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1973 Cheltenham Oribi - christened Rosey by Mini Snaplegs

She's an abandoned renovation project that we have taken on (or rather I was told to by SWMBO). We had decided on a caravan at the end of the last camping season, main reason being Mrs S suffers from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and the days of spending prolonged periods of time on an airbed are at an end. The decision to buy a "vintage" van was promted by an article in the Telegraph weekend mag. Mrs Snaplegs decreed that's what she wanted.

So a surge of research led us toward Cheltenhams and the ensuing search for those that were for sale put us onto this one from preloved.com. Originally the vendor wanted £550 but we beat him down to £300. Sold to the woman with the puppy dog eyes dreaming of pimms by the beach listening to Desert Island Discs.

Through the great Land Rover network of friends we found a chap who transported it down from Northallerton on a trailer for £200. Well would you pull a van that far with unproven brakes and dodgy looking tyres? It now resides on our drive, where I have a 6m Gazeebo butted upto my garage cum workshop.

Work began this week (had to finish fixing my neighbours defender first to clear the driveway) and it's been a productive start. All the internal fixtures have been removed, bar for the toilet vestibule which will be out this time tomorrow. This has not been without issue, whilst all of the overhead cabinets came out easily, as did the front seating/stowage/bed bits, the wardrobe and kitchen cabinets were a pain as it looks like they've been put together in situ, mainly with nails and glue. Decided in the end to break them gently, with minimal collateral damage, so I can reproduce sections to reassemble at a later date.

Once the remaining fitting and interior cladding is gone it'll be time to seperate the body from chassis. The body will be left on supports whilst I wheel the chassis into the gazeebo to refurb it. The chassis is basically sound bar for the front and rear cross braces, which I believe are bolt ons. One of the corner steadies has popped its retaining rivet so that'll need repair. New suspension units will be ordered and then I need to sort the brakes (may need some help on that). Once it's repainted it'll be wheeled back outside and reunited with the shell (once I've repaired the bits of frame that need attention - mainly the bottom rails). Then it'll be time to refit the interior . . . . .and that's the start of a very long list. Last part of the project will be painting the exterior but I'll wait till it's a lot warmer to do that one.

Want a laugh - we're planning to have this on the road by Whit Shocked

which is in 11 weeks time.

And a few more phots now that I've been out with the tools and removed stuff

And for the spotters amongst you - yes that is a gas lamp.

Whilst this is in some respects a restoration, I'm not going the whole hog so it's more of a rennovation than restoration.

I reckon it will look great when it's finished, good luck !

She certainly is a beauty!

I'm glad it's you tackling it and not me Snappy Very Happy

All the best for Whit

As the weekend draws to a close I'd better update - All interior fittings are now gone, except the toilet vestibule as it's too big to fit through doors or windows (HTF did they put in a huge GRP moulding when it was built???), the kitchen cabinet and wardrobe had to be taken apart insitu (with the aid of a medium sized hammer) as they clearly were not designed to come apart into sub-units- no worries I'll make new cabinets later.

Have now removed all front and rear windows - without any shattering sounds, and put up plastic sheeting to cover the holes. The main body is going to have to wait outside until I do the chassis, which if all goes to plan I'll be separating body from chassis next weekend and wheeling the chassis into the gazeebo. The remainder of this week will be spent removing the interior cladding and insulation and undoing all the body mounts (look pretty rusty to me so I foresee Mr Angry Grinder making an appearance).

More piccies coming when I've uploaded hem from the camera

Isn't this good weather a bonus.

All windows out and covered (and I didn't break any) and all the interior walls have been de-clad. Have found some comical bodging in there though. There clearly has been a damp/damage issue on the front right corner, but the repair has actually done more damage. Everything had been nailed back together with 1" tacks (as opposed to brass screws and veneer pins) and then given a liberal covering of some of the worst mastic I've ever seen. Took ages to peel it all away to actually get to the real damage which is no more than a backing plinth missing so water was dribbling in from the external fittings (clearly not re-sealed after the repair, god knows how these people must have had shares in Bostick). The same routine was apparent at the rear. Backing plinth missing from where the external rubbing strip is screwed through Rolling Eyes

Hey Ho. At least all the veneer sheets are out, just got to drop the roof panels and remove the insulation, prior to seperation of body and chassis. Now I have a question - what type of insulation should I use to replace the limp excuse of glassfibre that's in there at the minute? My instinct is foil covered celotex, probably 25mm panels as 50 will be too thick for the support frame. Only other alternatives I've seen are polyboard or space blanket type foil/fibre/foil about 20mm thick.

Okay - still haven't done the photo thing yet, but work is progressing. Roof panels are out and so is all the glass fibre insulation. Body mountings have been sorted - thanks go to Mr Angry Grinder, but I have uncovered the mother of all bodges (I'll explain more when I get the photo's sorted). Just got a little more unscrewing to do (screws at an angle from the floor to the caravan frame bottom rail) and it's ready to separate. How much weight do you reckon is in a body shell made of alu, GRP and timber frame?

Snaplegs wrote

How much weight do you reckon is in a body shell made of alu, GRP and timber frame?

I wouldn't have a clue Snappy but good luck on sorting it Wink

Things are coming along fine there Snap, can't wait for the photo's

Cant wait for the photos.

Okay - I'm not an IT ninjitsu but now have photo's

As you can see it's now a naked caravan and in the first phot you can see why I may have a small dip in the roof (methinks I may be doing some remedial framework)

Now I think I may have mentioned that Rosey has had some remedial work in the past. Obviously there was a damp issue in the front right corner that necessitated a repair. See Phot 1.

Once the panels were removed you can see it wasn't particularly successful as the front retaining rail is rotten, as is the bottom rail of the side wall frame. See Phot 2. Now looking at it I thought they had put in an angle bracket to support the vertical member. Oh boy how wrong was I. . . . . . they used what was to hand and when I peeled away the mastic I found not one but two hinges Rolling Eyes

Phot 3

Having had today off working on the van (had to get a haircut and go to coffee morning - the joy of being a house husband) I thought on monday I had got to a point where it was ready to seperate body from chassis. But some clever chap had bolted the floor not only to the chassis but also put in cross screws from floor to side frame. So I have now removed all the floor panels. Couple of little bits to come off (wheel arch trim and any other tiny bits) and then I think we'll lift the body away, probably friday afternoon when I round up some of the blokes.

Looking good Snappy Smile

A thorough strip down, obviously the makings of a good job there !

Well - the weather wasn't particularly helpful yesterday but the final bits of trim are off and it's now loosley seperated and ready to lift. Sadly Mrs Snaplegs is on duty today so can't do anything until tomorrow (still need chaps to lend a hand to lift and seperate). However, now Mrs S is back at home properly (she's been away for 3 weeks) I can now work mornings when Mini Snaplegs is at nursery and evenings too. Hopefully I can get a lot more done in a shorter period of time.

Don't forget pics of it being lifted Very Happy

There will be, Mrs S will be in charge of the camera Laughing

Well that's it - body is now off. Now the hard work begins . . .

Phot 1 - Me directing everyone what to do

Phot 2 - Van en floor

Phot 3 - Chassis raised ready for stripping

And a few more:

I'm really sorry I didn't get any phots of it being held in the air. I was a few blokes short and I needed Mrs S to pull the chassis out whilst we held it up, one of the chaps wifes had the camera and only managed to get a shot of my missus's backside (which I have been forbidden from publishing on the net) so no phots of herculean strength I'm afraid.

Suffice to say it took 4 blokes (one on each corner) and was a doddle as it was so light. Who needs fancy cranes or roof props?

Well done Snappy. Still a lot of work to do Wink

No time to keep yapping on here, get on with it Laughing

Nice one Snappy. Hope mine's as easy as that.