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G'day Todd, and welcome to the forum!

That's a pretty interesting van, and one I can't remember seeing the likes of before.

The cabin shape is almost a mirror image from end to end, which is quite unusual. And the way the corner windows have been made in two parts is different to how we typically see the wrap-around style.

I think you've got quite a unique van, whatever its history may be.

Take a couple more photographs for us and post them here: one showing a close-up of the coupling on the drawbar, and another showing a close-up of the jockey wheel. You never know, they may help to narrow down the origins of the van.

Any chassis number welded or stamped on the drawbar that you can see?

cheers,
Al.

seeshell is the "resident expert" for the Northane and Bote-Cote comparisons, although I don't know whether you are wanting info about the relative resin products, or the relative paint products.

There have been people on the forum who have painted the roofs of their vans with thermashield paint, and who claim it has worked well for them. I don't know whether it is suitable for repainting over cloth coverings. I seem to remember they were using it on their fibreglass vans.

I'd be wondering how much mechanical abrasion the roof cloth could withstand before it started to lose its integrity. I guess you would have to try and dull the surface so that any subsequent coats adhered to the surface properly, but you would have to be careful you didn't rub the cloth fibres too much in the process.

Maybe you should just "glad-wrap" the hatch, and leave the paint coating as it is? Might be easier to recover it every couple of years with glad-wrap, and save yourself all the angst, heh heh.

cheers,
Al.

Andrew, that stitched joint should obviously be the other way round, considering the slope of the hatch. You would have to check that you're not getting any weepage of water into that stitched joint as the water tries to run off the hatch.

cheers,
Al.

Meredith, this one in Bunnings might be a possibility, depending on dimensions compared with your existing light...

Crompton 42W Mini Fluorescent Batten Vandal Resistant Light


I'm sure if you took one of your lights into your nearest lighting store, they could have a look through their catalogues to see if there's anything that would be a reasonable substitute.

cheers,
Al.

I happened to come across an article in a Caravan World magazine from October 1977, which I'll reproduce here:


Personality of the Month - Jeff Chrisfield

Jeff Chrisfield has been involved in the caravan industry for just about his entire life, as his father Bill started Phoenix caravans over 30 years ago. Jeff would have been about 13 years of age at the time and as soon as Jeff began work he moved into the caravan industry.

Over this period Jeff has always been involved with the CTIA of Victoria and he, in fact, attended the inaugural meeting on the 6th March, 1952.

Eventually Jeff was to go on to become the CTIA of Victoria President from 1971-1973, and National President from 1974-1975.

Jeff's father decided after a trip to Caloundra, on the Queensland coast, that he would retire to this region and he left the business to the two sons.

All the while Jeff had a love of snow skiing and he tried to get up to the snow at every opportunity, during the season.

Jeff married and he and his wife now have four children. He and his brother have now sold up the original Phoenix caravan yards and both have branched off into their own fields.

Don has started a business called Phoenix Leisure in Jackson court in Doncaster, and Jeff has moved into the ski equipment sales and hire at the new business in Whitehorse Road, Balwyn.
Don's business is still in the sales and hiring of caravans while Jeff's hobby and become his profession. While Jeff is quite involved in the snow skiing business these days, he is still actively involved in selling caravan accessories through his shop, and he is also still quite involved in the hiring of caravans.

Jeff worked with his father and his brother Don, and gradually the business became bigger and better. Eventually the family business became so strong that they opened a second yard and both sites were involved in the sale, hire and service of caravans.

Jeff feels that he will probably always be involved in the caravan industry to a certain extent, as after so many years it is hard to get it out of your blood.
Jeff is considering selling more camping gear through his shop and would also like to get into bushwalking equipment in the near future.
Jeff feels that he will probably always dabble in caravan hire as when the original Phoenix caravans yard was at it peak, the family had a huge hire fleet.
Jeff said that he was proud to have been awarded a life membership to the CTIA and he hoped to be able to serve the organisation in years to come.

source: AUSTRALIAN CARAVAN WORLD, OCTOBER 1977, Page 117.

G'day robbo3,

I can only tell you what works for me, not what theory says I should be doing...

The following is from the NRMA caravan info site:

"4 psi rule":

"Tyre pressures - do-it-yourself check

It is impossible to list the correct pressures for every caravan, due to variation in size, load, etc. This easy check will help you find the best pressure for your caravan tyres.

1: First inflate the tyres to the pressure recommended by the manufacturer of the trailer or the tyre you are using. Secondly, tow your trailer for a distance of 100 km, preferably on a highway.

2: Recheck the tyre pressures immediately after pulling over and compare them with the pressures you had at the start of your run. If the pressures are right, the hot readings should be 4 psi (28 kPa) higher than the cold readings.

3: If there is a greater than 4psi (28 kPa) difference between these pressures, the tyre temperature is too high and the pressure needs to be increased. If there is less than 4 psi (28 kPa) difference, the pressure needs to be lowered.

4: Large 4WD tyres will have a differential of 6 psi (42 kPa).

5: Be sure to use the same accurate gauge for both readings."

-----------------------------------

And this one from another forum...

"Another way to find out approximately what pressure you should run is from a very simple formula derived from the tyre specifications:

max tyre pressure and max load rating are shown on the side wall of the tyre. Plus you need to know the weight of the van you'll be towing...

max tyre pressure divided by max load rating times actual load per tyre

for example: 450Kpa / 950kg x 450kg = 213kpa (30psi)"

-------------------------------------

I have successfully used the 4 psi rule for both a van with 13" Holden wheels with L/T tyres, and a van with 14" Holden wheels with L/T tyres. In both cases I've started with cold pressures of 40 psi. I've towed both those vans for a combined distance of nearly 12,000 kms, and haven't had any problems with tyres. I certainly wouldn't preach to you that you should do this or do that with respect to tyre pressures. I can only say what's worked for me.

cheers,
Al.

Where are the words panorama executive deluxe showing on the van?? It's interesting you mention 'Panorama' because in the same 1977 article I mentioned above, they talked about how Doug Thorley started his career in the caravan industry at the bottom of the ladder in 1957. By 1963, he had found his way back to the very first sales yard he worked in, and had bought it. In fact in 1963, Doug Thorley introduced the $25 deposit into the caravan trade, and while many dealers were initially quite taken aback, this low deposit is available from most dealers today.[ie.1977]

Doug started to sell vans under his own brand name once he had got himself fairly established. He would purchase caravans in bulk lots from different manufacturers and put his brand name of "Panorama" on the front.
By buying his stock vans in such large numbers, Doug was able to make considerable saving on each unit's cost.
He was therefore able to sell the vans at under the price that most of his competitors were asking, in many cases passing on a saving to the customer of up to $1000.
Panorama's were built by eleven different manufacturers, and some of the better known ones include Avondale, Newhome, and Deville caravans. He moved out of the Panorama brand late last year [1976] when he purchased the Viscount yard on Sydney Rd in the Melbourne suburb of Fawkner.

The big grinning face emoticon that was used in the previous version, does not transfer to the newer version5. Different code used for that emoticon. Was ;D but is now '' (without the ' ' )

You'll see lots of old posts with the old grinning face code now showing, not the emoticon (especially firefighter who used it a lot )


Also stickied in the Whatever index is the original thread about changing to the new version, started by reddo. Admin can release the sticky, I reckon.


cheers,
Al.

I've just been looking at the options available when you click the gear wheel in the top right hand corner of any post. There is an option called "Link to Post" which might substitute for the Reply # system of reference. You can either have the linked post show as part of the original thread, or you can nominate for it to show independent of the thread. See my dummy links in the post I just created in the Tow Couplings thread

G'day barkpaint,

It is, but it will give you a lot more than the most recent 80 posts.

Down the bottom left of the Home page there is a section that looks like this:

Forum Information & Statistics
Board Statistics
Threads and Posts
Total Threads: 7,753 Total Posts: 74,183
Last Updated: Vintage vans wanted by kiwijim (2 hours ago)
Recent Threads - Recent Posts - RSS Feed - Mark All Boards Read


To see all the threads that have been updated, click on "Recent Threads". To see all the latest posts on the forum, click on "Recent Posts". In both cases you will be given the most recent 1000 threads updated or posts updated.

Stick with it, barkpaint. Haven't heard any reports of anybody dying because they've had to use the new version. Some features are better than the older version. Some are a pain.

cheers,
Al.

Cobber, don't quote me but it looks like you can put three attachment photos into the one post. That seems to be the most number put into a post on the Classic forum. I don't use the attachment function, so I don't know for sure. All I know is that it's a bugger to edit them as a Moderator, when the poster has put them together in a haphazard way.

Haven't heard anybody whinge about clicking on the latest posts on the home page, only to be sent to the start of Page 1 of that thread, and not to the actual latest post. That's probably the most annoying thing I've found with the new version.


One other trick I discovered is that when creating a post, it gets created in the BBCode format. You can then click on the [Preview] tab to check it before posting. (Pretty much the same as how it was done before). However, you can now leave it in the Preview format and still make any further changes you require. You don't have to keep switching the post in and out of the BBCode format to keep making changes.


The method for creating hyperlinks into your posts defies my logical brain, but once you've done it a couple of times, you get the gist of it.

cheers,
Al.

This van was listed on Gumtree on the 4th Dec 2013 for sale at $300, but didn't stay listed long and the advert was pulled after a few hours. You can see the original listing here: Gumtree advert

If you are seriously interested in this van, make sure you haggle hard. I doubt whether you will be stampeded in any rush.

cheers,
Al.