Post by Deleted on Jan 11, 2009 0:21:10 GMT 10
I have a '72 Olympic Riviera and some years ago, when about to retire and contemplating some caravan trips into the more remote areas of Australia, I realised that my then current tow car would not be suitable. So I did a lot of reading, research, talking to people and over a year looking around for what I wanted.
This is what I finished up with and I still had to do a lot of work:
A 1973 Bedford short wheelbase campervan (to tow a Caravan?) and it works brilliantly. The Campervan conversion was done in England from new by 'Western Motor Caravans' in Bath. It was never a commercial Van. Spent many years touring the UK and the Continent, judging from all the stickers all over it and then was brought out to New Zealand. A retired couple bought it and spent the next 10 years or so touring NZ before importing it to Australia. I bought it from a younger guy in Adelaide who sold it to raise money to repair his damaged Commodore. The original 2.7litre Vauxhall motor was not going and the interior was in a dirty and poor condition. Still, it had all the basics I wanted.
I fixed the motor, broken valve seats, tidied the interior up and my wife and I did many enjoyable trips away in it as a campervan. The motor was not gutsy enough then to readily tow the Olympic and it didnt have a tow bar.
After a lot of work, I have converted our Bedford, with its high ground clearance, into a great tow car. It now has a 253 Holden V8 on LPG, trimatic auto to 308 specs, Ford 9" diff, HQ Holden disk braked front suspension and HQ Holden wheels with Light truck tyres all round. It is full Regency Park approved.
The Campervan part has been fully refurbished, it is all polished timber, and can sleep 3, 2 in a double bed across the van (it is 6'6" wide) and a single sling bunk above. Some versions had twin bunks over. We carry 73 litres of water with foot and electric pump. It has a 2 burner gas stove with griller, a full sink and a small 3 way Electrolux refrigerator. The fridge was originally only 2 way but I was able to get and install a separate 12volt element which I wired through a relay to work when the motor is running. During the day, the double bed converts to 2 forward facing seats behind the driver's and passenger's seats or can be left as 2 side facing double seats. A table fits between these seats at meal times. You can walk between the cab and the van when travelling. It has a fibreglass pop top with solid, windowed and polished timber sides, no canvas.
I fitted vacuum hydraulic disk brakes to the Olympic and the full vacuum hydraulic control system to the Bedford with a separate reserve vacuum tank. I installed a heavy duty tow bar hitch and a retracting full width rear step. The spare wheel was relocated off the rear LH door hinges on a swing away carrier and a Roo Bar fitted to the front.
The whole idea of this approach was to be able to tow the Olympic caravan to a nice area, set it up as our Home Base and then use the Campervan to explore into more remote areas, hence the high clearance, and be able to still live in full comfort for 2 or 3 weeks if we wanted. We have actually found that it is very easy to set off in the campervan by itself for short trips. We recently did a 12 day trip to Kangaroo Island with no problems.
I realise that all the descriptions above don't tell the full story so I will try in the next week or so to post some photos to this string.
Anyhow this is my different way of towing my Olympic?
Cheers,
techron
This is what I finished up with and I still had to do a lot of work:
A 1973 Bedford short wheelbase campervan (to tow a Caravan?) and it works brilliantly. The Campervan conversion was done in England from new by 'Western Motor Caravans' in Bath. It was never a commercial Van. Spent many years touring the UK and the Continent, judging from all the stickers all over it and then was brought out to New Zealand. A retired couple bought it and spent the next 10 years or so touring NZ before importing it to Australia. I bought it from a younger guy in Adelaide who sold it to raise money to repair his damaged Commodore. The original 2.7litre Vauxhall motor was not going and the interior was in a dirty and poor condition. Still, it had all the basics I wanted.
I fixed the motor, broken valve seats, tidied the interior up and my wife and I did many enjoyable trips away in it as a campervan. The motor was not gutsy enough then to readily tow the Olympic and it didnt have a tow bar.
After a lot of work, I have converted our Bedford, with its high ground clearance, into a great tow car. It now has a 253 Holden V8 on LPG, trimatic auto to 308 specs, Ford 9" diff, HQ Holden disk braked front suspension and HQ Holden wheels with Light truck tyres all round. It is full Regency Park approved.
The Campervan part has been fully refurbished, it is all polished timber, and can sleep 3, 2 in a double bed across the van (it is 6'6" wide) and a single sling bunk above. Some versions had twin bunks over. We carry 73 litres of water with foot and electric pump. It has a 2 burner gas stove with griller, a full sink and a small 3 way Electrolux refrigerator. The fridge was originally only 2 way but I was able to get and install a separate 12volt element which I wired through a relay to work when the motor is running. During the day, the double bed converts to 2 forward facing seats behind the driver's and passenger's seats or can be left as 2 side facing double seats. A table fits between these seats at meal times. You can walk between the cab and the van when travelling. It has a fibreglass pop top with solid, windowed and polished timber sides, no canvas.
I fitted vacuum hydraulic disk brakes to the Olympic and the full vacuum hydraulic control system to the Bedford with a separate reserve vacuum tank. I installed a heavy duty tow bar hitch and a retracting full width rear step. The spare wheel was relocated off the rear LH door hinges on a swing away carrier and a Roo Bar fitted to the front.
The whole idea of this approach was to be able to tow the Olympic caravan to a nice area, set it up as our Home Base and then use the Campervan to explore into more remote areas, hence the high clearance, and be able to still live in full comfort for 2 or 3 weeks if we wanted. We have actually found that it is very easy to set off in the campervan by itself for short trips. We recently did a 12 day trip to Kangaroo Island with no problems.
I realise that all the descriptions above don't tell the full story so I will try in the next week or so to post some photos to this string.
Anyhow this is my different way of towing my Olympic?
Cheers,
techron
and what is around, they want a skillion bucks for them 
