Post by Deleted on Jun 28, 2013 19:30:24 GMT 10
hi Folks!
I am trying to identify an old van. It was apparently moved to the site where I bought it in 1968, but in my opinion it doesn't look as old or funky as most of the pre-70s vans I have seen in the last x hours of intensive web searching. I should add I can't see a lot of the pics on this site unfortunately... browser issues? so sorry if what I'm asking is pointed out somewhere obvious already, I did have a really good hunt through.
I am wondering if anyone out there has enough expertise to at least point me in the right direction.
There’s not a lot to go on as much of the van is concealed (wedged up against a hard annex) and front and back windows have obviously been replaced with aluminium sliders but following is everything I can find. Insurance company won't insure it unless I can tell them the manufacturer and year of manufacture and all decals and chassis numbers are long gone… and I'd just love to know more about it. After looking through all the fabulous stuff on vans I am totally hooked!
It is about 7ft x 16ft. Obvious discerning features are the slanted windows and maybe the angled sloping shelf below the window of the one end (in this pic just visible behind the soft annex fly screen).
It has a slight change in angle a bit lower than half way down on the other end. (I don't even know which end the tow bar would have been).
Inside there's not much original left but the ceiling is a leather textured embossed masonite.
It is aluminium construction frame and cladding, one pic includes inset detail of what I believe is an original internal light.

While we had a sunny morning I took a few more pics that may help.
Also, flukishly, while I was sitting here working on the pics a van was towed past my window which I could run out and get a good look at. It had the same diamond hatching and 4-bar cladding profile, felt similar in general, had similar sloping windows but the back end profile didn’t have the angled turn of mine. Faintly discernable logo as it drove away said Viscount Valiant. It had 2 electric type slashes top and bottom. It also had an intact hatch about where mine is.
I went back through my older photos carefully and found this van also has evidence that it may have had two blue colour slashes.
Have attached one combo photo with three snippets from the side that’s hard to see (as its built up next to a hard annex).
The first shows no blue at the top (and also shows position of top window).
The second shows a wide blue band and its location to bottom window.
The third is from inside the annex and shows the original doorway and blue in a wide band that would meet with the wide band in the middle view, and a bit of blue up high that doesn’t make it through to the back, as evidenced by the left view.
Have included details of shelf rails and ceiling emboss.
Also, in the right pic, we are basically behind what I believe was the original cupboard with wheel cover in the bottom. So you came in the door, to the left of the door was one window. To the right was the cupboard and past it two windows one high and one middle.
All inside overhead cupboards have latch fittings at the base though all covers are gone, suggesting they were clip down style.
One overhead cupboard has glass sliders but I don’t know if that’s original.
At the end one small shelf has metal trim similar to my other van onsite, so I assumed that it was unreliable to date from, as one may have been borrowed from the other. It now seems though that if they are both Viscounts it’s possible they had the same or similar detailing in the shelf trim.
My other van is a 1973 or 1974 and was brought to the site well after the one I am trying to date. It doesn’t have the diamond hatch, 4-bar cladding.
Its also possible that the shelf detailing was not original to either...
I wonder if Viscount changed the back profile at some point between the 60s or 70s. If so, it could help narrow things down considerably. So far my van seems to closely resemble a Viscount in many ways except for the profile shape on the tow-bar end.
Can anyone put me out of my misery?
I am trying to identify an old van. It was apparently moved to the site where I bought it in 1968, but in my opinion it doesn't look as old or funky as most of the pre-70s vans I have seen in the last x hours of intensive web searching. I should add I can't see a lot of the pics on this site unfortunately... browser issues? so sorry if what I'm asking is pointed out somewhere obvious already, I did have a really good hunt through.
I am wondering if anyone out there has enough expertise to at least point me in the right direction.
There’s not a lot to go on as much of the van is concealed (wedged up against a hard annex) and front and back windows have obviously been replaced with aluminium sliders but following is everything I can find. Insurance company won't insure it unless I can tell them the manufacturer and year of manufacture and all decals and chassis numbers are long gone… and I'd just love to know more about it. After looking through all the fabulous stuff on vans I am totally hooked!
It is about 7ft x 16ft. Obvious discerning features are the slanted windows and maybe the angled sloping shelf below the window of the one end (in this pic just visible behind the soft annex fly screen).
It has a slight change in angle a bit lower than half way down on the other end. (I don't even know which end the tow bar would have been).
Inside there's not much original left but the ceiling is a leather textured embossed masonite.
It is aluminium construction frame and cladding, one pic includes inset detail of what I believe is an original internal light.

While we had a sunny morning I took a few more pics that may help.
Also, flukishly, while I was sitting here working on the pics a van was towed past my window which I could run out and get a good look at. It had the same diamond hatching and 4-bar cladding profile, felt similar in general, had similar sloping windows but the back end profile didn’t have the angled turn of mine. Faintly discernable logo as it drove away said Viscount Valiant. It had 2 electric type slashes top and bottom. It also had an intact hatch about where mine is.
I went back through my older photos carefully and found this van also has evidence that it may have had two blue colour slashes.
Have attached one combo photo with three snippets from the side that’s hard to see (as its built up next to a hard annex).
The first shows no blue at the top (and also shows position of top window).
The second shows a wide blue band and its location to bottom window.
The third is from inside the annex and shows the original doorway and blue in a wide band that would meet with the wide band in the middle view, and a bit of blue up high that doesn’t make it through to the back, as evidenced by the left view.
Have included details of shelf rails and ceiling emboss.
Also, in the right pic, we are basically behind what I believe was the original cupboard with wheel cover in the bottom. So you came in the door, to the left of the door was one window. To the right was the cupboard and past it two windows one high and one middle.
All inside overhead cupboards have latch fittings at the base though all covers are gone, suggesting they were clip down style.
One overhead cupboard has glass sliders but I don’t know if that’s original.
At the end one small shelf has metal trim similar to my other van onsite, so I assumed that it was unreliable to date from, as one may have been borrowed from the other. It now seems though that if they are both Viscounts it’s possible they had the same or similar detailing in the shelf trim.
My other van is a 1973 or 1974 and was brought to the site well after the one I am trying to date. It doesn’t have the diamond hatch, 4-bar cladding.
Its also possible that the shelf detailing was not original to either...
I wonder if Viscount changed the back profile at some point between the 60s or 70s. If so, it could help narrow things down considerably. So far my van seems to closely resemble a Viscount in many ways except for the profile shape on the tow-bar end.
Can anyone put me out of my misery?
Attachments:
