1972 Viscount Royal - 8964A

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G'day, my name is johnny and last Thursday I bought a 1985 16ft viscount royal which we will restore and use on our family holidays.

Im married with 3 kids so sold our jayco dove to make our trips less setup intensive.

Here are some photos on the day we picked it up which was about 5 hours north of Sydney and not far from our friends farm at crescent heads. We camped overnight at the farm and got a quick surf in. I replaced both tyres and got the bearings check before the big trip home. Towed beautifully and had no hassles.


Just wondering if anyone can decode my 1985 viscount royal 16ft caravan chassis number 8964A.





Johnny

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G'day paddlepops,

Sorry for this late response to your post, but I've been away for 3 weeks.

Your van is a 1972 model. I actually saw an on-site Viscount in a caravan park while we were travelling, which had the chassis number of around 9000A and it had the wind-out windows rather than the push-out windows like your van. Yours must have been built pretty close to the time they switched over to the wind-out windows that started appearing around 1972/73.

The van in the park had the same painted design on the sides as yours does, but the two parts were separate colours - green at the front and brown on the rear section. I hadn't seen an example of the different colours before, only examples of the same colour but different shades (like two-tone blue, for example).

cheers,
Al.

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Hi Johnny, I'm new here too, I bought my caravan two weeks ago, it is a 1978 Viscount Supreme. You look like you know what you are doing, that car looks amazing! I didn't intend to buy such a wreck with leaks but now I have it, I'm committed to learning to fix it

I live in Port Macquarie so not too far from where you got your van from

cheers
Karen

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Al, thanks for the info, thought it was a 70's model but rego said 1985.

Karen, I didn't paint my car so not so clever. Ive got 2 right hands(im left handed)!!!!not a lot of skill but I never give up. you'll have to post photos of your van.

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question: do I need to put a bonding agent on the cupboards to paint them and is it best to use oil based paint or water based ok?

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Hi there. If it is any help, I painted my cupboards with white solar guard that was left over from another project. It looks nice but…..In hindsight, I should have put a bonding agent on first, then a primer then the paint. My cupboards look good but I have put a couple of little scratches in them when rattling around looking for the frying pan. So, if I was to do it again, I would do it properly. A nice oil based paint might be more durable. You may wish to phone a paint store where the painters get their paint and ask their advice first. Hindsight is a wonderful advisor :-)

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enidb,

Thanks for the advice, bonding agent, primer then oil based paint for the cupboards sound like the go.

johnny

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Good luck with it paddlepops, I think the van looks pretty straight and in great nik for a forty something year old

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thanks blazer, I'm currently replacing the window sills in the front and rear then resealing the windows before attacking the interior.

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Hi Johnny, I know a bit about paint, I started a little furniture painting business called Restyled Vintage in 2009 You need to prime any veneer etc with the right sort of primer so it sticks to the smooth surface. You won't need to sand the veneer first but make sure it is clean (if you use sugar soap, rinse that off with fresh water before priming). I would use either Zinsser BIN or Zinsser Cover Stain - BIN is shellac based (cleans up with meths) and Cover Stain is oil based (cleans up with turps). They both work very well. There are water based adhesion primers too, if you'd prefer to use water based, I'd go with Zinsser Bullseye 123. Don't use Zinsser Smart Prime, it doesn't stick very well, or at least never has for me. Not sure why Zinsser has two water based adhesion primers anyway. Resene also makes one called Smooth Surface Sealer, it is water based and works well. Once you've primed your surface, I would use Taubmans 'Water Based Enamel Trim' paint in a semi gloss. It's a good price, good quality, nice to use, it is hardwearing, but water based so it dries fast and won't keel you over with paint fumes like oil based will! Oil based paints also can yellow over time, and they are just not nice to use in my opinion. For my van (I have my own thread, it is in Hall of Fame, Supreme S88038) I am priming with Cover Stain and painting with Taubmans Water Based Enamel Trim in the Dulux colour White on White. I'm probably going to do my cupboard doors in a different colour but will also use the water based enamel, maybe in pastel pink or mint green, can't wait to get to that stage! I hope that helps...I am useless at a lot of this caravan stuff but keen to learn, but if I feel I can offer my experience in certain areas that I do know a lot about, I feel like I am doing something good here

cheers
Karen

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thanks for that info Karen, will go to local paint place and check it out.