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Post by isambard on Jun 13, 2012 13:29:23 GMT 10
no, Dave. we're scrupulous about servicing and maintainence - after all, we want 'em to keep moving! not cleaning them is just our way of thumbing our noses at the whole sorry business. a childish mini rebellion, if you will. I can see how this viewpoint would be in the minority in a forum which seems to host as many car fanciers as it does van fanciers
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Post by isambard on Jun 13, 2012 16:16:57 GMT 10
fair enough - for some we're farm folk, ya see, and our world runs on grubby old workhorses that have never seen a hose. they seem to go on forever, too. the old beaten up hiluxs and F150s, etc. keeping em dirty doesnt seem to cause mechanical problems
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Post by penny61 on Jun 13, 2012 16:24:36 GMT 10
My friend has been admiring it everytime she goes past especially now she knows about my latest disease... Its always there on display, doesn't seem to go away anywhere... I'd be thrilled if someone like your friend or yourself would go and make an offer on it and try to save it before the weather ruins it......we purchased that van off the widow of the gent that built that van all by himself in a tiny little garage in the early Fifties......it's never ever been left out in the open apart from the times it's been in use , and it was still in that same garage when we got it......we built a garage for it straight away and for the 15 years we've had it we've always looked after it with the same degree of care that the original builder, Stan Allison, lavished on it.....now it's outside in the elements where it'll soon self destruct .....hard to convey just how disappointing it is to see something like this going on...... ....what I really think of that woman can't be printed here , and wish I'd gone with my first instinct not to sell it to her...... You had that little cutie for 15 years....? Wow, that's a long time. I'd love to save it, but I have the same problem... Nowhere to store it. One of the things that's so great about Penny is she fits in a single car garage WITH my Volkswagen Beetle.... I left her set up in the backyard for a few weeks in a couple of little storms to see if she leaked, and to do some cleaning, and of course try her out.... but I would be feeling guilty if she was just left sitting there indefinitely, even if it meant I could admire her every day..... If something is being used and loved it will last longer than if it isn't.... They may be designed to be outdoors but also to be used, and regular maintenance goes without saying.... I'm trying to sell a vintage sailboat (the second oldest left in the country) for the same reason... it's in a friends backyard under just a tarp at the moment because I've been too sick to sort it out and I'm already feeling guilty.... I think that new cars are better suited to fending for themselves... Better construction/sealing methods used to keep the water off the metal. Also steel is so much stronger than either aluminum or wood. That's why Dad's Mazda found herself out in the cold.....! She gets the propper maintenece but not really much love, she's just a car to Dad, and I can't really see her lasting to 42 years old, like my Sophie. If ever I'm no longer able to drive I would rather give my VWs away to someone who will love them even half as much as I do then sell nthem to the hiest bidder.... Vanessa
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Post by cruisindoug on Jun 13, 2012 16:44:32 GMT 10
There's tarps and then there's TARPS though ;D The carport took me so much lomger to get organised than I thought it would, so glad we organised the temporary accommodation - it was there for 15 months before the van port was ready It does help when you've got a great neighbour (tied off one side to his work shed). It had to be up and off it for me too, so much easier to get at to work on and put away bits and pieces, as well as stopping the condensation. I hate to think how much worse the van would have got in all that time in the weather, especially with existing rot. My two bobs
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Post by shesgotthelook on Jun 13, 2012 19:45:21 GMT 10
I have heard of a bloke round here who never washed his cars & people were always lining up to buy them when he sold them. Something to do with the duco being in excellent order?
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Post by mgandwartz on Jun 14, 2012 8:38:20 GMT 10
I wasn't going to weigh in to this discussion, BUT, I really have a problem with people who thru sheer stupidity or spur of the moment purchases, buy something well kept or restored then trash it through lack of protection and maintenance. New stuff, I don't care, but what old stuff is left (and i'm not saying crap thats not worth restoring) should be cared for for future generations as well as our own pleasure. I know of a 1936 BMW and very old van which were bought in the 70's in great condition and left in the back paddock, they are still there and now, but due to weather and vandalism are way beyond restoration (at least my ability to restore) anyway he still won't sell them so mute point. One of the Wolseley 6/90's I sold some years ago was the only one in Australia (a MK2), the guy left it in the yard then let his daughter use it as everyday transport, now its - Um you know - not worth bothering with. I just find people with money and no sense of history disturbing. My two cents worth anyway. On a positive, love the Hawthorn and really like those two ute's you have. Jealous as. My other half won't allow me a good new toy till I finish the house, have now sold all of the good stuff to finance the purchase and resto of the rock pile, so stuck with Morry's for now. LOL Oh and that Kookaburra electric kettle in the sink is a bit special. Well done.
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Post by kaybee on Jun 14, 2012 10:16:40 GMT 10
Thanks for that MG-etc,...... ......I'll do a bit of a progress report on the Hawthorn tonight ( ain't much though, been building some more sophisticated accommodation for it , but that's nearly sorted now)......might even put together the story of the little yellow van and how we came upon it as well as some of the background...... Thanks for the comments about the 2 Utes, they are our everyday transportation, have been for some years. They get used for picking up steel and timber,engines and whatever else we can squeeze into them , and the odd trip to the rubbish tip ......and the ever hazardous trips to the shopping centers ;D...... ......also got a nice Lowlite Convertible project that sounds right up your alley, PM me if you're interested , cheers, Col.
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Post by isambard on Jun 14, 2012 10:34:26 GMT 10
I too drive on crappy dirt roads as i live in the scrub.I washed it last Saturday and its putrid already. But washing a car also enables you to check cracks in lenses,wheel bearings,for rust even to check the exhaust is secure. Inside and out,my vehicles are cleaned often,i guess it pride. Dave yeah, I get that. some folk are precious about cars, others about houses, and yet others about clothes (the oddest one of all if you axe moi). my own poison is furniture and houses. ie, must be vintage and kept immaculately and 100% period correct. pathetic, I know, but there it is - and my van will be treated to the same worship. I guess I just view cars as appliances - like a lawnmower, or a microwave oven. no emotional attachment whatsoever. hasn't always been so. I had a 1960 Chev Belair once upon a time, and a very comfy V8 70's merc saloon for a while. and then there was my vintage F150 .... and that other thing ... these days though, it's all about fuel economy, ease of repair, and environmental impact. ergo, the micropod thing hubby drives, and my gas falcon wagon. both completely soulless cars, but jeez they're easy on the pocket
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Post by mgandwartz on Jun 15, 2012 8:29:34 GMT 10
Hi Col. PM sent.
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Post by kaybee on Jul 27, 2012 11:22:03 GMT 10
G'day to all here ,been a while since I've made any updates here.....so I'm going to address that right now ;D.......as I said a few lines up ,we had to make ourselves some decent workspace for this new/old van.....what we had was a pair of homebuilt ( natch, to go with the homebuilt vans )carports ,first one was for the late lamented yellow van ,then when we needed more roof,another one sprung up at 90 degrees to the first one so we had a spot for van no.2 ( the Castle that Smiles now has). Of recent times it's been home to our WW2 built lantern van , so first step was to evict it from it's spot and find it lodgings somewhere else....that somewhere else being a shipping container that son Dale has stashed at a pals property...so.... ...here he is out of his hole..... .....and here he is cruising down the road ,having just shed the remaining rear window glass in our general direction...... After some difficulty offloading the van and getting it to go uphill backwards ( built in dolly wheels , don't like going backwards or uphill )......we finally got it installed in it's new home . This gave us some space to do the rebuild work on the Hawthorn , so we got stuck into making the L shaped carports more weather tight and also more secure.....spent a few weeks doing that and ended up with this..... opens up to reveal the Hawthorn.... ....had to make the doors a bi-fold arrangement to clear the trees , built them with a steel frame and paneled them with pine tongue and groove....and used bulk Phillips head screws..... ;D ....since these pics , a few workbenches and storage shelves have been made and fitted ,plus all the garden stuff has been mounted to the back wall to free up floor space......also the Hutchinson dolly has been mounted to a ball fitting on the side wall to get it up off the floor as well. If you were payin' attention too the first part of out "recovery effort", you'll remember the old 4 stroke concrete mixer we saved.....well, it works just fine and I used it to do the concreting that's under the Hutchinson set...... ....this is the outside view from the other direction..... .....and if you look between the '36 and the front of the van..... .....in the view from the street ,it's all hidden from public view by the fence and the trellis up top......and when the leaves come back on the Liquid Amber after Winter....it'll be near invisible.... There were a couple of reasons for taking the time out to enclose the van sheds , main one was security , the vans are no longer viewable from the street so when we're out with a van it's no longer obvious to anyone walking past when one is missing.....and the vans will stay cleaner with walls to keep the dust and birds,etc,outside and no sunshine to fade paint ( as happened on one side of the yellow van).......but most of all it gives us somewhere to do the rebuild....last one we did outside in Summer, but now that it's Winter it's good to be undercover, and we bought a gas heater for the shed too! ;D So, in between bouts of chilly weather we managed to get paint on all the weatherboards and also repaint the top of the original carport.....this week we got it all wired up for 240 volt and have got the Electrical dude booked to do the wiring on the van , as it all seems to be 2 core white flex in it at the moment. When the weather was especially pox , we set up the fittings for the Hutchinson dolly on the drawbar ....as you can see the drawbar is a bit cruddy and it'll need some fixup work towards the coupling end to box it in and beef it up where the lower angle stops short of the coupling......the slotted mountings are for the chain tensioners that lock into the Hutchinson set ,a bit like level rides but these allow you to adjust the load on the dolly ,away from the towbar so you can fine tune it ( I guess ;D).....and the little tabs hanging below are for the chains to the outer wheels that lock it in straight ahead position so you can reverse it.....figured we ought to do all this and road test the result before we demolished the Hawthorn.... ....which we did..... ....as you can see the Hawthorn is running downhill a bit ,so the coupling would need to be spaced up to level it out....but it all seems to work OK,even backing up wasn't a problem......but you do need the wheels locked to do it or it goes bonkers in about 2 ft...... ;D ....also restored a pair of these and fizzed them to the back of the Hawthorns chassis after we discovered the hard way that 2 people working inside the back of the van without props means you tip up the van and hit the roof at one end and the floor at the other......and you're both pinned to the end wall by the mattress you're trying to squeeze in there between the cupboards....... ;D ;D ....speaking of the inside, Kris had been putting together a set of good handles for the cupboards,etc.... .....this was just a trail fit to make sure it looked ok.....now all the hinges are off at the chrome platers ,the doors and drawers are all in the midst of a repaint..... .....got more pics to download tonight ,but right now I'm off outside to strip more paint off the van.....cheers, Col and Kris......
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Post by cobber on Jul 27, 2012 12:02:59 GMT 10
G'day Col 'n Kris, Thanks for the update, you sure gives us a mouth full when you decide to talk Not having seen your place I've often wondered where you stash all your vehicles....plus the ones you're working on. And I'm still wondering . It's all looking good and nice and tidy, as I would expect Closed in carports are a good idea, I should be doing the same thing because I've now got Driftwood and the swamp van under the one roof.... with the front of each van poking out just a little bit, protected with tarps hanging down in front of them. Good to hear you didn't waste good slot head screws on the construction of your doors, save them for the Hawthorn .....aye? The Lantern roof van looks much the same as when we first saw it............... three years ago With the dolly wheel on the Hawthorn....... have you ever got from your Roads and traffic people, and insurance company, if they have any concerns about the Hutchinson brand dolly wheel ?. I have wondered if they might consider it a trailer hooked onto the car with another trailer hooked onto it......not on, as my old boss use to say........often . Cobber.
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Post by kaybee on Jul 27, 2012 13:14:31 GMT 10
G'day Young Cobber ( is that OK? ;D)....... ....yeah it did get a little long didn't it.....though I'd best unload it in a few posts to keep it manageable but it still went on a bit ..... .....got a bit of news on the slothead front....this van is full of Phillips heads , heaps of them and they're all old original things.....so I've got to put them back in the interests of originality , yes?...... ;D ;D....actually they're going in the bin as they come out as new plated fasteners will be used , maybe even stainless screws so they'll never go bad. The Lantern van , reason it still looks the same is....it is..... ......been collecting all the right things for it so that when we get started on it , everything we need will be there.....3 years already though? .....don't time fly when you're having fun ?..... The Hutchinson set...... never heard anything to the contrary about them , rather than spend a day on the phone trying to get any sense from anyone at Vicroads ......thought I'd speak to our engineer and get his thoughts on it as generally the first response to any query at Vicroads is met by "speak to an engineer"....so I will...... It doesn't really matter if I use it or not , only car that needs a helping hand in the taildragging dept. is this one.....
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Post by Jennison on Jul 27, 2012 22:46:38 GMT 10
Gday Kris n Col. Did dale have any luck with the moulds for the rounded mud guards? jenno
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Post by Roehm3108 on Jul 28, 2012 8:19:09 GMT 10
G'day guys That van accommodation area has come up a real treat since I saw it. Congrats on those quality doors - bi-fold even - how snazzy is that. You must have been building your doors at about the same time I was doing mine. Apart from the whole privacy issue, I have noticed that I get an extra metre of usable shed space where the rain doesn't drive in now. So Kris, have you made up your mind about which colour door handles you're going to use? ;D ;D ;D Looks like you're trying to compete with old Rubik's Kube's colour scheme - she had six different interior colours, so you have to beat that young lady Ray
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Post by kaybee on Jul 28, 2012 11:20:35 GMT 10
G'day Ray , Kris is going for the multi coloured Fifties look , that was a trial fit see if it would work and not look like a mess......seems to look OK ( to us anyway ;D).....so all we need to do now is scare up another set of blue plastic inserts to complete the set...... We have the handle part but have run short of inserts , used a heap of them doing up a 50's kitchen display cabinet.....we'll find 'em somewhere.....
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Post by dosse on Jul 28, 2012 15:06:42 GMT 10
G'day Col & Kris Thoroughly enjoy reading your stuff........so informative you are both doing a great job. Regards dosse.
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Post by kaybee on Jul 28, 2012 18:39:09 GMT 10
G'day Col & Kris Thoroughly enjoy reading your stuff........so informative you are both doing a great job. Regards dosse. Thanks David , hope to have some more pics up tonight, cheers......
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Post by kaybee on Jul 28, 2012 18:45:37 GMT 10
Gday Kris n Col. Did dale have any luck with the moulds for the rounded mud guards? jenno G'day Jenno , we haven't got around to it just yet.....I have to strip the fender off the Hutchinson set and cherry it out first , then Dale can pull a mould from it. Once that's done I'll put a post on and then anyone who needs a set of guards can see the finished item and then order some once we know how much they'll be......cheers, Col.
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Post by kaybee on Jul 28, 2012 22:20:00 GMT 10
G'day , we have a few more photo's to add after the last lot......we've both been working steadily away on the van, Kris has removed all the cupboard doors, drawers,insect screens and other asst'd items , then dismantled,prepped ,repaired and primed everything mentioned and is now painting the first of the colour coats..... .....none of this stuff had any paint on the insides , you opened a cupboard and it was bare timber ..... .....so that's been remedied and everything is now nicely prepped and painted inside.....insect screens dismantled and all parts painted individually. It looks like the whole of the interior of the van had originally been spray painted from the factory.....all in one big hit is our best guess , so everything had copped a serve of colour ,hinges,screws,insect wire,window slides ,etc,etc......it looked very sloppy and lacked detail and definition...... .....not a very good photo ,too much flash makes these look trashed......but they're actually a nice burnished bronze plated colour , after a swim in Acrylic Laquer thinners all the old Enamel floated off leaving them clean and ready to use again , although a few of the knobs will need a bit of colour to bring them up to speed again....so we'll get some auto paint tinted to the right shade and puff some paint on them so it all matches properly..... .... While KB has been busy painting stuff , I've been equally busy unpainting other stuff...... ....all the glass and opening windows were first removed, as were all the lights and other external fittings.....then I paint stripped this side with a heat gun and scraper , then sanded it all back and puttied up a few nail holes and scrapes that the van had accumulated over the years.... the little hole down low under the porthole was originally the filler for the water tank , it was under the front seat and might have held 5 gallons on a good day .....so it's out and a new tank will go under the van , ahead of the axle so it keeps the center of gravity low.....the hole won't go to waste as it'll get a NOS Clipsal bakelite socket for the power inlet.....for some inexplicable reason the orig. power inlet is here..... ....right under the rain gutter over the door..... ..... .....nice wiring too..... ;D...like I figured,all 2 core lighting flex and no Earth....all that extra length was squeezed into the wall cavity.......also means if you had an annexe , the lead would have to go thru the canvas somewhere...... ....you might have spotted one of these on the van ...... went to Wagga swap meet earlier this month and picked up the set of 4- 6" HK Monaro wheels with new WW tyres......just the right number as I like to carry 2 spares ..... ....it did have a set of HT/G wheels......probably would originally have had 13" FE/HR wheels , but likely had these fitted to match a towcar at some point.......HK's are cooler......and they take Chevy wheelcaps too , so it won't look out of place on the back of the Chev ...... this pic is also the last you'll see of the old paint..... ...part stripped....the red streaky stuff either side of the door is the remnants of the glue used to tape the joints , all these joints had cracked open so the tape needed to come off and the timber underneath cleaned up . I'll probably put a cover strip over these areas as I'm inclined to think they'll just crack again with tape as they're in-line with the door opening and will simply move under road conditions..... ....finished the rest of it today , then sanded it back to bare timber..... ..and it's good...really good.....no repairs to do , no rot anywhere , just a few small nail holes to putty and it's paint ready.....or primer ready at least.....I've left the taped joints in place with just a wisp of original primer on them , found that if you get too gung-ho with the sander you get furry bits popping up.... ....I've got a bit further than this ,will finish it tomorrow and sand it off..... this rear taped joint I've removed as the nails were lifting up and the glue was a bit average. I have some woven fibreglass ( you didn't hear that bit ;D) which will serve to replicate the look of the old tape , even bought a pair of pinking shears to cut the edges the same way. There's a couple of small sections of the taped joints on the sides that need a bit of this added as well..... Once that's all prepped ( tomorrow) , we'll roll it outside and remove the canvas on the roof. Figured with everything else being cleaned and stripped back to bare , may as well do the roof too....especially after some of the canvas lifted off with the J mouldings....... ;D ....see ya later, CB....
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Post by DC3Td on Jul 28, 2012 23:27:25 GMT 10
Your latest installments & pics is amazing Kaybee.Gotta love the barn doors of your shed too.Your Hawthorn is without doubt going to be testament to your skills. gordon
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Post by kaybee on Aug 4, 2012 19:55:27 GMT 10
Thanks Gordon , here's a couple more pics of this weeks efforts....it ain't all that much,seems like we've spent more time trekking up and back from Bunnings and other assorted places in search of materials and parts than actual work time...... ;D..... Kris got all the colour on the interior bits.....got a nice gloss happening too ....big mattress in the plastic cover is one we had built to fit the space at the back of the van....had it made with thicker than normal edge wiring at the advice of the mattress guy .....said it's usual for caravan mattresses to need more edge support because they get sat on more than edges of household beds do. What we didn't think about was how hard it was going to be to bend it in the middle so we could squeeze it past the internal cupboards of the van..... .....might have to use a couple of tie down straps to compress it so we can get it back in once all the insides of the van are back in and wearing fresh paint.... ...it's also kinda thick.....Purple coupe is Kris' 41 Willys......had to re-arrange the garage space a bit so we had somewhere to spread out the painted stuff once it was finished off. This shed/garage usually houses the Teardrop and Jeep , kicked them out and put 'em here..... .....for a while ,it's the drive into the main workshop .....the 2 short rigs fit ok here ,so the putting Willys in the other garage left a spare bit of floorspace for caravan stuff..... ...which I'm sure we'll fill up .... ;D....with some of these bits as they dry out enough to be moved.... ....all the little bits of quad are from the insect screens , new mesh to be fitted and then they can all go back on to the frames..... ....also stripped down the water pump.....was going to bin it as it looked like a cheap plastic thing when it was all painted white.....turned out was a cast aluminum body and not so bad once the cruddy old finish was removed......just have to revitalise the innnards and it should be a thing of beauty once again..... ...inside of the van is like this.....most everything is in good useable condition and only needs a clean and detail before the doors and drawer can be refitted again.....flooring is mint..... ....some of the hinges are still at the Platers....did get these back though.... ....the porthole frames were fairly badly weathered , so we dropped them into the polishers and they did a great job bringing them back to life. Probably give them a coat of 2pack clear to make sure they hold their shine......other little bits are the insect screen hinges that I showed paint stripped last episode , the nuts are the correct FJ-HK nuts for the new wheels.......managed to dredge them up at a mates wrecking yard ,some from on the ground , some on old suspensions in racks.......a bit scarce these things are now ......anyway after a quick buff and re-cutting of threads , I dropped 'em into the zinc plater
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Post by JBJ on Aug 4, 2012 20:08:40 GMT 10
Hi Kaybee,
When I had the matresses custom made for Deejay, they put a cut in the edge wires to allow the mattress to bend & fit behind the cupboard. Cut is just clear of cupboard edge. It worked well.
JBJ
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Post by kaybee on Aug 4, 2012 20:21:26 GMT 10
.....bit of a break in transmission there....sorry... ....so anyway,on to the outside ...sanded and filled and sanded some more..... ....got the back sanded too.... ....and the roof hatch off , and the canvas roofing too..... .....roof hatch is about dead , might make up a new example..... ....we stripped back to bare inside all the window openings , then KB gave them a good sanding and laid on some new primer coats.... ....while I did the same to the outside ( at last )..... ...that's about where we're at today , tomorrow we'll turn it about and do the other side and then the front section..... cheers, Col and Kris.....
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Post by kaybee on Aug 4, 2012 20:27:58 GMT 10
Hi Kaybee, When I had the matresses custom made for Deejay, they put a cut in the edge wires to allow the mattress to bend & fit behind the cupboard. Cut is just clear of cupboard edge. It worked well. JBJ .....not doin' that now!..... ;D ;D
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Post by Roehm3108 on Aug 4, 2012 20:53:58 GMT 10
Great job there both of you guys. As I said in my own thread, it's great not having to contend with rotting timber for a change - good to see you've got the same problem ;D ;D Col how did you get the porthole frames off? mine are nailed in and I reckon I might bend the aluminium if I try to jemmy them out. Any thoughts? KB, Love your paintwork! Are you using enamel on those doors? Thought for a while you'd have multicolored doors as well as handles - each contrasting with the handle Now that would keep you awake at night, with all those doors you've got. Cheers Ray
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