1970 Millard 15ft M17158 "S'dipity"

[HeyFootey]

Greeting,

Picked up this beauty from the New England region earlier in the week.



Advertised as a 1988 16' CARA68A model, after some sleuthing using the excellent info on this site I have deduced that it is likely a mid-1970 15ft model. I found a reference to a mid-1970 sales brochure here which has the same layout of the model M158-7.




I suspect 1988 comes from when it last presented for registration (or compliance maybe) as the Gas Compliance Plate is stamped 1988 and this is the year on the rego papers.

The chassis is solid with no rust and underneath appears to have been refurbished at some stage with a bituminous coating which is in good order. Paint is oxidised and there are a few wounds to the cladding. Inside is a little shabby from wear-n-tear and some evidence of water ingress at some point in the upper drive-side corners, but is in pretty good order given the age with a solid floor and flat ceiling.

Our plan is to reseal and repaint the outside to original. On the inside we'll strip completely to insulate, rewire and rebuild the furniture, largely keeping the existing layout which meets our family needs perfectly. About the only change from original will be putting in a slide-out kitchen, and possibly put a longer drawbar on so we can actually open the rear door of the tug.

Timeframe? Well, plan is to have it ready for a planned half-lap to visit The Rock and places in between some time in 2020, which coincides with someones Golden Jubilee (and the van's if it is in fact from 1970).

Here it is.



























Will post as we progress.

[nickd15]

Welcome to the forum and good luck with your restoration.

cheers Nick

[twocutekelpies]

Hi HeyFootey, looking forward to seeing progress pics. If you're stripping out, keep an eye out for the build date written behind the plywood at the front of the van. Flickr is down at the moment so I'll link to my build log for a pic of what to look out for (no progress on that as I'm working on a little York at the moment) caravanersforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=103&t=71246&p=1192835#p1039970

I think you'll find late 1970 M15171 found 1/4/70 behind their panelling and M17399 found 20/1/71. The numbers ran consecutively from about 1962-1978.

With yours being from 1970, you have the same windows and hatch as my York ditzygypsy.proboards.com/thread/4665/1972-york-chassis-restoration-y3845  
Cheers
Shelley

[HeyFootey]

Decided to spend some time on a little deconstruction to see what we are in for, see if previous owners left us any treasure, and importantly seek the holy-grail confirmation of the birth date.

First job was to work out if it would fit in the limited parking spot envisaged. Some string lines, hand waving and reverse maneuvering in low-range achieved the result, although some excavation and landscaping will probably be required at some stage to make it a little easier.

 

Birth date confirmed, 2/12/1970 (@twocutekelpies please feel free to add this to your register - I've joined your FB group and loved looking at the so many pictures of other's vans).



This was behind the driver-side front panel between the lower and upper bunks. Unfortunately this was one of the worst water impacted areas so I was not able to rescue it all, noticeably the builders name or initials are missing (there looks like a "C / D", but can't be sure. On the door side panel it had "COP DP" with a big "A" circled).

After a weekend of hacking we ended up with a good shell. There is lots of evidence of water ingress, predominately from windows and some holes in the upper right of the roof. The entire front ceiling had been patched over at some stage and the floor is rotten along the front and driver side edges, so the frame is going to have to come up and new floor put in. Also spent some time poking around underneath and it is very tidy. Will need to re-treat the chassis as there is evidence of rust bubbling under the black hardened covering. The water ingress front and driver-side is where the chassis outriggers are also corroded badly. These appear to have been rust treated and patched using gal angle at some point in the past and which looks to have done the job, but the front in particular no longer provides any real support to the floor so will cut these out and weld new sections in.

Front:


Back:


Waterfalls:


Treasure-wise the pickings were slim, finding only an old teabag, very brittle Bic plastic pen, a 5c piece from 1981, and a teapot doily with color scheme matching the van.

The Doily:




One thing I have noted on this van that I have not yet seen in the pics of other rebuilds of this era is the aluminium used in the roof structure to which the ceiling was glued and riveted, above which sit 3 curved timber spars running front-to-back on which the roof cladding sits freely.

The odd thing with this is the way in which the ceiling and roof structure have been tied to the walls, which poses an issue for deconstruction/reconstruction. On the driver-side the ceiling has been glued to the wall top-plate and the roof fixed to it with screws, presumably before the roof cladding went on. On the passenger-side the ceiling was only affixed using rivets from the underside to the roof structure (no glue) and NOTHING holding the roof to the wall top-plate - this seemed to be done by the middle ceiling cupboards (over the dinnette) and front robe, which were stitch-stapled/screwed to the walls and stapled/nailed from the ceiling. As soon as i removed these the passenger-side roof popped up slightly and the wall bulged out.

For those that may have come across this before, how did you remove the screws on the driver-side without lifting the cladding, and how did you retrofit the new ceiling and fix the roof to the walls?


Passenger-side flying free:




Drive-side still married:




Once the windows have been removed will the frame be light enough for a couple of people to man-handle on to some form of support whilst the chassis and floor is dealt with?

Finally, poking around the running gear I came across these pivoting arms attached to the chassis rails directly above the leaf springs. Yet to do some research but what I could make out on the mechanism was "Dunford? Solid State". Some form of 70's style shock system for the springs?

Thanks for reading.

[twocutekelpies]

May 26, 2019 19:27:05 GMT 10 HeyFootey said:

how did you retrofit the new ceiling and fix the roof to the walls?

I've added timber pieces all along the roof line and will staple 3mm pvc capping to them and the existing timber "ribs" and slot the ceiling into that, I've left the spacer ply in place and slid some in where it was missing. The walls are being slotted back into the original aluminium capping at the top of the wall -


I'm not sure how light your size van will be for man handling but it took a bit for hubby and I to take the 10ft York off the chassis, we used our hi-lift jack to help us out. I'm only just over 50kgs so probably don't count much towards man-handling skills lol. I took all of the windows out before hand but left the overhead cupboards in for a bit of structural integrity and to keep a bit of weight on the van so it didn't get blown off the workstands. 

I also had the waterfalls stains and sealed the outside joins on both sides, top and bottom, no more leaks there now. 

Thanks so much for the added info for the register, so glad you found it  
Cheers
Shelley

[hughdeany]

Hi HeyFootey,
The shock absorbers you found were Dunford solid state shock absorbers,an aftermarket shocker available from the early seventies.
Dunford also made hydraulic corner jacks,slide on camper jacks and weld on bumpers with one or two spare wheel mounts,a very well respected company now gone unfortunately 😥
Your Millard is one of the first with that layout known as the E type,later models had by side windows under the top bunk,whilst the earlier versions had upper and lower bunk windows,as yours.
Good luck with your Reno.😉
Cheers
hughdeany

[78466noM]

very carefully use a grinder or hacksaw blade to remove screws don't let them spin as you do it as the may wear hole in thin aluminum cladding. you are lucky to have aluminum roof batons my 78 model had timber along top of wall frames and timber batons they went overboard with the staples it was a pain to seal all good now no timber now on top of wall frames replaced with aluminum square tube. I had 4mm box welded in across front and second row and new 4mm box for draw bar . leave end of draw-bar open so it dries quicker and ants don't make a nest inside. have fun and may all go well.

[HeyFootey]

So, been a while between posts, but busy we have been.

Firstly we have named it - S'dipity - so we have to keep it.
Secondly, as the deconstruction has progressed, our vision of restoration has morphed into a semi-retro rebuild using newer tech. Inspiration has been drawn from this and other renovation forums; the wealth of knowledge makes an undertaking like this so much fun.

But I digress, as this post is about the final stages of deconstruction.




Like many before, we have deconstructed into the requisite piles!

The Chassis



The Cladding



The Framework



The Windows



Found a 1968 20c piece that appeared to have been purposely inserted as a wedge to lift the frame slightly and align the door frame:



And, a closeup of those Dunford Solid State shocks. I have been unable to find any information about them (for maintenance/reconditioning), and the welded nuts are a bit concerning. So, they will probably not be part of the rebuild, instead I am thinking rebound leaf springs.




And so thoughts now turn to the restoring/strengthening the chassis, suitable draw-bar and running gear. The van was last registered at 960kg Tare and 1200kg ATM. At this stage I am targeting 1500kg GTM on 1550kg Alko rebound springs and 1600kg parallel axle with electric brakes and 185/195r14LT tyres, likely tare 1200kg.

Thanks for reading, updates to follow.