On Tour With Jack Vintage
After visitng the UK for a few weeks we finally landed in Melbourne on the 20th March and picked the van up the next day. The condition was about as we expected in most places and a lot worse in some! What was as expected was that it needed a lot of work before we could live in it.
After a few days in Melbourne we drove the 380 KMs to Orbost, East Gippsland to start work. What was planned as a bit of a clean up and the installation of a few home comforts turned into a near full refurb!
Celebrating with a cool one after picking up the van
The Works!
1st job was to strip out the interior. Front seats, all cabinetry, fridge, sink, vinyl flooring (lovely pattern!) and our favourite the 'rock and roll bed'
We picked up an off cut of wood effect vinyl in Orbost and Andrew again learnt a very valuable lesson in life...measure twice cut once....it was 25mm too short but lucky the short bit is under the sink!!
LED lighting was fitted to replace the original flouro. It is brighter, more energy efficient and looks sexier.
Boys Toys.... The ARC pack will provide all power needs (that's the theory) via a 1 x 12 volt 'Anderson' socket, 2 x 12 volt cigarette type outlets, 5 volt USB outlet and a 300 watt 240 volt supply. The unit charges via the van cigarette outlet whe driving or 240 volt supply when on a powered site.
Glamping all the way, a 17" LED TV.
Refurb of the gas cooker for our 2 ring wonders.
We were going to buy a new fridge but after assessing the original (and costong up a new one) we decided to clean and refurb. the fridge also has a small freezer and runs off 12 volt, 240 volt or gas.
Karen's mum and Dad presented us with a momento "Always Do What Makes You happy.
We fitted a spare wheel carrier which will double as a 'ROO' bar, this saves us precoius sleeping space in the rear.
Making the CamperVan a home. We decided to select and make our own curtains. There are 7 of them in total and thay took about 2 hours each to make (excluded cock ups of which they were many). Andrew nominated himself for the task as his mam is in the embroiderers guild and he got an A+ in home economics at secondary school for his 'BORO' cushion. As you can see in the last picture it was literally a sweat shop.
There was a reason the 1990's sheep skin seat covers were there. The original horse hair padding had dropped out of the seats and the upholstery was ripped. This was the only job Andrew could not do himself and has luck would have it there is an artisan in Orbost who restores furniture who pulled the stops out to turn them around in a week. the vinyl was chosen from a 70's swatch to match the original front and rear seats and in from a Holden Monaro.
The original bulk head cards were replicated in 3mm hardboard and 150 watt speakers fitted in them to complement the new sony sound system.
We refurbished the rear bench seat and rock and roll mechanism, doesn't look very Keith Richards does it!
Front view of the spare wheel carrier, just wating to be painted.
When Andrew was a teenager and ran Lambrettas and Vespas around the UK a cover on the coil was mandatory. It was usually Coca Cola but then Red Bull hadn't been invented!!!
Nearly complete interior with obligatory VW Campervan Mug for effect.
Almost ready to go.... once the curtains are opened and Jack gets a licience.
The finshing touch, an indian throw for that boho gypsy chic look.
And so there it was having landed in Melbourne on the 20th March we left Karen's parents house in Orbost, East Gippsland, Victoria on Sunday April 26th after 37 days We had stalled for a couple of days as the weather was awful it had rained for two weeks solid, was raining when we left and forecast more to come. 1st stop was to be Mallacoota........................