Andrew Phillips is at it again. That’s right, the owner of The RV Repair Centre in Bayswater North, Vic, has set his sites on another caravan restoration! This time, it’s a 26ft 6in tandem-axle Franklin Princeton from the mid 1970s. This caravan had definitely seen better days.
Regular readers might recall Andrew’s Don caravan restoration, which we’ve shown you in these pages in recent months, or perhaps his resto of an old Coronet Princess. The thing with Andrew is, he doesn’t do these restorations by halves. He salvages whatever original fittings and materials that he can, and will spend hours researching the van to ensure any replacement parts are as close to factory as possible. This involves studying old black-and-white ads from caravan magazines, online research, and a lot of time on the phone.
DETAILED FRANKLIN RESTO
This Franklin, however, might just be our favourite Andrew Phillips restoration. The van is surprisingly light, given its size. Andrew will weigh it once it’s complete, but for now he estimates about 1500kg Tare. Some of the weight savings come from how this van was built. Believe it or not but it contains no traditional frame, except around apertures such as doors and windows. The walls are a structural sandwich panel comprised of external aluminium and internal ply, while the ‘filling’ is polystyrene foam.
When we first laid eyes on this old Franklin in his workshop, some months ago, it was clear that Andrew had his work cut out for him. While the cladding on the front and rear have been completely replaced by white aluminium that’s a match for original, Andrew was able to repair the side walls, filling and sanding holes and dents, and has given it an undercoat. When we stopped by, the final coats of paint were really all this van was waiting on.
Stepping inside, the offside kitchen has been almost completely rebuilt. Sadly, a mouse had found its way behind the cabinetry and had chewed a lot of timber out. However, while the mouse had also done some damage to the original stove, Andrew was able to dismantle it, fix it, and it has since passed its inspection by a gas fitter.
The original fridge, however, was a sadder story. Unfortunately, it was beyond repair; however, because some Dometic fridges have a facia that can be removed to accommodate facias of different colours, Andrew was able to fit some old original material to the front of a new Dometic fridge. This fridge is officially the only modern appliance in the entire van.
Various ply wall panels have been replaced, too, but you wouldn’t know unless you knew what you were looking for and got up close – how Andrew managed to source ply with almost the same veneer as that of the 1970s is anyone’s guess. But it looks great!
The nearside dinette had to be re-upholstered. While the foam for the seats was mouldy beyond repair, he was able to salvage the foam used for the back rests. The bunks, meanwhile, had to be completely rebuilt. One of the van’s previous owners had removed the bunks to make space for a baby’s cot.
And then there’s the bedroom. Now, the steel bed base is what you’d expected from the 1970s, but Andrew had a difficult time sourcing a replacement one. Eventually, he found a man removing his bed base from a similar Franklin, and as it turned out he was willing to sell it to Andrew! You’ve got to get lucky sometimes.
Question: when was the last time you saw a caravan with actual carpet? If a modern caravan was fitted with carpet, we’d all say the manufacturer was mad. But in the 70s, they did things differently. This Franklin Princeton had honest-to-goodness carpet in both the rear bedroom and the front dinette. Were it my van, I’m sure I would’ve pulled it out, but Andrew replaced it with a slightly lighter coloured carpet. As I said, he doesn’t do things by halves.
There were, of course, lots of other repairs to this van. However, when you restore caravans as a hobby, it helps to have worked in the trade for as long as Andrew has. You see, he had plenty of ‘new old’ stock laying around which, as it turned out, was a perfect match. For example, the existing Four Seasons hatch had to go – but Andrew just happened to have the exact old hatch – in new condition – in his workshop. Again, you’ve got to get lucky sometimes.
But of all the detailed repairs and restorations found within this van, none shows Andrew’s commitment more than the fact he had the decal from the van’s original caravan dealership printed and re-applied to the back of the van.
Australia has a rich, fascinating caravan heritage spanning generations. One restoration at a time, Andrew is shining new light on it.
RV Repair Centre: www.thervrepaircentre.com.au
