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Andrew is the former owner of Coronet Caravans , having acquired the name many years ago . However , he sold this business last year in order to focus on repairs and services .
But it ’ s fair to say the Coronet caravan brand is special to him . And to say he knows a thing or two about the Australian caravan industry ’ s history would be an understatement . He ’ s also no stranger to restoring vintage vans .
So I was intrigued , though not particularly surprised , to hear that he was at it again . This time , the beneficiary of his care and expertise was this 55-year-old Coronet , which had its share of problems – including rot in some parts of the frame . At some point in its life , someone had even turned the two single beds into one double .
Naturally , returning the layout to its original state was one of the first orders of business .
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However , it ’ s not as though the original plans for this van were still available . In order to restore this 65 Coronet Princess to its factory state required countless hours of research . Among the tasks : sourcing old advertising material and brochures , and literally using a magnifying on those grainy black and white images .
And if that wasn ’ t difficult enough , he then had to source the many various components he ’ d require . The goal was to always replace damaged parts with original or replica parts . However , when that wasn ’ t possible , Andrew had no choice but to settle for something that was as close to the original look as possible .
When I dropped in to check out the result so far , I couldn ’ t wipe the smile off my face . Though the caravan was not quite complete , it was clear that Andrew had risen to the challenge . The caravan was looking … mint .
In some cases , he was unable to source timber of the correct thickness . For example , a piece of hardwood under the front window had to be re-milled by Andrew down to original thickness . Returning the layout to its original twin single-bed arrangement also required re-milling some timber .
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