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Post by bobt on Feb 19, 2009 21:22:18 GMT 10
Hi All... From this angle with the top up only a mother could like it... ;D ;D and me Well I have only got a wild guess to how old this thing is. The person who I acquired it from claimed to have owned it prior to 1970. Couldn't remember where it came from or who. Just that it was the No 1 prototype. The owner traveled extensively, towing it behind his VW Beetle. hidden in the back yard of a house in Newstead, Vic.  The owner had wondered over to the racecourse to take photos of all the vintage cars that he saw heading there the day before. Fortunately for me there was only the 3 of us there, we had camped over night. (BELOW:- That is not the three of us it is just the freeloaders eating our breakfast before they deserted us) He took a look at my friends tear drop and told us about one he had in his back yard. I was on the hunt for one so we went and looked. After some discussion about what he planned to do with it he offered it to me. How excited do you think I was  . BUT ( there is always a but) I thought it prudent to check about what I was allowed to have so....  After some considerable negotiation with the war office I bought it home.  Now the fun begins....  The roof is Aluminum fixed to a round tube frame, the tube appears to be the old metal electrical condue. The body is masonite with the barest of frames. Overall It is 10'6" long, 5'6" wide, has a rear door a cupboard on each side, at the rear, then a bunk each side toward the front. Between the bunks is an ice chest.   Been hunting the web to try and find something similar, no success. At the moment I do not have a great amount of time to work on it so it is 1/2 hour here and there if I am lucky.. So progress is gunna be slow........ and in case your wondering it met the war office's key criteria, [1] can standup inside [2] has power, there is a single power point inside... what more could I ask for..... |
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Post by atouchofglass on Feb 20, 2009 6:51:29 GMT 10
OOOOOOHHHHHHHHH BROTHEEEEEER I HAVE SEEEEENN SIN An that ain't it ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D Still reckon you've got a great project there You say the frame looks like metal electrical conduit Is it possible to save the frame - not replace it? The reason I ask is that part of the charm of an older van can be its individualism is that a word?If possible (I would) try and keep as much of the original individual feel of the van as possible The abiltiy to say "there is nothing like it "or "it was the first prototypes" IE it is unique - is also part of the charm of your van NO ONE will look at your van with the same old dull eyed...... yeahhhh everyones buying those these days.... attitude They will however go "Holy Sh.. What's that?"  Meant in the best way BobtGuaranteed people magnet conversation starter In fact I predict that you will get heartily sick of people asking about the van in times to come Marrrrrrk My Wooooooords ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D  Cheers Atog |
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Post by bobt on Feb 20, 2009 22:10:28 GMT 10
heh heh ..... ;D ;D ;D "your Expression" was in deed one I heard when I got it home. ;D Yes the plan is to retain the frame work,it will need to be straighten. My dear beloved son claims he can handle that bit. The Aluminum sheeting on the roof has lots of corrosion around the rivets securing it to the frame. So new roof sheeting Will be required. Been assured that I can still get the same pattern. I would very much like to retain more rather then less. Unfortunately the floor is totally totaled!!! The body will have to come off to fix it. I am not that confident that most of the timber would survive.  bug r .... I think you are throwing the challenge my way.. Well now I happen to like convertibles. So I decided to popped the roof off..  Note no frame along the front edge of the sides.... 2 nails out and the entire front came away............... |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2009 14:11:43 GMT 10
Amazing find!
But oh what a headache!
We look forward to the restoration.
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Post by atouchofglass on Feb 21, 2009 15:35:30 GMT 10
Hey Bob The save as much as possible bit was meant mostly for the metal frame and whatever was salvageable We all have a use by date and unfortunately timber/plywood is shorter than Aluminium etc keeping the feel of the original as much as possible without reusing "had it" materials I'm sure you will find a useful compromise ;D ;D ;D Cheers Atog |
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Post by bobt on Feb 21, 2009 20:49:37 GMT 10
Hi Atog There are a number of bits I will be keeping and reusing. Yep I think the majority of the external timber is past it. I have started on a new frame with a bit of an improvement on the original. The very first "sod" turned toward the "restoration" ;D ;D  ;D ;D now I did tell you I could not cut timber straight if my life depended on it. This is what I started with.  aaaaahhhh I need space.................. |
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Post by bobt on Feb 21, 2009 20:57:29 GMT 10
Hi wahroonga Was a little disappointed when I finally got it home and got to have a closer look at it. The internal timber frame work is made of odds and ends.  Looks a bit like "dodgy bros" It will keep me off the streets and I am enjoying it... bobt |
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Post by atouchofglass on Feb 22, 2009 7:43:48 GMT 10
Hey Bob You've turned a corner eerrrr you've made progress when there are new bits bowing on ....... sorry Going on ;D ;D ;D To early in the morning for this AtogHow did you join the pieces of timber? We have some forum members that are wood challenged and need help with wood working abilities So if you find the time to photograph the steps it would be appreciated Did you biscuit join the pieces? Then cut out with a jigsaw? I'm gathering the timber is pine? Radiata, Hoop or .....? Perhaps it's knot pine eer not pine ;D ;D ;D ;D Shut up AtogLooking forward to more photos and tips As far as others not seeing the potential of this van......Well,,,,, My missus was very quite for the first six months or more with my project....... Keep at it and as the new starts to take shape you will be amazed how quickly the cheese and kisses will come around Then the nagging will start: So how long will it take to finish? Where should we go first? Why isn't it ready? I'll just add a few curtains then it will be ready How many beers have you had? Blah, blah, blah, Ginger ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D If you read "On the far side"
The last comment makes sense if you don't ..... put it down as insanityCheers Atog |
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Post by bobt on Feb 24, 2009 21:03:13 GMT 10
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Post by bobt on Feb 27, 2009 23:30:01 GMT 10
Hi Atog Well I crashed and burned…"her" laptop... ooops Now I have antivirus software on it lost 2 days fixing it and re installing everything... and other little things around here needed to be done. Terrible time wasters particularly when I had important caravan stuff to do..  Yep turned the corner….told you I could not cut straight… oooh the wood.. its pine. "biscuit joiner", isn't that where you take two biscuits and put icing on one to join the two together... ;D ;D I like bikkies with my coffee ;D ;D The first thing I did was remove the front aluminum, it was held on by 2 nails and looked as if it would fall off any minute, the Masonite backing disintegrated... Yep it is a treasure… Once I removed that I hunted around and found a suitable size bit of card board. I love keeping the box new things come in. you know the story, kids get more fun out of the box the toy came in then the toy itself....… I traced the shape of the front on to the cardboard and marked on a couple of points, the top of the bunk. The bottom of the floor and where the chassis lined up with the curve. Then I cut the shape out. I took my length of timber and cut it two three lengths and lined it up with my new template.  I angle cut the timber so that it followed the shape I needed. Then I dowel joined it. I have plenty of dowel.. but I do like bikkies with my coffee Did the joins in 2 stages using sash clamps and some left over timber to hold it all in place. Once it was all glued up I marked the curve on the timber using the template and attacked it with my 28 year old Makita Jig saw. After that I took to it with an electric plane and a couple of hand planes to clean it up and to get the shape correct with my template. The template will be used again to cut out the masonite..  The missus is another story….. I think I said somewhere else in here that we have a “regular” caravan that gets well used… Her idea of the next caravan is something along the lines of this…..  If I bought that, I would never be able to afford to tow it anywhere let alone [glow=red,2,300] EAT[/glow]… food, very important.......... I intend to use this “Ugly as Sin” when I am on car club events and hopefully the odd VV/Classic caravan event. It will be towed behind a suitable classic. She who must be obeyed clearly (I think) understands what it is to be used for. She has started hunting the Op shops for suitable fitting to go inside it. So far all she has acquired is bloody wine glasses……  As for the nagging. At the moment it is “where ya going to keep it” ::)Son’s car is about to get kicked out of the garage…heh heh.. ;D Curtains and other soft furnishing… her make them, ;D ;D In my dreams, My dear beloved Daughter has offered to help.. Gotta get my sewing machine fixed… note: I said "my" Beer no not me….. I will re furbish and re install the ice chest to keep my coke cold to dilute the rum. beer…. beer ….. She who must be obeyed would drink it all.. bobt |
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Post by atouchofglass on Feb 28, 2009 8:19:15 GMT 10
Well done mate Got your priorities sorted...... keep 'er indoors happy and the van dry Thanks for the update and the "How to" regarding your timber work A biscuit joiner is one of those tools you only use very occasionally but when you need one..... you need one Tend to borrow one from a friend who has the same thing.... uses it occasionally .... And he runs a Shipwright business so has more use for one than I do. As for the newer vans Here's a little story from a fibreglasser in the area A lady came in for some repairs to her glass sided RV It had a leak that she couldn't find The bloke found it and it was were the sheets met. The glass was wafer thin and the timber behind had rotted out... Almost had to pull the side off the thing to get it fixed It was less than 6 years old Made with paper maché if you ask me Just shows how talented some of these guys are They can even stuff up fibreglass construction methods  Unlike the top job you'll do on the Teardrop ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D Cheers Atog |
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Post by bobt on Feb 28, 2009 21:28:08 GMT 10
Thanks Atog... encountered one of those you beaute extra light.. can tow a 30 footer behind a commondoor or fowlcan because they are so light thingie, on the gold coast last year. It had scuffed a power pole while being towed off its caravan site, crunched the rear corner. Was told they had to have the entire side replaced because of its high tech construction...... Not for me thanks.. will post the next update, after it happens... does anyone want so slightly second hand wine glasses to drink their beer outa?? |
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Post by bobt on Mar 9, 2009 21:15:34 GMT 10
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Post by Deleted on Mar 10, 2009 22:25:43 GMT 10
Hi bobt,
You couldn't have asked for a more perfect match to your project. Absolutely spot on.
Sometimes things just come out right. Right place , right time.
Cheers, techron
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Post by atouchofglass on Mar 11, 2009 6:09:54 GMT 10
Nice find Bob Pays to let people know what you are doing.... You can never tell what they have hidden in the shed Betcha he got brownie points from his missus for "Getting rid of more rubbish out of the shed"  Just got to love the red bakelite knobs Would love to own an Atomic Coffee maker myself .... Just cause they look really cool But as always $$$$$ ka-ching Retro may just be coming into the collectable scene now .... But has always been great stuff to me Well done and congrats Cheers Atog |
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Post by atouchofglass on Mar 11, 2009 6:23:03 GMT 10
Hey Bob Here's a way I trick myself into doing a bit on the van regularly Just tell yourself that it is only preparation to do work on the van Yes Honey I won't be long Just going to prep a couple of things so I can work on the van this weekend So down the shed you go and prepare to replace the side of the van by...... pre-cutting the shape into a piece of ply...... Then prepare the area for the ply to go on..... Thats it ...... ready for the weekend Works every time The brain kind of knows it's being hoodwinked but it's all over by the time it kicks in that this is work an hour here an hour there.... over the week.... half to three quarters of a day is done Cheers Atog The slightly sick puppy
Trick yourself? what the?? |
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Post by olfarts on Mar 11, 2009 16:59:08 GMT 10
Hey Bob,your vans not ugly,shes beau-t-full ;D Looks like you have been spending a few 1/2 hours in th shed,well done You have to love projects in progress,'specially ones with pics. Dave |
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Post by bobt on Mar 11, 2009 20:34:08 GMT 10
Hi Atog I got off to an 'OK' start did the little curvy bits that were suppose to be straight then went to progress the next phase on the "Restore Ugly as Sin thingie" schedule of works .... went to my collection of rough sawn pine.... took trusty tape measure out and discovered it is all toooo short the timber the timber the timber So refer back to schedule of works, go to next phase of the plan with all the contingencies...... the "what to do when ya don't have timber bit" and its dark outside... I just keep adding to the complexity of this little challenge..... get a cold drink.... bugga son has been home... fridge empty... Next... Well just like some others on this fabulous forum I am pressed for space to tinker with my collectibles. Son's car is in the "single car garage".....  Getting covered in saw dust... hhmmmmm he hasn't done anything to it for near 12 months. girlfriends tend to have this impact... hmmm he drank all the coldies that were in the fridge. So in the interest of protecting his treasure, I am moving it out of the garage this week and parking it at the back of the carport ;D heh heh.. The "ugly as sin thingie" will then take pride of place in the garage where I can ponder over what to do till I get down to the hardware store to buy some timber. Now masonite or ply??? |
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Post by bobt on Mar 11, 2009 20:38:35 GMT 10
Hey Olfarts The half hour to hour each night in the shed is my "retain sanity" exercise for after a day at work. I have 'executed' a number of projects over the years Have plans in mind to enhance the shed for future use... expand, line heat cool fridge tv couch sterio the right length timber bobt |
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Post by olfarts on Mar 11, 2009 21:53:31 GMT 10
................ah,where us blokes do "secret mens business".  I'm working on my "CAVE" ATM. "Caravan And Valiant Enthusiasm" shed. Dave |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 11, 2009 22:47:39 GMT 10
Hi olfarts,
Mention of Valiants. Came back along Port Road towards Adelaide last Sunday about midday after a visit to the Fishermans Wharf Markets chasing some old replacement tools and saw 3 or 4 S or R type Valiants near the Alberton Port Adelaide Clubrooms. A car club meeting perhaps?
Thought of you but didnt have a camera with me at the time. No photos, sorry.
Cheers, techron
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Post by atouchofglass on Mar 12, 2009 6:22:04 GMT 10
Hey Bob Well it looks like you have plenty of room to store vans ...... But we all need a shed to work on one.... With the round top Kelvinator in the corner comfy couch for those down time moments and of course the idiot box for those times when it's all a bit too hard Yep ...... sounds like you have it worked out......... eeerrrr perhaps the timber would be good ;D ;D ;D ;D Even better idea.... put the stereo, fridge, lining and something to lay on ...... in your TD Cheers Atog |
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Post by bobt on Mar 12, 2009 21:04:51 GMT 10
Atog... that is not my back yard... spent the evening 'allocated 30mins took 3 hours' shuffling cars. One with a flat battery and the other with the crank handle neither would start. I tell ya You know your alive when ya try to crank start a car..... So I pushed em around, now I have space in the garage................. tomorrow the (gotta give it a name) will move into the garage..... Please Please Please no more talk of valiants..... The nightmares have come back ...................... all about the VC sedan that got driven to Simms metal because my father didn't want it anymore (He owned it from new) and I had no room for it...................... He went overseas in 69 came back in 74 ... had company cars till he retired in 89 then he bought a new car. It got driven 4 times between 74 and 89 (He moved house)..............  ;)TV for Bathurst....................... Fridge with a combination lock.... (numbers I can remember) Couch to laze on while Bathurst is happening... |
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Post by atouchofglass on Mar 22, 2009 6:22:34 GMT 10
OK Bobt The black gas hose of discipline may have to come out for a workout ,,,,,, Progress report? ?? How is Fugly coming along? Don't tell us you've been lounging and no work....... OOOOHHHHHH prepare for some stinging Atog Dungeon Master |
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Post by bobt on Mar 22, 2009 18:57:27 GMT 10
Hi atog My plans to go shopping a couple of weeks ago fell in a heap, so I still have no timber to progress the "gotta give it a name" "fugly" hmmm think someone on VV is using that one "ugly as sin" hmmm that could stick........... Well our every day "driver" was parked at Blairgowrie, we were suppose to bring it home last weekend....but... we had an event that does not occur down 'ere to often.... RAIN..... 40mil +/- so it did not happen.... nothin like wot you get... ;D So this weekend it all came home... now to clean it all up, put stuff away and get ready for easter.... soo noo nues.................. |
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bug r .... I think you are throwing the challenge my way.. 
Looks a bit like "dodgy bros" It will keep me off the streets and I am enjoying it... 
