The Blue Flyer - 1951 Homemade

[Roehm3108]

Those wheels look REALLY great seeshell!!!

Ps. Soooooooo glad curtains have been relegated to their own little corner ;D ;D ;D ;D

[DC3Td]

Great van & wheels Seeshell. Think Swells got his eyes on it though. gordon

[hilldweller]

Beautiful! Looking forward to a pic of the whole van, new wheels included.

[seeshell]

Good evening all

Here's a good Friday Night Fright fest - the electrics! I thought it might amuse some of the technical amongst you. My father in law is an ex-electrician, and I don't think he waited more than ten minutes to start disconnecting things.

Here's the rat's nest on the other side of the power inlet:



Just another angle - oh the horror (note the helpful colour chart!):



And the 12 v system...:



Finally the 3mm wire being used to power 240v lights:



Just goes to show it's always worth checking, even if someone tells you they have just "rewired" it!

Zap!
Seeshell

[Roehm3108]

Like a set of Christmas lights after being in storage for a year

Now seeshell, you should have issued a PH screw warning with those pics, for the safety of some elderly folk on this forum ;D ;D ;D

[seeshell]

Hi Ray

You're right, how thoughtless! Hope noone needed a jump for the pacemaker after seeing all the crosshairs.

Not only was it a rats nest, but the running lights were just as screwy.

On our first trip we had a problem with the Hella lights blowing constantly. Did about four bulbs on our way from Bendigo to Portarlington.

We got pulled over about the lights on our short trip. But to be fair they thought we had the jockey wheel down (because of the Jones wheel). So we might have to get used to constant police presence.

Turns out they were cross wired and had no ground...

Cheers
Seeshell

[seeshell]

Good afternoon All

Yes, Al, I am listening, and am quite clear about what lights must go on the van!

Today I saw Danny Lee from OldLucas and got some lovely glass beehive 594s in amber (4) and red (2), and an original license plate light.



Very good to deal with - it's a treasure trove in his warehouse!

Cheers
Seeshell

[cobber]

G'day seeshell,

By a happy coincedence.... I added his contact details to the VINTAGE RESTORATION PARTS SUPPLIERS/INFORMATION thread earlier this afternoon..... sorry it took so long

Good looking lights there that you have got hold of.... perfect

Cobber.

[seeshell]

Good afternoon All

I've been lucky enough to have conversations with the daughter of the original builder, Arthur Conrick. Kate (now nearly 60) says her older sister remembers her father buying the chassis and the van being constructed in the back yard of their house in Rockdale, NSW.

Kate says they went on many holidays, and for a time it was set up as a permanent onsite van at Palm Beach, and then Pittwater some time around 1956 and onwards.

In 1963 they bought a holiday house in St George's Basin, and from that time the van was situated there under a carport, and used as additional guest space until 2000, when the house was sold. The buyers re-registered the van in about 2004, at which time it was purchased by Murray.

Kate told me to look under the convertible front bed for some initials she and her sister scratched in - sure enough, they're there.

Kate has a picture of Murray (third owner) with Arthur from 2005; they must have had a rendezvous about the time Murray was on his way to or back from Coledale - Al kindly provided pictures of the van with Murray's 1920's tow car. Also, Kate is digging up some pictures of the van in use from the mid 1950s which will be a lovely bit of history to have. I'll add them to the thread when I receive them.


Other Interesting History

Arthur was a radio technician, and worked for AWA and other companies, and it is through this profession that he had the link to Bankstown. Later in life he started his own repair and hire company and was very successful, but due to health reasons sold the company and retired in the mid-1970s.

This in some way explains the 12V system - which had a vintage radio transformer as the powerplant. And it also probably sheds some light on why some of the van was wired with radio and bell wire rather than normal 240v wiring of the time - he just had it lying around!

Arthur had a lot of interests: he would also have been one of the first people to have been into waterskiing in Australia, and followed his interest from the very early 1950s. He built two wooden speedboats; one was constructed from plans in the magazine Popular Mechanics. Interestingly of course, the same manufacturing techniques of bending, laminating and gluing apply, and he must have become quite the expert! One of the boats has stayed in the family - the other was sold.

Arthur passed away in 2008. His wife Noelene is still alive, and 91 years old.

Kate, the daughter I spoke with, laughed about her connection with caravans - her first marriage was to the son of John Carr, the founder of Viscount!

Small world -
Seeshell

[seeshell]

Here are some family snapshots of The Blue Flyer over the years:

Very early 1950s at Palm Beach, NSW (Noelene pictured near van):


1955 holidaying again at Palm Beach, NSW (the Blue Flyer is on the left):



1955 Heading home from Palm Beach (second van, car with boat on the roof):



1957 Palm Beach NSW (and a new tow car):



1957 Palm Beach (Arthur’s hand built boat “Swish”):



1957 Arthur Conrick, Family and Friends:



1963 Housed at St George’s Basin, NSW:



2000 August St George’s Basin holiday home is sold (Arthur and Noelene pictured):



2004 (as sold to Murray) Van Interior Front:



2004 (as sold to Murray) Van Interior Rear:



2005 Murray stops by on his tour of Australia (Arthur pictured):



Many thanks to the Conrick family for sharing their holiday snaps.

Cheers
Seeshell

[DC3Td]

Fabulous pics Seeshell. Certainly many a story could be told on theirs & the blue flyers travels.
gordon

[bobandjacqui]

G'day Seeshell,

What a great memory to have of your van. I'm sure a lot of us would like to know some of the history about our vans and also where they have travelled in this great land of ours. ;D ;D ;D

Thanks for posting the piccies Cheers Bob and Jacqui

[Roehm3108]

Just brilliant pics - to say nothing about the cars!!

Now you know how thrilled I was to get the old pics of the Rowvan - adds another dimension to the van's history.

Ray

[firefighter]

G'day Carley

WOW .....how goods is that ...not many members would receive
photos of the vans trips the owns took it on

What about the fins on the boat?? I see the boats for sale

Wonder where it is now .....Reddo would love it ....Guess humpty2 would also want it for the fins...... to tow behind his Chrysler

f/f ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[Jennison]

TOP photos seeshell.
A real buzz for you to have that historical record of your VV.
jenno

[seeshell]

Hi Ray (and the rest of the Car afficionados) -

I was wondering what the tow car was for the early 1950s - anyone know? I also wondered if in some of the early 1950s pictures Don or Cobber could identify other makes!

Go on - have a crack!

Cheers
Seeshell

[Jennison]

I initially hoped that the chrysler wagon was a plainsman but being 1957 that's a year or two too early for that model. I also would be interested in what that one is.
PS Seeshell, I trust you included DonR with Cobber in your request because of his detective skills and not his comparable age to Slothead Bob!!! I don,t know which one would be more disturbed at the thought ;D ;D

[cobber]

OK Jenno.....I certainly don't take offense

It is interesting to see those photos of "The Blue Flyer" in her original paint scheme with the paint line ducking down under the front window...... just like they did on the "Pathfinders"... and the monster roof hatch...... just like the "Pathfinder" had.

I reckon Arthur Conrick might have been an admirer of John Jennisons work. If you look hard seeshell can you find any other similarities between Pathfinders and the "Flyer" ?

As for your question directed to myself and Don R ......I'll leave it to Don R......... it's all getting too hard for me

Cobber.

[seeshell]

Hi Jenno and Cobber

Having had a good go through the Jennison Pathfinder section of Down History Lane, I have to say that the exterior of the 1948/49 is very similar to the pictures provided. As you say, even the painted spats are similar (at first I thought they had been painted just to mirror the tow car's mudguards).

I agree the stripe is very familiar, as are the spats. Interestingly too, the wooden framed windows of the 1948 are almost identical, although in place of the window to the left of the door we have a porthole. Given the van was built from 1950 and completed in 1951 it does hold that he might have been copying a look from a current caravan of the time.

The hatch is similar in size to the one in the brochures for 1948; inside we have a section of fixed screen in the middle, and flaps that hinge open so you can get in to lift the hatch. Not sure how that arrangement compares to the Jennison Pathfinders.

However the internal fitment is very dissimilar. So clearly if Arthur did admire the look, and even copy it, he still decided to do his own thing inside.

I did note that in a few of the shots of the Conricks and their friends, that the friends ALSO had a similar stripe on their van. Wasn't sure if that was a Pathfinder (didn't think so, hatch seemed smaller) - if it was not, there is yet another admirer.

Cheers
Seeshell

[mgandwartz]

Hey seeshell, that tow car in the first pic looks like a Jaguar to me. Now i'm not up there with the marks but think it would fit with what I know of the mark four.
Initially i thought that lovely Chrysler wagon was an early plainsman. Now i'm gonna have to look at my old books, its got me going.
Think I see the back of a customline, and I think about a 51 Chev ute.
Single spinner Ford is obvious then the mudgard of an Austin A40 in the pic with the Chrysler wagon.
The 63 pic has another Jaguar behind the two ladies its something like a MK 7 or 8 not sure when the split in the windscreen went.
anyway thats my fun for the day, better get into work.

Don

[mgandwartz]

Hey Jennison, after some more work I think that is an early plainsman. Its the same front as a 57 Royal and to me its a dead ringer for Michael Finniss's completely original blue one.
I know that the records state that the plainsman came out in '58 but the father of one of the guys here used to work for Chrysler when they built these at what is now the Le Cornu building on Anzac highway. He was saying some time ago that they were mucking around with all sorts of special builds as trials in the mid fifties. So i wonder if its is actually one of those.
Wouldn't i love to see pics of some of those trial designs. Better still wouldn't i love to find one of the cars.

[seeshell]

Hi Guys

There's also the possiblity that the date of the photo is not exact - after all Arthur is gone, and Kate would have been maybe 4 at the time?

I think you would have to give a bit of leeway.

Cheers
Seeshell

[mgandwartz]

I was thinking something like that but didn't want to say it LOL . Would still love a Plainsman or some of those trial bodies.

BTW forgat to say - great pics, wish I knew more about our old van. All we know is it was made by a family in Robe.

[humpty2]

First 2 pics....the Jag is a Mk5....the Ford is an American '54 which we got in '55......but we still got the side-valve V8.....the yanks had the Y block OHV V8 in theirs . I think the ute could be the same model but called a Mainline.
I think the later Jag is a Mk7.
Would love that Plainsman........or experimental version

[JBJ]

Hi Humpty

I know very little about Jags, so I'll go with your judgement on them.

The Chrysler has to be a Plainsman, wether pre production or not. I cant see how the general public in NSW could get a pre production version that was built in South Australia, so maybe they were released earlier than recorded. Whatever, they are a beautiful wagon. I've seen one in the metal at Brisbane Chrysler Day a few years back, & it was magnificent.

I thought the ute was an "anniversary" model 1953, & the sedan a 54. I've owned both models in the past, and thats what I always believed the year models were.

Both were side valve in Australia, & as you said the 54 USA had the first Ford OHV, but not until 55 in Australia.
The 55 was a completely new car from the 54 in Australia.
Kaybee will correct me I guess if I'm wrong, but I dont think I am on this one.

Still nice to see the old photos

JBJ