1957 caravan

[Deleted]

I am looking at buying a 1957 caravan un restored is $1000 to much to pay any advice welcome as I am a virgin when it comes to caravans. Thanks Lin. 

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[ForumMod]

G'day linnet, and welcome to the forum!

Your question is a bit tricky for a number of reasons. There are no valuation lists available for old caravans, so it's very much a matter of deciding whether YOU think it's worth paying $1000 for, or not. You could line up ten different people, and you'll get 10 different opinions about whether they would pay that sort of money.

One of the main things I take into consideration when trying to value a van, is to see if all the fixtures and fittings are there or not. You just cannot go to a corner store and buy the parts that were used in these old vans. The only way to replace any missing bits is to find replacements from a wrecked caravan, or have them made up to look similar to the original. You really need to go over these vans with a fine tooth comb and make notes about the hinges, cupboard locks, window locks, sink, tap, light fittings, door lock, tail lights, etc etc, and see what's missing. The more complete the van is in that respect, the more I would think it had some value. It's much easier to replace a sheet of plywood, or a part of a timber frame, than it is to replace a missing towel rail.

If you decide to go ahead with the purchase, all you can do is haggle with the seller based on your inspection. If you both walk away thinking you both got a reasonable deal, it doesn't matter what the final purchase price was. I guess you could always think of it as a 1957 car - what would you pay for it if it was a car??

Best of luck,
cheers,
Al.

[Deleted]

I totally agree with Al.

If your plan was full scale restoration(which from the pics this will be) then at the very least your $1000 will get you a template of what goes where and how it should look, hopefully a lot of it is salvageable, but if your up for a good project , you may have found it.

Ben