Barnfind vintage van hits road again

‘Everything old is new again’ goes the saying, but it’s usually harder for a classic early 1960s British caravan to make a successful comeback.

That was the challenge for the Gold Coast’s Caravan Repair Shop, which were offered an early 1960s Bluebird that had spent many years as a makeshift garden shed on a property at Canungra in the south-east Queensland.

The then-owner inherited the property from his late parents and remembers the van being there with the shed built around it for at least the last 30 odd years. As it appeared to be in pretty sad shape, he wanted it gone and offered it to The Caravan Shop after spotting one of their vehicles.

Behind their regular caravan repair and insurance work, the businesses partners Jarrod Wade and Craig Walters are vintage caravan enthusiasts who have previously brought many old holiday homes back to life and who also build their own ‘Jackaroo’ retro vans with modern brakes, electrics and other fittings for those who simply want to vintage look.

However, they found the Bluebird van was in far better condition than they first thought.

Being stuck out in the weather, the van’s A-frame was a rusted basket case, but the rest of the chassis was in remarkably good condition, with only minor surface rust that soon came off with a wire brush.

The Bluebird’s axle, suspension and brakes were also in very good condition, but were all stripped, sandblasted and reassembled to keep the caravan as original as possible before re-assembly.

Amazingly though, its wheel-bearings looked like new and were still well-packed with grease.

The caravan’s exterior aluminium cladding, attached to a timber frame, sported a few small dents, but was otherwise in good shape and cleaned up well and while all the glass except the rear window with its irreplaceable period holiday stickers, was replaced, their frames and hinges were still in good, workable order.

Inside, the plywood and Masonite cabinetry was also in good shape and came up like new after colour-matching and new brush-painting, although minor trims and fasteners were replaced.

Even the Bluebird’s period ‘pop-top’ works perfectly via its two chromed wind-up handles that raise the central roof section about 10cm for better ventilation in Australia’s hot, summer weather.

And although decommissioned, the Bluebird  still has its original Shields Jetflame gas cooktop, Electrolux fridge, and even a gas lantern!

However, the van’s original Linoleum flooring was beyond repair and has been replaced by a ‘beachy’ distressed weathered timber-look vinyl equivalent.

The caravan currently wears skinny tyres on alloy wheels – a temporary fix while a pair of original Datsun 1200 steel rims like the ones the caravan used to wear are sourced.

The only major thing now missing is this caravan’s original history and The Repair Shop has taken to caravan forums in a bid to unearth it.

All they know is that Bluebird Caravans of Poole in Dorset, England, was founded by William Knott in 1935 and was re-launched in 1946 following the War.

By the early 1950s, it was the world’s second largest caravan producer, building 350 static and touring caravans per week, but a merger with main British rival Sprite in 1963 saw Bluebird absorbed into Caravans International. Under this new ownership, Bluebird moved upmarket and concentrated on making larger ‘family’ caravans.

If you know more about the history of Bluebird, or this particular caravan, Jarrod and Craig would love to hear from you.

In the meantime, they plan to keep delighting caravan and antiquity enthusiasts at historic events like Queensland’s Leyburn Historic Sprints with this slice of yesterday.