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Post by 1971duralvan on Jan 12, 2017 12:09:48 GMT 10
Hi folks, my name is Mark from Caloundra Qld. I am a newbie to this site, thank you for having me! I would like to know your thoughts as to the age of my 17ft Viscount. Her name is Evie. I purchased her Easter 2016 from the 2nd owner in Bendigo. She was advertised as a 1969 Duralvan "Honeymooner Deluxe", but the warranty papers are dated 11/10/1971. A well respected caravan repairer serviced her in Caloundra and suggested she is a 1970. Her chassis number is '988A'. I believe she is totally original inside and out, and I certainly have not made any modifications other than to install a pressure tap to the sink. Original curtains and bedspread still in the van too. Having enjoyed reading some of the posts regarding various design characteristics of the Viscount models, I am inclined to think the warranty date is correct at 1971, though she is officially registered as a 1970. Looking forward to reading more on this great forum and learning more... Kind regards from Qld. Mark        |
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Post by planner on Jan 12, 2017 13:58:59 GMT 10
Mark
I'm nowhere near an expert on Viscounts, but the warranty card may not correspond with manufacture date. The van may have sat in the dealers yard for a while prior to purchase.
It is a fantastic looking van, I'm only an hour from Bendigo and would definitely have had a look if I'd seen it advertised.
Planner
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Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2017 14:59:44 GMT 10
That is one lovely Viscount you have scored there as to age it seems right have a good look under the table or under drawers often there are dates there which give away build times the other way to find a date is give Shelly a yell at Shelly she keeps a log of all vin no's and years  Your interior colours and catches etc are very similar to ours and it is a Aug '68 15'er Ours |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2017 15:31:59 GMT 10
Hi Mark,
I'm sure we have discussed this van on here before,remember the special colour!
Great van.
Cheers
hughdeani
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Post by tasmillard on Jan 12, 2017 16:24:42 GMT 10
WOW!!! Look at that pristine original example! What a find, I would not touch that one (the purist coming out in me here) at all, just maintenance and enjoy  |
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Post by awbeattie381 on Jan 13, 2017 12:01:38 GMT 10
What an amazing van, and interesting colour. Havent seen one painted anything other than white (from the factory anyway).
Such good condition, as tasmillard said I wouldnt be touching it either (not that you suggested you would)!
I would love to own one in such incredible original condition.
The number welded onto the drawbar is the giveaway for its manufacture date. edit 988A is printed on the warranty card...that would be it! Either search the history threads on the vintage caravan page or ask Shelly for a year.
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Post by 1971duralvan on Jan 13, 2017 13:06:22 GMT 10
Mark I'm nowhere near an expert on Viscounts, but the warranty card may not correspond with manufacture date. The van may have sat in the dealers yard for a while prior to purchase. It is a fantastic looking van, I'm only an hour from Bendigo and would definitely have had a look if I'd seen it advertised. Planner Hi Planner, thank you! That is a good point, I hadn't considered her sitting around at the dealers for any time, but entirely possible. Cheers! |
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Post by 1971duralvan on Jan 13, 2017 13:11:27 GMT 10
That is one lovely Viscount you have scored there as to age it seems right have a good look under the table or under drawers often there are dates there which give away build times the other way to find a date is give Shelly a yell at Shelly she keeps a log of all vin no's and years Your interior colours and catches etc are very similar to ours and it is a Aug '68 15'er OursHi John, thanks so much for the advice, much appeciated. I will definitely be having a closer look underneath the surfaces you suggest. I am more curious than having to know I've had a look at your vehicles and they are spectacular! You must be very proud, they are absolute gems. Cheers! |
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Post by 1971duralvan on Jan 13, 2017 13:18:02 GMT 10
Hi Mark, I'm sure we have discussed this van on here before,remember the special colour! Great van. Cheers hughdeani Hi Hughdeani, I have not posted on here before, this is all new to me The previous owners did mention they chatted with someone previously, but I'm not sure what medium. Evie sure is a special colour. There is only one other Viscount this colour that I'm so far aware of, they are in Parkes. |
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Post by 1971duralvan on Jan 13, 2017 13:22:07 GMT 10
WOW!!! Look at that pristine original example! What a find, I would not touch that one (the purist coming out in me here) at all, just maintenance and enjoy LOL, I am a purist too I promise No changes whatsoever will be made under my ownership, unless it is a 'regulatory' thing of course. She is like a fine wine...gets better with age Cheers! |
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Post by 1971duralvan on Jan 13, 2017 13:28:56 GMT 10
What an amazing van, and interesting colour. Havent seen one painted anything other than white (from the factory anyway). Such good condition, as tasmillard said I wouldnt be touching it either (not that you suggested you would)! I would love to own one in such incredible original condition. The number welded onto the drawbar is the giveaway for its manufacture date. edit 988A is printed on the warranty card...that would be it! Either search the history threads on the vintage caravan page or ask Shelly for a year. Thanks so much awbeattie381! She is a very special lady indeed, I knew that soon as I saw her. I am only aware of one other gold Viscount Duralvan, a couple in Parkes own her. Yes, the number '988A' on the warranty matches the drawbar. Just always wondered how the chassis number was 'calculated'. Cheers |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2017 15:43:35 GMT 10
That is one lovely Viscount you have scored there as to age it seems right have a good look under the table or under drawers often there are dates there which give away build times the other way to find a date is give Shelly a yell at Shelly she keeps a log of all vin no's and years Your interior colours and catches etc are very similar to ours and it is a Aug '68 15'er OursHi John, thanks so much for the advice, much appeciated. I will definitely be having a closer look underneath the surfaces you suggest. I am more curious than having to know I've had a look at your vehicles and they are spectacular! You must be very proud, they are absolute gems. Cheers! Thanks for the compliment we like them too there are lots more "nice" rigs around and Evie has the potential to be one of the best from what we can see in the pic's enjoy the journey , next will be a vintage tow car to match an XR GT Falcon would look good they came in Gold only     |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2017 21:22:57 GMT 10
What a beauty van, 1969 was a good year, was when I come to Australia Also my wife used to have a XR Fairmont, was a nice car. |
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Post by 1971duralvan on Jan 14, 2017 7:35:30 GMT 10
Hi John, thanks so much for the advice, much appeciated. I will definitely be having a closer look underneath the surfaces you suggest. I am more curious than having to know I've had a look at your vehicles and they are spectacular! You must be very proud, they are absolute gems. Cheers! Thanks for the compliment we like them too there are lots more "nice" rigs around and Evie has the potential to be one of the best from what we can see in the pic's enjoy the journey , next will be a vintage tow car to match an XR GT Falcon would look good they came in Gold only Oh yes, I totally agree...and I'm a Ford man too . I did have a P5 LTD (1974), but I sold her back in 2012 after 14yrs of joyous ownership. I ran out of space unfortunately, but she went to a good home in Victoria. I tow with a BA Fairmont, she does it with ease |
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Post by pisces51 on Jan 15, 2017 22:02:26 GMT 10
G'day 1971duralvan (Mark), I'm inclined to think that 1971 is pretty close to the mark (pardon the pun ) for your chassis number of 988A. Viscount started numbering their Duralvans from the mid-1960s with chassis numbers starting with the letter "A" and the numbers running consecutively up until around 1971. Information we've collected so far shows they got up to a chassis number of about A10000 or so, when for some reason they started counting from 001 again but shifted the letter "A" from the front of the numbers to the end of the numbers. Hence you have one of the early Duralvans where the letter "A" is at the end of the numbers, yours being the 988th chassis built after the change was made. I'm pretty sure we've seen more than two of these "honeymoon specials" over the years, but you are correct in knowing that one other is in the central west of NSW (I wasn't sure it was Parkes, but can't remember where the owners said they were from). If you click on this thread from the Vintage Caravan forum Nationals event in April 2016, and keep scrolling down through the photos, you'll come across a close-up photo of the other van with a blue lightning flash on the van, and a light blue Holden Kingswood towcar: South West Rocks 2016 (Sixth Nationals) - The EventKeep scrolling down to the bottom of the thread and the fourth-last photo shows a woman playing an accordian. She and her husband/partner are the owners of this other Duralvan. It doesn't show in the photo, but their van has a much larger window on the off-side front compared with your van. Their window is maybe twice the size of a standard window, and is made up from a number of pieces of glass to give a much greater panorama out the window. I also remember them telling me about the difficulty they had trying to find the right colour of gold paint to do some touch-up work on the caravan body, and after much experimentation, they found a standard Hyundai gold colour that was a pretty close match. cheers, Al. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 16, 2017 9:21:55 GMT 10
Hi Mark,
The gold colour was to mark an anniversary Viscount had ( can't remember if it was years building or models) you could have your van built in the gold colour and I'm sure a lot were built for dealers stock as well.
I have seen a few in my time of all sizes and layouts and remember one at a caravan show in the seventies that had pride of place on the Viscount stand.
Hope this helps
Cheers
hughdeani
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Post by 1971duralvan on Jan 18, 2017 7:34:57 GMT 10
G'day 1971duralvan (Mark), I'm inclined to think that 1971 is pretty close to the mark (pardon the pun ) for your chassis number of 988A. Viscount started numbering their Duralvans from the mid-1960s with chassis numbers starting with the letter "A" and the numbers running consecutively up until around 1971. Information we've collected so far shows they got up to a chassis number of about A10000 or so, when for some reason they started counting from 001 again but shifted the letter "A" from the front of the numbers to the end of the numbers. Hence you have one of the early Duralvans where the letter "A" is at the end of the numbers, yours being the 988th chassis built after the change was made. I'm pretty sure we've seen more than two of these "honeymoon specials" over the years, but you are correct in knowing that one other is in the central west of NSW (I wasn't sure it was Parkes, but can't remember where the owners said they were from). If you click on this thread from the Vintage Caravan forum Nationals event in April 2016, and keep scrolling down through the photos, you'll come across a close-up photo of the other van with a blue lightning flash on the van, and a light blue Holden Kingswood towcar: South West Rocks 2016 (Sixth Nationals) - The EventKeep scrolling down to the bottom of the thread and the fourth-last photo shows a woman playing an accordian. She and her husband/partner are the owners of this other Duralvan. It doesn't show in the photo, but their van has a much larger window on the off-side front compared with your van. Their window is maybe twice the size of a standard window, and is made up from a number of pieces of glass to give a much greater panorama out the window. I also remember them telling me about the difficulty they had trying to find the right colour of gold paint to do some touch-up work on the caravan body, and after much experimentation, they found a standard Hyundai gold colour that was a pretty close match. cheers, Al. Hi Al, thank you so much for the information about the chassis numbers, this is exactly what I was hoping for! So based on this, "Evie" is more than likely the 1971 that the warranty states. Great stuff I appreciate the link to the South West Rocks event too. There are some gorgeous examples of Australian history there! I would love to join an event like that some day. I actually did make contact with Jock and Lindy (the Parkes couple) a couple of months back, after their gold Viscount was featured in the "Time to Roam" magazine. We chatted on the phone and swapped some photos. Theirs is indeed a very unique van - not only with the panoramic window, but also the entry door window which is quite rare. I tried matching the Hyundai gold paint, but didn't have much luck. I ended up mixing my own for some very minor touch-ups, but Evie's paint is still the original from the factory, albeit no longer perfect. Thanks again Al, I am very grateful for the most informative post! Cheers, Mark |
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Post by 1971duralvan on Jan 18, 2017 7:38:23 GMT 10
Hi Mark, The gold colour was to mark an anniversary Viscount had ( can't remember if it was years building or models) you could have your van built in the gold colour and I'm sure a lot were built for dealers stock as well. I have seen a few in my time of all sizes and layouts and remember one at a caravan show in the seventies that had pride of place on the Viscount stand. Hope this helps Cheers hughdeani Hi hughdeani, Many thanks for the information! Yes this is most helpful, I am very interested to know the reason behind the unique colour. So it was a special anniversary, WOW! I can just imagine how dashing the show van looked on the Viscount stand! Quite a bold statement to make for the time I feel very privileged to own a piece of history like that. Thank you!! |
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Post by captivenut on Jan 18, 2017 13:47:27 GMT 10
A little off topic but just for the record XRGT's were produced in several other colours apart from gold. There was also special batch made in powder blue which were souped up above the public version and also slightly lighter and rated as the fastest 4 door production sedan on the road in Aus (and maybe the world?) at that time - faster than the retailed XRGT gold model. I believe there may still be one or two in existence but can't confirm.
Cheers, Arthur
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Post by Deleted on Jan 18, 2017 15:05:55 GMT 10
A little off topic but just for the record XRGT's were produced in several other colours apart from gold. There was also special batch made in powder blue which were souped up above the public version and also slightly lighter and rated as the fastest 4 door production sedan on the road in Aus (and maybe the world?) at that time - faster than the retailed XRGT gold model. I believe there may still be one or two in existence but can't confirm. Cheers, Arthur I think the word "produced" is not quite correct the facts are no member of the public was ever able to buy anything other than Gold I remember when mine was delivered to Goondiwindi motors I knew that there was no choices re colour The breakdown is below I well remember enquiring at the Gallaher 500 race ( the precursor to Bathurst ) re the Gallaher silver blue models and was told they were just a different colour for the cigarette company promotion and sales rep's they NEVER raced and the winning car was in fact the 1x green car ever built , somewhere in my old photo's I have a picture taken of 50 odd proud new GT owners beside their cars in the paddock at Bathurst taken by the Ford people who gave us all free passes Available in GT Gold - 684 (Used to be accepted as 596 total cars) Available in Avis White F131 - 1 Available in Russet Bronze F782 - 1 Available in Gallaher Silver F166 or SPEC - 8 Available in Ivy Green metallic X - 1 Total number produced - 695 The Russet Bronze car was Bill Bourkes company car The Avis White car was Geoghegan Bros 1967 race car The Green car was Firth /Gibson 1967 race car The Silver cars were Gallaher Cigarette Company cars |
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Post by Mustang on Jan 20, 2017 20:06:54 GMT 10
Hi Mark,
Welcome to the forum, you have grasped the idea very well.
Another nice Viscount in Caloundra, we should talk to the organisers of Beachfest next year, re a caravan show as well.
PM sent
Cheers
brent
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Post by twocutekelpies on Jan 23, 2017 12:59:13 GMT 10
Hi Mark, very nice van you have there. I do remember seeing this or a very similar van on the Viscount Caravan Owners facebook page and remember the discussion with Hughdeany but I don't think we got the chassis number then. This was back in around March/April last year. I remember we were trying to work out the anniversary and if it lined up with a Royal visit or something... I've been trying to find the original post but haven't had any luck, the facebook search option is next to useless.  According to this page - ditzygypsy.proboards.com/thread/299 the decals changed mid 1970 to the triangular ones with the C in the middle. Following the decals and the chassis numbers, this change occurred around 2000A mark give or take a few hundred numbers until I gather more information. Yours has the original decal and is less than 2000A putting your van in the first half of 1970, if the decal information is correct. I'm the Shelley referred to above by Retired John |
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Post by 1971duralvan on Jan 25, 2017 9:16:35 GMT 10
Hi Mark, Welcome to the forum, you have grasped the idea very well. Another nice Viscount in Caloundra, we should talk to the organisers of Beachfest next year, re a caravan show as well. PM sent Cheers brent Hi Brent, thanks so much for the welcome. Nice to know there is another Viscount fan on the Sunshine Coast! They really are icons aren't they and certainly my favourite. Yes I think a caravan show at Beachfest would be a great idea, especially since the old Viscounts enjoyed such popularity as the all-Australian beach holiday for so many decades Vincent looks to be a very handsome van indeed, I love his colours! Cheers, Mark |
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Post by 1971duralvan on Jan 25, 2017 9:24:25 GMT 10
Hi Mark, very nice van you have there. I do remember seeing this or a very similar van on the Viscount Caravan Owners facebook page and remember the discussion with Hughdeany but I don't think we got the chassis number then. This was back in around March/April last year. I remember we were trying to work out the anniversary and if it lined up with a Royal visit or something... I've been trying to find the original post but haven't had any luck, the facebook search option is next to useless. According to this page - ditzygypsy.proboards.com/thread/299 the decals changed mid 1970 to the triangular ones with the C in the middle. Following the decals and the chassis numbers, this change occurred around 2000A mark give or take a few hundred numbers until I gather more information. Yours has the original decal and is less than 2000A putting your van in the first half of 1970, if the decal information is correct. I'm the Shelley referred to above by Retired John Hi Shelley, thanks so much for the information. This is very interesting about the decals! I know that is a very accurate way of determining the vintage, provided of course the decals are original. In Evie's case, the decals are certainly original. So the guys at "Caravan Repair Centre" Caloundra were probably on the money with the 1970 designation. That's how she is registered in Qld anyway, based on their advice at the time. I do remember that the previous owners did attempt to "date" the van as I am doing now, so more than likely she has appeared in the internet "spotlight" before. And I did purchase her at Easter 2016. Sorry I don't use facebook any more, so I can't check. Cheers, Mark |
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Post by twocutekelpies on Apr 9, 2017 8:06:34 GMT 10
Hi Mark, are you able to put up a close up photo of your decal straight on please? There aren't many original decals in such great condition around and many owners are trying to replace their old and faded ones, it would be great to be able to get reproductions as close to original as possible.
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Your interior colours and catches etc are very similar to ours and it is a Aug '68 15'er 
