Post by heritagemodeller on Jul 15, 2021 12:37:42 GMT 10
We have been working on this baby for over 5 years, without the benefit of a shed. Having a large tarp over, tied to trees made it made it bearable in the summer months here in the North Qld tropics. In fact with a fan in the caravan it was cooler than the house. We were able to date the caravan (1967) as we found the original signed electrical safety certificate in one of the overhead lockers - we refer to it as its 'birth certificate!
To collect this van we drove 1200kms south from Townsville to the hinterland of Noosa (Qld) in our 15yo Ford Escape. But our Ford Escape a once gutsy machine took exception to pulling the old van and decided to boil off it's auto transmission oil and come to a standstill. This meant an undignified ride on a RACQ rescue truck to Maryborough. We left the van in storage and came back for it a few months later after borrowing a friends Mazda BT40 diesel ute. The Mazda ute seemed to not notice it was pulling a caravan. The aluminium was in poor condition and refused to clean up so we made the decision to paint it in a creamy white. When I was stripping back the garish blue paint stripes I found the original stripe pattern and resurrected this in teal.
The timber venetian blinds and the checker vinyl floor were the biggest costs. We reckoned that the number of windows in the van were the same as a residential flat. We sourced the vinyl floor from Melbourne being particular about a smaller black and white check pattern in keeping in scale with the smal interior.
We rebuilt all the cupboard fronts and cleaned up and recycled the original chrome cabinetry hardware.
At the moment it is stored on a friend's vacant block nestled under the canopy of tropical trees.
Murrumba Caravan by Maurice Hayler, on Flickr
image108 by Maurice Hayler, on Flickr
IMG_2923 by Maurice Hayler, on Flickr
before by Maurice Hayler, on Flickr
inside_kitchen check lino labelled by Maurice Hayler, on Flickry Maurice Hayler, on Flickr
IMG_20210227_145929 by Maurice Hayler, on Flickr
IMG_20210227_150421 by Maurice Hayler, on Flickr
IMG_20210227_150740_eml by Maurice Hayler, on Flickr
Caravan stripes teal by Maurice Hayler, on Flickr
To collect this van we drove 1200kms south from Townsville to the hinterland of Noosa (Qld) in our 15yo Ford Escape. But our Ford Escape a once gutsy machine took exception to pulling the old van and decided to boil off it's auto transmission oil and come to a standstill. This meant an undignified ride on a RACQ rescue truck to Maryborough. We left the van in storage and came back for it a few months later after borrowing a friends Mazda BT40 diesel ute. The Mazda ute seemed to not notice it was pulling a caravan. The aluminium was in poor condition and refused to clean up so we made the decision to paint it in a creamy white. When I was stripping back the garish blue paint stripes I found the original stripe pattern and resurrected this in teal.
The timber venetian blinds and the checker vinyl floor were the biggest costs. We reckoned that the number of windows in the van were the same as a residential flat. We sourced the vinyl floor from Melbourne being particular about a smaller black and white check pattern in keeping in scale with the smal interior.
We rebuilt all the cupboard fronts and cleaned up and recycled the original chrome cabinetry hardware.
At the moment it is stored on a friend's vacant block nestled under the canopy of tropical trees.
Murrumba Caravan by Maurice Hayler, on Flickr
image108 by Maurice Hayler, on Flickr
IMG_2923 by Maurice Hayler, on Flickr
before by Maurice Hayler, on Flickr
inside_kitchen check lino labelled by Maurice Hayler, on Flickry Maurice Hayler, on Flickr
IMG_20210227_145929 by Maurice Hayler, on Flickr
IMG_20210227_150421 by Maurice Hayler, on Flickr
IMG_20210227_150740_eml by Maurice Hayler, on Flickr
Caravan stripes teal by Maurice Hayler, on Flickr