A Van With No Name...

[Seven]

So its been almost four weeks since I picked up our new van and I have been made to feel very welcome which is great!

I have posted a few questions over the weeks, the answers to which have helped me a great deal in starting to know more about these wonderful machines and so I thought it about time I started a thread in this section with a few photos.

Some of you will be a little familiar with the van from the thread a few years ago that Jules posted when he was renovating the bodywork. In that he called the van Bessie, but I felt I ought to give the family a chance to name the new member, but so far we are yet to get a consensus of opinion and I have still to get my two older daughters together with the rest of the family to have a proper naming session. Hence the title (and my enjoyment of spaghetti westerns)!

Here are a couple of exterior photos:

What drew me to the van was the reassurance of the work that Jules had put into the bodywork and also the originality of a lot of the interior. Living in a 60's property which I was fortunate to find with a number of original period fittings I felt very much at home with interior fittings of the van and love the patina of the veneer and wood.

It also still has its original front bunk bed which you can see rolled up on the floor.

 

[Seven]

There are still a number of jobs for me to tackle and whilst organising bits and pieces and asking questions for me to be able to carry out a oil and filters change and coolant flush and change I tackled a bit of that woodwork that I like so much to ensure it is at its best. The first thing was a it needed a good application of Danish oil as some areas were looking very dry. This has taken it from looking like this;


to this ...

 

[Panky]

Looks great, Danish oil works wonders
Interesting door release, not seen one like that before.

 

[Seven]

The glove box front in the cab was also looking a bit worse for wear with what looked like some water damage from what must have been a windscreen leak at some time so I took that off to tackle it inside and also the front sunvisors to give them a good clean!

This is what the glovebox looked like:



I applied wood glue and clamped the front where the veneer was peeling away



The missing sections were then filled with Milliput and have been sanded back.

 

[Seven]

Looks great, Danish oil works wonders
Interesting door release, not seen one like that before.

Thanks Panky. Interesting that you havent seen one like that before. When I was sanding I was thinking about something someone had said in another thread about locking their doors from inside and if you look at the other door you can see I have a little pin that goes into the lock from inside to stop the handle being turned and then pushes into the storage box when not in use.

 

[Panky]

It's the little slide catch on that side I've not seen before, normally there's nothing and you have to open both doors to get out. Someone has been inventive to make that work.
I think it was me talking about the pin lock thing, did it on Harvey. You could make a new glove box lid out of that little table you working on, I'm sure no one would mind
Great pics by the way.

 

[Seven]

It's the little slide catch on that side I've not seen before, normally there's nothing and you have to open both doors to get out. Someone has been inventive to make that work.
I think it was me talking about the pin lock thing, did it on Harvey. You could make a new glove box lid out of that little table you working on, I'm sure no one would mind
Great pics by the way.

Haha thanks Panky!....I think my wife may have something to say about the table!

 

[S0updragon]

It's the little slide catch on that side I've not seen before, normally there's nothing and you have to open both doors to get out. Someone has been inventive to make that work.
I think it was me talking about the pin lock thing, did it on Harvey. You could make a new glove box lid out of that little table you working on, I'm sure no one would mind
Great pics by the way.

I thought my inside was missing so made a catch I then made a wood box with magnets for a lock

 

[BC Sunshine]

Great job, looks like you're almost ready for some adventuring!

I'd love to see photos of your dash with the gloveboxes - mine hasn't any and I'd like to install some.

 

[Seven]

Great job, looks like you're almost ready for some adventuring!

I'd love to see photos of your dash with the gloveboxes - mine hasn't any and I'd like to install some.

Thank you BC. I promise to post some photos of the dash front when it is put back together. Mine has two parts, one being a glovebox, the other being a fold down part that has a speaker set into it.

 

[Seven]

View attachment 3063 View attachment 3064 View attachment 3065
I thought my inside was missing so made a catch I then made a wood box with magnets for a lock

Looks good!

 

[Panky]

That's very clever
I drilled through into the latch so I could push a pin into the mechanism to lock it and added a little handle too so you can open one door instead of both.

 

[S0updragon]

It's one of those catch things with one end cut off with the hole squared off with a dremel. I made the lock thing as was going to take it into town on works do and with all the drunks late at night etc etc

 

[Terence]

Hi Seven. Did you buy this in Salisbury?... It's got black bumpers & wheels... ?

 

[Terence]

It is, it is... I crawled all over it & under it when it was up for sale... Bodywork & seals etc are in amazing condition! Took a load of pics too!... interior, bumpers re-chromed & paint those wheels to match the top/roof. Was all I saw it needed. It's a pucker bang tidy van you got there!... What I really loved was it had a passenger side door lock with a KEY... Great idea. & it's just had a new windscreen too

 

[alfasean]

I was next up to view this one so you beat me to it

Looks lovely and as you say, nice to see the proper job done on the biodywork and paint by Jules.

My old Dodge 50 was called Bessie so I would've kept the name ... she never let me down in years of full time travelling around Europe in my yoof.

I'd keep then wheels black too... looks great with the hubcaps.

ENJOY !

 

[andrew]

Great looking van, good stuff milliput.

 

[Seven]

It is, it is... I crawled all over it & under it when it was up for sale... Bodywork & seals etc are in amazing condition! Took a load of pics too!... interior, bumpers re-chromed & paint those wheels to match the top/roof. Was all I saw it needed. It's a pucker bang tidy van you got there!... What I really loved was it had a passenger side door lock with a KEY... Great idea. & it's just had a new windscreen too

Terence, thank you very much for your messages and so sorry for the delay in my reply, I have been away on holiday (not in the van yet as this was booked earlier in the year!) but I have enjoyed some time away from the computer so havent been online!

Yes as you say it is the van you mention and it is really nice to hear that you had a good look over it all and you thought it was a good one!

 

[Seven]

I was next up to view this one so you beat me to it

Looks lovely and as you say, nice to see the proper job done on the biodywork and paint by Jules.

My old Dodge 50 was called Bessie so I would've kept the name ... she never let me down in years of full time travelling around Europe in my yoof.

I'd keep then wheels black too... looks great with the hubcaps.

ENJOY !

Thank you Alfasean...Apologies for pipping you to the van!

I have to say my first thought when I saw the photos was the same as Terence and that I would be interested in getting the bumpers re-chromed and painting the wheels to match the upper body to lighten the lower part slightly, but having lived with it for a while I may be slowly warming to the current combo and will wait a little bit more to see how I feel.

 

[Seven]

Great looking van, good stuff milliput.

Thanks very much Andrew!

Whilst I was away I left the door with my brother in law who is very good with an airbrush and he has done a fab job touching in the white Milliput to match in with the wood grain. Here is the finished door.