Classic original or classic upgraded?

[Deleted]

What do members of this forum think is the most appropriate course of action, do you upgrade your classic caravan (I have a 1976 Franklin Hunter) to bring it into the 21st century, or do you maintain its original features. Where does it have the most value and appeal, I would love to hear your thoughts. Ruth

[kiwijim]

Howdy Ruth,

The answers to the questions you ask depends a great deal on your own personal choice.

If, ( like a great number of members on this forum ) you are dedicated to the preservation of a genuine Classic , then I would suggest that you keep the basic design as origional as the day it came out of the factory.

There are some vans around that on the out-side look original but, the interior has been highly modified to suit their personal requirements, these still look great as in my opinion, they are retaining their original design.

If you decide on a complete Reno, bare in mind that the cost of this will certainly add value to your van but the cost will never be recovered should you wish to sell in the future.

It's entirely up to you, how far and to what extent you wish to go in repairs and modifications with your van.

I know that after spending five years and something like
$ 20.000 on a very rare Scottish caravan I recently sold,
I finally let it go for the miserable amount of $ 5.800 and then only to people who had no kids and were prepared to take good care of it.

Finally, I think that you, your-self will have to decide what you want,
1/ a genuine Classic Caravan that will make you proud to own after hearing the comments of others or,

2/ just another box on wheels that will be used for the kids sleep-out when not required.

These are only my ideas and nothing to do with the Management, every-one has their own opinion's.
cheers kiwijim ;D

[viscount6116]

Gday Ruth
I think that Jim has pretty well nailed it...it all comes down to personal choice.
In my case I looked at many vans before I purchased(both newer vans and classic) and at the time had up to $25000 to play with and within a short period worked out that if I wanted a newer one with all the features that I needed and wanted and in good condition I would be spending closer to $100000 (well out of my price range)

With regard to an original classic in good condition... that is what I aspired to and did a lot of searching before I found exactly what I wanted and at a reasonable price.
That being said the price I paid was quite a bit more than maybe many members would pay for a classic Viscount but personally I didnt want to rebuild a caravan and my van is in the best original condition of any van of its age that I have seen and all of the hard work was already done(was professionally resealed prior to my purchase)
If I ever wanted to get my money back I probably wouldnt (as Kiwijim said) but I bought the van to keep until its dead and it will never come back on to the market ,also when it needs replacing in the future its going to cost over $100000 to get what I already have and so Im going to make it last for a long,long time ;D ;D
In my opinion I think that the original versions of these old vans are probably the way to go but it depends on the condition that its in at purchase and the availability of parts etc as to which way you go in the end.

Cheers Andy

[greedy53]

you are only here once, do what makes you happy, it's your money and you will be the one living with the decision

[millard1399]

G'day Ruth,

Great question!...and sure to get responses from one end of the spectrum to the other.

I wear two hats: one as a person who likes history, and one as a person who likes reality.

The historian in me likes to see old things in original condition. The more original they are, the more interested I am in their history. If somebody discovers a caravan that looks like it must have been put into a time capsule soon after it was built, (like this one ), then I would implore the owner to keep it as original as possible.

The realist in me sees it from the other side of the fence. Caravanning is all about enjoyment. Whatever needs to be done to a caravan to provide enjoyment for the occupant(s) is fine by me.

When they interview patients in palliative care, and ask them whether they have any regrets about their life, and whether they'd do anything differently if they had their chance over again, you'd be hard pressed finding anybody whose biggest regret is what they did, or didn't do, to their van.

cheers,
Al.

[Deleted]

Thanks everyone for your comments, You have pretty much echoed our thoughts about our van, she is in very nice original condition and i dont think I want to change the the look of her inside or out. I do however want to add some mod cons like 12volt battery system, a mains pressure tap and an oven. If possible I would like to get a secondhand chef magic oven that i beleive was available in the 1970's so that it stays within the period. These things though really are only for convience. I will try and post some photos so you can see what i mean.

[Deleted]

I bought a Vintage Franklin Caravelle some years back and, as the vans interior, not to mention the frame was in poor condition, decided to do a rebuild, the outside is nearly original but inside has been changed dramatically. Using the original building methods for furniture I created a new shower/ toilet room, moved the kitchen to the opposite side and fitted a double bed. I kept as much of the old paneling as was practical and the finished van now looks as if it was originally made this way. As for cost.... around $18K, but well worth it to get what I wanted in the van. The job was never a restoration but a re-cycling of an otherwise worn out van that would probably have ended up on a tip somewhere or worse still in a demolition derby. One more van saved for the future.

Denis.

[Deleted]

hello i own 2 Viscount caravans... my first on i got about 2 years ago now is a 1950s something 13x7ft caravan. i have restored it an changed it around abit.. now im thinking about restoring it back to how it was with the only diffrents is the main frame of the walls is wood i thinking about upgrading it to alumimun.. im looking for advice on if doing that will take the vintage part out of it even tho it will look the same as the day it came out but without flat head screws to hold the outside panals on it be pop rivits . i have uploaded all the pics of my restore on photo bucket. i send a link have a look at what i have done to the caravan an yes now i have a compleatly diffrent door on it now off a diffrent caravan... please comment an give me your opinon on how i have done so far with the upgrade an my handy work for this if the first caravan that i acualy worked on.. cheers


s1284.photobucket.com/user/FalconGT29/library/Viscount%2013x7ft%20caravan

[ForumMod]

G'day falcongt29, and welcome to the forum! ;D

I've rearranged your post above so it now shows the link to your photobucket album. I've also copied the link to one of your photos in your album, to now show a picture of the van you're talking about.

If you right-click on any individual photo in your album, and open it in a new window, you'll see a box on the right hand side of the photo with some codes in it. Click in the last field that has IMG and you'll see the word copied flash up in that field. Switch to the forum window where you are creating your post, and paste that IMG code into your forum post. The code will automatically convert to show the photo when you post your reply to this forum.

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

I don't think your van is a Viscount. It looks like one of the early Wayfarer type vans, or some other brand, to me. We have a sister forum for caravans built before 1970, which is known as the Vintage Caravans forum. You can get more information about your van by joining up with them, if you like. The aim of the people on that forum is to preserve the old caravans the way they were, so you mightn't get too many people on that forum who would be enthusiastic about your plans to change the way it was built.

cheers,
Al.

[Deleted]

thank you for that.. i do have a Viscount 1974 i think it is the chassi number is R41944 i got it last week an not much info on it for all the bages are faded an gone.. trying to find one the same for the orginal layout for that i want to put it back to that state.. an for my other caravan thank you or the other site i will join up with it there.. the paper work i got with the caravan siad it was a Viscount Viscount Ambassador. 13x7. but from what i can work out by looking thow all the forams on here is that a Ambassador came out in the 1970. im not to fimolour with the historys of caravans but i want to learn.. thank you

[Deleted]

My Escort is registered as a Millard. I suspect Queensland Transport is totally unaware of Escorts.

[Deleted]

G`day escort72 i get where ur comming from this caravan must a be been registered as a viscount simour to your story beside no one could identify what this one is..lol

[Deleted]

Hello everyone, thort i post my pictures of my Viscount 16ft caravan. www.facebook.com/FalconGT27?ref=tn_tnmn

[Deleted]

have i posted this in the wrong forum???

[ForumMod]

G'day falcongt29,
Sometimes you won't get a response to your post for a couple of days or more. Depends on what people are doing, and whether they are interested in posting a reply.

When I click on your Facebook link, it wants me to sign up for Facebook to see your photos. I'm not on Facebook and so I can't see them. Maybe if you start a thread about your Viscount van in our Hall Of Fame section, we can all see what photos you post there.

cheers,
Al.

[rover]

That photo on facebook looks similar to my Viscount Duralvan (Chassis No. A1888), that ws identified through this site (General Discussion Valiant Caravan)

[rover]

While here, anyone tell me how to post replies (I;m a new member - Bunyah). When I post a reply using Bunyah a pop up tells me that user name has been taken , so I make one up, which works? e.e. rover

[ForumMod]

Are you actually logged into the forum when you try and post a reply using the name bunyah?? If you haven't logged in, and try to post a reply as a Guest using the name bunyah, it certainly will tell you that name has already been taken.

Try posting a reply after you've actually logged in. If it still won't let you, tell me and I'll get in touch with the Admin for this forum.

cheers,
Al.

[Deleted]

Hi all, I'm new here and this may have already been said, but here goes. If the interior of your van is a wreck you have a fantastic opportunity to do whatever your heart desires irrespective of the age of the van. There are also safety and reliability considerations the remember. If however your van requires no more that some new cupboard handles and curtains, keep it original. Why spend money on something that may already be perfectly serviceable and/or comfortable, you'll never get that money back anyway. Whether it was built in 1942 or last July you are the only one who can make the decision regarding how to go forward. Lets face it, 1976 Franklins in general are not rare items, and the truth is, like everything else, it is only worth what someone is prepared to pay.

[millard1978goldcoast]

Hi to all.

Our first van of any type of format is our 1978 Millard 15 x 8 foot. 7 berth.

We looked at a few, and weren't happy with what we could afford.

I'd just about given up all hope and prepared to buy a sound shell for a project so we could have what we wanted.

My wife found our van at 11pm the day after it had been listed on gumtree. Obviously at 11.15, it didn't interest me much as I had been asleep for a couple of hours. At 5 am it didn't improve, but I agreed to go and look at it, so I could sleep the next night.

It turned out to be the original owner, selling it as his kids had grown up and not interested in taking on the family van for their families.

7 birth and absolutely original and very very usable. Not mint, but perhaps pristine.

We bought it there and then, and discussed things we could do to it to suit our tastes and ideas.

Once we got it home, the longer we sat in it planning, the more we wanted to preserve it exactly as it was. Currently looking for original type orange/brown/yellow striped nit style fabric to recover the cushions. (Any help or leads would be great)

It is still a time capsule from the late 70's and we are finding more 70's storage containers etc to suit the van. We are laminating the original sales receipt to put on the inside of one of the overhead doors.

That's our story, and we are looking forward to meeting more classic/vintage van(ers) in South East Queensland.

[pisces51]

G'day millard1978goldcoast, and welcome to the forum!

Sounds like you've scored a very good van! It just goes to show that there are still vans out there in "almost new" condition waiting to be found. Would love to see some photos of it if you can arrange that.

As far as the upholstery fabric goes - I can't recall anybody saying they'd discovered that type of material as still being available, but I might be wrong there. Somebody may know where you could start looking.

cheers,
Al.

[supreme78]

Hi all
I have 2 caravans one 1978 viscount supreme. 16.5 ft. It was shabby inside and fitted with shower from factory. So I renovated it to use to travel around oz in the future. It's had all the appliances replaced with new ones. HWS oven hot plates all new. All new plumbing in guest plastic fittings. Dometic hatches in the roof as well. I have spent a lot of money on it and it's a very nice van.

I then found a 1972 viscount royal 22 ft twin door van. Been under cover for most of its life and is quite clean. It's also a shower van and I would love to restore it to original and use it but I am not sure about undertaking another restoration. Its a bigger van with dual axle and wrap around windows. It would be much better for traveling around oz but I am not sure what at way to go about it. My restored van might be worth $8000 and that money would be plenty to restore the older one. It's a lot of work and I don't have room at my house to park it while I restore it. It's a hard decision I have to make.

[atefooterz]

I was thinking about a 20foot plus sorta van but since August 2014, travelling in my 16footer, there are plenty of times it is too big for the odd thing/park/ time taken to clean it etc! If i had a partner the 16 would be too small though.

[Deleted]

Mar 15, 2015 17:45:16 GMT 10 millard1978goldcoast said:

Hi to all.

Our first van of any type of format is our 1978 Millard 15 x 8 foot. 7 berth.

That's our story, and we are looking forward to meeting more classic/vintage van(ers) in South East Queensland.

Hi millard 78(same year as my van 

Some of us QLD members are having a meet & greet in June, if your interested we would love to see your van and you/s

When & Where

Cheers Lawrence

[suem]

Our Olympic Style Leader is quite rare, so we are trying to keep it to as close as original as possible. And we actually really like the layout anyway.