

the pressure is on

the debut run for the Holden and lil bondy, being the "Nungarin Festival" is only 9 days away, and soooo much to do


www.nungarin.com/harvst_festival.htm


so, ........I've been flat out trying to get this little van finished (luv that word "f i n i s h e d " ;D)

Progress so far :


"period" light cluster has been mounted"











but, the mounting plates had to be painted





side clearance lamps fitted ......had to use the dual red / orange clearance lights for registration








the original water tank had been removed, so I supplied my Beverley neighbour Chris with the fittings, and he made me another


tis a beauty ......holds 28 litres






just gotto paint it:





the metho stove has been fitted





fitted the new 3 core radiator to the Holden and went for a "shake down" run with caravan in tow to test ......
The lil bondy came in at 460kgs on the weighbridge, so no real problem for the bog stock 49 Holden





still plenty to do, but its getting close


Mark

[jrod]

Hi Mark,

Love it! The car and van look absolutely superb together, brilliant job.

Cheers, J-Rod.

[cobber]

Great job Mark,

Car and van look as though they were made for each other....... how about you bring 'em both over to "Motorfest" next year, you'd steal the show.

Cobber.

[kingy]

Great looking couple Mark, vans come up a treat - i just luv them tiny vans
Kingy

[Deleted]

thanks guys for your positive feedback

Cobber says: how about you bring 'em both over to "Motorfest" next year, you'd steal the show.[/b]

Yeah right Cobber .......like a man's gunna do that ;D ......wouldn't mind gettin' the leads that you guys get from Motorfest but

mark

[Deleted]

"Cobber says: how about you bring 'em both over to "Motorfest" next year, you'd steal the show."

Sorry Cobber. This aint gunna happen...
They dont make planes that big.

Sorry "Biggles" Taylor.. just couldnt resist it

Reddo

[Deleted]

Yeah Reddo .......I wonder if Virgin have any of those "Hercules" aircraft on their fleet .......could bring it accross in one of those ;D ;D ;D

Mark

[Deleted]

Naaa mate.. to be honest that rig should never be subjected to a forced drive across the nullabour. Ok to take your time and spend a few weeks just plodding across here. But a short annual leave break and 8 hour days behind the wheel would wreck both the driver and the rig.
I seem to remember us having a converstaion about those sort of trips a long while back here on the forum.


Look after the both of em.
No J Mould in the pixs ??

Reddo

[Deleted]

Fit "j mould" is on the "to do" list this weekend .....tis a long weekend over here ......somethin' about the Queens birthday .....if it means a day off, I'll take it ;D

Only one week left to get it finished before a run to "Nungarin" ....out the back of nowhere

Unlike you Reddo, haven't injured myself doing this lil baby, but was fitting its freshly painted wheels on Wednesday after work when the A frame dropped off the axle stand ...... the axle stand punched a threepence size hole in the front of the van

another job on the "to do" list

[Deleted]

Have finally finished the .... nameless unidentified lil bondy

and .....got it registered ready for its inaugral run to Nungarin...

I luv this caravan's original No plate "SA 48481" .....couldn't be more "perfect"







wheels hubcaps to match the Holden .......





ugly No plates on the Holden soon to be replaced
with "1949 BE"











interior shots to follow

[Don Ricardo]

Hey Mark,

The little nameless bondy looks great. Love some of the little finishing touches you've given it.

Time the little nameless bondy is given a name I reckon!

Don Ricardo

[Deleted]

Took the Holden and caravan this weekend to the "Nungarin Festival" with a couple of mates also in old Holdens .....


........arriving in "Nungarin" .......a typically "Daggsey" type shot outside the local ;D ;D





Rod in his F J van, and Gary with his F E ute .....these two guys regularly tour WA country chasing 'olden parts and visiting farmers's car dumps ..............






Rod's F J Baker's van .................the General never built 'em like this







Gary's unrestored original F E ute






outside the "homestead" whereby the Nungarin festival was held







I was given a couple of "leads" on the whereabouts of old caravans in the area, one being this oldie we visited on the way back ......a lil bondy similar to mine
















like the lights







a pistol cupboard








interesting road into the property







some old 'oldens spotted in the distance ;D






the Holden towed the lil 460 kg bondy beautifully .....that good, I jus' set the cruise control lever at 55 mph ;D











and followed the "bullet" bonnet mascot ....







a happy vintage vanner indeed ;D ;D







had to check the lil bondy was still in tow ;D






and got "sprayed" with a swarm of bugs







all in all a great weekend .....the weekend was mainly a "shakedown" for the rig prior to the local Spring Tour ......only a coupla jobs to do this week on the car



clutch plate
starter motor
muffler






Mark

[cobber]

G'day Mark,

Looks like a nice weekend trip with a couple of mates Mark.... and you don't get me to bite with that line “the General never built 'em like this "
'cause I know the story.... including the bit about “hair oil”

I though you had settled on a name for the not a wee-kenda.......... “Sul-King”.... sounds allright, a good conversation starter, you can come up with a different reason as to why you called it that each time somebody asks the question, and after a sip or two of Mangowine you might tell 'em the truth.

What's wrong with your starter motor... won't work when she get's hot ?
I know the answer to fix that, if you don't... ask me and I'll tell ya.

Cobber.