Post by millard1399 on Nov 28, 2010 11:28:30 GMT 10
G'day All,
Here's a story about a project that "ain't gonna happen"...
After travelling around in the Millard poptop, we'd discussed options about getting a full-sized van, and perhaps finding one that had been 'gutted' so we could fit it out internally to suit our requirements.
A couple of months ago, one such van appeared on ebay, about 75kms from home. I checked with the seller to make sure it was 16ft as advertised. "Yep", he said. The buy-it-now price was $650, so I took a chance and paid my money.
When we arrived to pick up the van, it clearly wasn't a 16-footer. I measured it at 15ft. Since we'd already paid our money, we just wanted to get the van off his property and get it home, and then decide what to do with it.
I'm calling it a 1973 model, but I have no evidence to support that. It has the wind-out windows which dates it around 1973, and it has a fibreglass hatch cover, which might have been used before the 4-Seasons hatches came in in late 1974.
Here's the Capricorn logo on the front...
And the model name...
And the chassis number 1284, stamped beside the coupling housing...
Here's the exterior of the van...
And this is how it looked on the inside...
I spent a fair bit of time drawing lines on the vinyl floor to see if our "ideal" plan would fit...and it wouldn't.
No amount of looking at options and possibilities would make any difference. During the first few weeks of having it in the front yard, a fair bit of wet weather showed the van leaked like a sieve. I spent a number of hours chiselling some sort of sealant off the roof joints, so that I could reseal them...
The d@mn sealant was rock-hard, and was cracked along the roof joint due to flexing of the ali cladding. I almost needed a jackhammer to try and chisel it off the surface.
I also washed the roof down before resealing the joints, and washed one side of the fibreglass hatch cover to see what it would look like. This photo shows a cleaner side of the hatch...
Because the van wouldn't suit our plans, we put it back up for sale in our front yard. A local bloke bought it to fit it out as a backyard bedroom for a 16 year old fella. So it's gone, and we're now looking for something else.
I've put this story into this Hall Of Fame section, in case anybody else has a Capricorn van and wants to compare information with this one.
cheers,
Al.
Here's a story about a project that "ain't gonna happen"...
After travelling around in the Millard poptop, we'd discussed options about getting a full-sized van, and perhaps finding one that had been 'gutted' so we could fit it out internally to suit our requirements.
A couple of months ago, one such van appeared on ebay, about 75kms from home. I checked with the seller to make sure it was 16ft as advertised. "Yep", he said. The buy-it-now price was $650, so I took a chance and paid my money.
When we arrived to pick up the van, it clearly wasn't a 16-footer. I measured it at 15ft. Since we'd already paid our money, we just wanted to get the van off his property and get it home, and then decide what to do with it.
I'm calling it a 1973 model, but I have no evidence to support that. It has the wind-out windows which dates it around 1973, and it has a fibreglass hatch cover, which might have been used before the 4-Seasons hatches came in in late 1974.
Here's the Capricorn logo on the front...
And the model name...
And the chassis number 1284, stamped beside the coupling housing...
Here's the exterior of the van...
And this is how it looked on the inside...
I spent a fair bit of time drawing lines on the vinyl floor to see if our "ideal" plan would fit...and it wouldn't.
No amount of looking at options and possibilities would make any difference. During the first few weeks of having it in the front yard, a fair bit of wet weather showed the van leaked like a sieve. I spent a number of hours chiselling some sort of sealant off the roof joints, so that I could reseal them...The d@mn sealant was rock-hard, and was cracked along the roof joint due to flexing of the ali cladding. I almost needed a jackhammer to try and chisel it off the surface.
I also washed the roof down before resealing the joints, and washed one side of the fibreglass hatch cover to see what it would look like. This photo shows a cleaner side of the hatch...
Because the van wouldn't suit our plans, we put it back up for sale in our front yard. A local bloke bought it to fit it out as a backyard bedroom for a 16 year old fella. So it's gone, and we're now looking for something else.
I've put this story into this Hall Of Fame section, in case anybody else has a Capricorn van and wants to compare information with this one.
cheers,
Al.
good luck with the reno mate