Our Coronet

[kerryn]

hi all, new here

i got to this site via vintage vans - i am trying to find out more info on my van, like a year and model name. or is it a custom?

it's onsite, and has been since the 80's at least, as it was my grandfathers home.
it still has its original rego plate, but vicroads records don't go that far back.
it's definitely a coronet, the label on the back was just visible before we painted over it (park owners requested van to be tidied and look nice)
it has an electrical compliance paper inside, date is around 1975 from memory.
its around 7 metres long, which makes it around 22 feet yes? - but this doesn't sound long enough!! it has dual axle, 2 x singles beds at rear, a shower/kitchen area in the middle and a kitchen table that folds down to double at the font end.

now i'll get to some pictures  

original paintwork.
IMGP0009 by kerryn robilliard, on Flickr

rear end - it was originally white, it's just really sun faded.
WP_20170603_11_06_35_Rich by kerryn robilliard, on Flickr

front end after the paint
WP_20170603_16_37_56_Rich by kerryn robilliard, on Flickr

singles at rear
WP_20180310_10_46_17_Pro by kerryn robilliard, on Flickr

kitchen (shower is opposite)
WP_20180310_10_46_32_Pro by kerryn robilliard, on Flickr

shower, hot water unit and storage
WP_20180310_10_46_47_Pro by kerryn robilliard, on Flickr

front end 
WP_20180310_10_46_55_Pro by kerryn robilliard, on Flickr

thanks all for reading and for any possible help!! 

[Mustang]

Hi Kerryn,
Congratulations on posting images first up & welcome.
I see your van still has the drawbar attached (so many were cut off while in permanent residence), have a look for a welded number up near the front this will give members a good chance to identify your van.
What are your intentions for the van?
Cheers
Brent

[kerryn]

Thanks Brent for the welcome

It's 4 hours away, so next time I'm there I'll check for a number. I'll also check some more pics in case it's in a visible location (wishful thinking, i know!!). I've been googling images of vans for a while now, and have not come across one the same shape - I have seen a smaller one with the same green and gold stripes and door diamond, but it had no info on it...

Our intentions are to keep it as long as possible - we've owned it for the last 18 years. It's in one of the most beautiful parts of Victoria on the Nicholson River.
It has a lot of dry rot inside - in the corners and under windows mainly. The shower is unusable, the floor is very soft and spongy!!
A lot of the roof has water damage too. We've replaced the roof over the single beds, and part of the wall up the other end, but the stink of mould and decay is just getting too much. And the ants. We are forever battling ants.
We've been talking recently about completely gutting the van, and replacing all the floors, walls, insulation and ceilings. It's just hard as we are so far away from it.
The annexe will also be getting new walls and insulation, but first we will be building a covered porch at the front, and putting a tropical roof on the van - the roof hatches are perished and crack at the slightest touch, and are only just keeping the weather out!!

[pisces51]

G'day kerryn,

Your van is a Coronet "Crown De-Luxe" model. The shape of your van was built between early 1972 and early 1975. In early 1975, a completely new design was launched for the Coronet range of vans. I can see your van has wind-out windows, so it was built in 1973 or later. The electrical appliance sheet should be dated somewhere between late 1973 and early 1975.

Based on your description of the condition of the van, plus it's distance from your residence, plus the fact the van is in the open, I wouldn't bother doing anything to fix it up, really. I'd be inclined to put it up for sale on an "As-is, where-is" basis, and save yourself a heck of a lot of 'pain and suffering'.

cheers,
Al.

[kerryn]

Al, thank you so so much!!! It's good to finally have an accurate age!

We love the van, and where it is, and the kids do too, which is why we want to fix her up. We did think of selling it, and had an interested party last year, but we knew if we sold it we'd regret it - even with park fees it's cheaper to holiday this way!!
The plus side is most of the damage is old. We aren't finding new water marks, and the rot in the corners isn't getting worse. Another plus is my partner has a great bunch of tradie mates who are just as keen to see the van revamped as we are, and are more than willing to help us out

[Mustang]

If the park would allow you to build a cover over, that may be the easier use of your tradie friends.

[kerryn]

yes they sure will, that's being done first! As long as we don't go off our slab we can do what we like, otherwise we need council permits.

[78466noM]

good luck with the van when your tradie mates get to the inside try to take the roof and wall sheets off in one piece that way you can use them as templates could will save you a ton of time if it has a timber frame that could cause some problems so have them check right around before stripping inside out as the inside walls and furniture could be all that is holding up van. Many people have repaired this successfully just do a lot of reading up here and the vintage forum are good places to start.

[kerryn]

the template tip is a great one!! thanks i'd been thinking of different ways to recreate the roof curve.
yes its a timber frame, we've seen the frame in the roof over the single beds, and surprisingly that section was in good condition, for the amount of water damage the roof had.
we have replaced some of the frame work around one of the windows - the biggest problem we had was the van was built with wood in imperial measurements, so replacing like for like is pretty hard!!

[snoops]

When I restored an old timber frame around 15 years ago, I had a local timber supplier run me up some 1"x 1" meranti to repair the frames with - it didn't cost a huge amount and made repairing the frame much easier. Maybe have a chat to a local timber supplier to see if they can domthe same these days at a price that isn't rediculous.