Pilliga Sunliner

[duds]

Hi, I bought this van of Terry and Maureen from Rylstone. They were residing at the Pilliga bore at the time and I asked them to let me know if they ever wanted to part with her. Amazingly a few weeks later and I towed her home. A few VVers know the van apparently. It's pretty modern and Terry thought 1974, but it seems Sunliners stopped in 1966.
It has some obvious additions such as the awnings front and rear (mural will stay...adds a bit of charaacter) and the annex attatchment has been brought further down the van line. It has a boxed galvanised chasis and unfortunately no numbers welded/stamped on it that I could find. Wheels on it now are 14" Holden HT?? apparently but I doubt they are original.
The cupboards are all molded with the body which is interesting and it has a bathtub, full size on the rear left hand side under the bed! Sticker says Sunliner by Waldens.
I will be towing it with my FC ute. Pictures show the van being very dirty but it is only the dust from the big red storms that rolled in and will be gone before the first tow. She is in very good condition and alway shedded...and will stay that way. We *enjoy* a very dry climate here so her presevation is assured for a while to come.
Anyway, would appreciate any comments as to age, model etc I'll let the pictures tell the story.
Cheers
Duds

[Dave&Tammy]

:)Congratulations, the van looks like it is in very good condition you must be happy with it.

Tammy & Dave

[atouchofglass]

Hey Duds

All I can say is WOW ;D ;D ;D ;D
What a nice clean van (read unmolested/original)

Definitely like the awnings and bathtub

Many a fine trip will be had using that Sunliner me thinks

Cheers
Atog

[firefighter]

BUT .......Dave have you forgot....you are a chrysler man
f/f ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[dorian]

Great score guys! Welcome to our bubble world

[bobt]

Hi Duds

What a terrific find you have yourself

You could easily past it off as straight out of the show room

I see it has a couple of extras added. Like the cover on the lower front. Helps protect it from dirt and stuff off the road

bobt

[tucky29]

hi Duds,
your van looks to be in great condition , it appears to be different to all the sunliners i have seen, ie the heavy swage line arround the belt line and it appears to be longer than the 13/6 ft vans but not the same shape as the 15ft one i had, could you let us know what length the vans body is please

thanks
tucky

[myvan]

Good luck with it

Cheers
Kathryn

[duds]

Thanks guys and yes...we are looking forward to enjoying her
Sorry Dave, but no...not at the moment...will have the XK on hysterical plates early new year. After that not sure of my plans...have another car on the go at the moment so who knows.
Tucky, I measured the egg best I could and made it a neat 14 ft.
It weighs 710 empty. It has a very large water tank under it as well as a more normal size one at the front. The big tank was for the bath it is sassumed and Terry said it did have a large hot water service on the front where the gas bottle is. The plot thickens!
And thanks Atog...but she has had a few molestations but not big ones. The bench has been moved out a little to aid the fitting of the Dometic fridge. Needed to make room for the fan behind it when things get over 30 degrees. It also has 2 sinks, not sure about that. One just front of the stove and one near the main bed with an mirror under the lid....vanity? dunno.... seems the *vanity* and the seat opposite were needed to make the length right for the bath to fit in. Also added is a small pantry in the main cupboard. But in fairness all mods were done pretty well.
Still scratching my head as to a build date though. Some nice timber trimming inside that says pre 70s I think...any ideas would be welcome
Cheers
Duds

[Swellwillys]

Nice van guys !
And as has already been said Welcome to "Bubble World"

It 's so nice to see the list of Sunnys growing amongst the VV's

Enjoy !
Swellwillys

[freeway]

Congratulations! very cool van!

[humpty2]

Duds, I have seen this van in the flesh and even though I am a Sunliner enthusist, I can't fathom this van out.
The length.......the fibreglass interior.... the swage....."Waldons" (maker or seller) and the fitout is unlike all other Sunliners, but I still think it's a great van.

As I said before, I have looked at this van.........and made him an offer for it BUT your offer must have been better than mine!!

[duds]

hi humpty.....damn....knew I paid too much for it!!!!!!!
Actually followed the scene for a while and think the price was fair all round........but yeh.....would love to know the history!
Cheers!

[duds]

Interesting stuff......just had a bloke tell me that this van was built by a David Walden at Collaroy, Sydney. Tells me he was also a boat builder and built these vans in the early 60s.
That would mean that when the factory closed at Forster he continued on? or built them under license like the Gracemeres? I am now on the hunt to track him down.

[Don Ricardo]

Hi Duds,

That's a great new lead on your van. You have to be really excited about that!

It's excellent to have some more info about the origins of the Walden Sunliners, even it is only a snippet at this point. As you have suggested, it looks like David Waldren (Walden?) must have had an arrangement with Sunliner to produce vans after the Sunliner company itself closed down its operations, which at one stage were spread across 2 or 3 states. There was an arrangement of this type with Concord caravans in New Zealand, and over time Concord developed the concept and design, and has apparently just started building them again.

About a year ago, I posted some info Humpty2 provided about your caravan in 2008 (before you bought it) on the Sunliner thread in the Down History Lane section of the forum. Given that it appears that the Walden Sunliners had their own identity, I have now separated that post out into its own thread which you will find here if you are interested.

Good luck with tracking down David Waldren. We look forward to hearing about the outcome.

Don Ricardo

[duds]

thanks Don...and yes...Walden...just modyfied the post before reading yours....ooooops