The rebuilding of a 1969 Franklin Mini - AKA "The Pumpkin"

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Grandad
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The rebuilding of a 1969 Franklin Mini - AKA "The Pumpkin"

Post by Grandad »

I guess it's time for me to pull my finger out and detail the rebuild I've been doing for the past several years as I've now been asked on three separate occasions. Ok guys. I get the hint. Here goes.

This all started after my wife decided to move out and the future was looking rather bleak. After any property settlement, hanging on to my house seemed impossible. There would not be enough equity for much else than living in a caravan. So, trying to turn lemons into lemonade I reasoned that this was a good time to travel the country as a grey nomad.
So, I set out to rebuild a caravan I had purchased some 15 years earlier as an extra bedroom and deck it out for long term free camping. And just keep travelling until I can't.

I'd read enough about lithium to know the possibilities but there was so much conflicting info that attempting to DIY scared me. Then, our old friend Terry announced the start of T1 Lithium. Good news. Although there wasn't enough equity to buy a cheaper property, there was more than enough to fund the lithium setup, and purchase a suitable tow vehicle so long as I didn't want something late model.

That's ok. I don't like late model, electric everything with computers in every corner anyway. Give me something older. An XG or XY Falcon ute or panel van looked good to me, although my mechanic suggests I should avoid the XG. I would have preferred an XF but from past experience, they suck fuel like its going out of fashion (which it actually is now) when towing anything. And LPG isn't a good option like it used to be.

Now, as it turned out, after seeking legal advice, I eventually discovered a year or so later that things weren't as bleak as I had first thought. I'll be able to keep the house and survive quite nicely for some years to come. Eventually, I will have to sell. But not for a quite a while.

So, I'm continuing the rebuild at my leisure but with a slightly different motivation. I'll still be travelling but not for as long. Maybe a year or so. And when I sell the house, the bulk of my equity will now be used to build a granny flat with some left over for the Falcon and the lithium installation.

In the meantime, the more I can get done now, the bigger a nest egg I will have while travelling and the better off I'll be.

So, buckle up. Here's the story of The Pumpkin.
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Grandad
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Re: The rebuilding of a 1969 Franklin Mini - AKA "The Pumpkin"

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This van had been in my possession for over 15 years when I first started out. 20 years now.

We had originally purchased it when we decided that a family with 5 kids was going to attempt to live on a building site using two caravans and sheds and outbuildings instead of a house.
This van was previously owned by a lovely old couple who had bought it new and used it for family holidays. (No children)
The husband had converted the rear fold down couch into a permanent bed using treated pine decking.
He recovered the floor in new vinyl.

The wife had lovingly handmade curtains with matching cushions, bed valance and doona cover.
It came complete with a full canvas annex in almost new condition.
When not being used it was stored in the garage so was incredibly clean and downright cute as a button.

Not for long.

Its original use was for our two girls, then 9 and 10 yrs old. They shared the double bed and big brother, then about 15 yrs who used the front single made from the dinette. He was there in case the girls woke up through the night with a fright.

After we moved to a property just outside of Bendigo, the two older boys used it as their bedroom. They played Rock, Paper Scissors to see who got the double bed each night.

The annex was slowly destroyed by a combination of Central Victorian sun, wind and two teenage boys.
When the older boy moved out, his younger brother moved to the double permanently.
When he in turn moved out the eldest girl moved in so she could study for her VCE in private and get a good nights sleep.

At some point in its early life, the kids dubbed it “The Pumpkin” and it’s been “The Pumpkin” ever since.

When eldest daughter moved out to go to Uni, it sat neglected and unloved for a few more years until I decided it might as well go. By this stage, all of the original cuteness had long gone. It was in a sad and sorry state with windows that wouldn’t open or lock and showing the wear and tear of 10+ yrs as a teenager’s bedroom/hangout.

When I mentioned my plans at a family gathering the kids almost formed a lynch party in my honour at the thought of “The Pumpkin” no longer being in the family. No, this was obviously not acceptable.

Number two son, now married with two girls of his own put his hand up and offered to buy it. It was just before Christmas so that year we wrapped up the keys and gave him and his wife The Pumpkin as a Christmas present.

He and his older brother set to and repacked the bearings, put new light truck tyres on it, repaired a couple of broken windows and bought a bunch of struts so every window could both open and close. His wife stitched up some new curtains and scrubbed it to within an inch of its life.

He then gave it to big brother a few years later who continued to use it as extra accommodation for friends who wanted to stay over. He was also now married with two kids of his own.

Eventually however, even he saw there was no real purpose in keeping it any longer and he offered it back to me.
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Grandad
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Re: The rebuilding of a 1969 Franklin Mini - AKA "The Pumpkin"

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When I got it up here to my place and looked at it. I’m afraid I was having the same doubts the kids had had way back when. The Pumpkin is part of the family. I shudder to think what memories the kids may have had of what may have gone in the thing growing up, (Don’t think I really want to know) but when I looked at this sad and sorry old girl, I found I had my own memories tied up in it as well.

Plus, I had discovered something interesting while studying eBay vans looking for one to buy.

A 10’ van like The Pumpkin almost always has a two seater dinette at the front, a double bed crossways at the back, a kitchen bench approx 1200mm long and a small wardrobe opposite.
A 12’ van mostly has the identical layout except the dinette now seats 4 people.
A 14’ van has the identical front layout but they spin the double bed 90 degrees so it now runs lengthwise and you can get down both sides.
It’s not until you hit 16’ that the usable size of the kitchen and storage space actually increases. And then, not by much.
There are exceptions of course, but on the whole, this seems to be the pattern.
Vans with front kitchens and modern vans with the door at the back are two exceptions to this rule.

The Pumpkin is a 10’ van. Ok, 10’6” to be exact. It has the most economical use of space you can get. Plus, if I get far enough back from it, and squint a bit through one eye only on a dull day, I can still see the cuteness I saw umpteen years ago in the old couple’s garage when I first laid eyes on it.

So, I decided.
I’m going to rebuild The Pumpkin!!!
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Grandad
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Re: The rebuilding of a 1969 Franklin Mini - AKA "The Pumpkin"

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Ok, here she is. Drum roll please.

Ladies and gentlemen, and others.... Allow me to introduce "The Pumpkin"
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This picture was taken when it first arrived back at my place.

Here's some internal shots of the original layout.
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Last edited by Grandad on Sat Aug 17, 2019 12:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Grandad
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Re: The rebuilding of a 1969 Franklin Mini - AKA "The Pumpkin"

Post by Grandad »

Inspection of the original chassis I discovered this.
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chassis (Small).jpg
What you can't see clearly is several large cracks, holes rusted through and leaf springs rusted solid.

All repairable but not without some serious effort. So, I decided to rebuild the chassis from new. This would also allow me to fit new water tanks, and extend the chassis a tad more front and back which would enable me to solve a couple of issues the original design had caused.

Remember, Franklin made the Mini at a time when smaller, lighter vans were the rage. The original tare was 600kg. They achieved this in part by a very lightweight chassis. Too light, as it turned out. And the drawbar was ridiculously short. How short was evidenced by dents and tears to the front panel where the back corners of the car had hit the van.

So a longer drawbar was also added to the plan.

Step one. Remove the body. Something that someone on the Vintage Caravan forum had stated had never seen to be done on an aluminium body van. Now, THAT sounded like a challenge! I'm up for it.
3DSCF0003 (Small).JPG
Job done!
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Grandad
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Re: The rebuilding of a 1969 Franklin Mini - AKA "The Pumpkin"

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Ok, next step, draw up and manufacture a new chassis.

I planned on using RHS that was larger in the vertical dimension than original. I was helped by my first wife's new husband who owns a trailer manufacturing business in Melbourne in selecting what sizes to use. I used whatever he suggested throughout the chassis. This meant the outriggers that support the side walls would be seen under the body.

Solution? Taper the ends.

My finger is getting sore. Let's allow the pics to speak.
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One thing I regret now, was not taking first the complete van over a drawbridge before I did anything to see how accurate Franklin's stated tare of 600kg really was.
Then, take both the original and the new chassis across to see how much weight I had added.

Ah well. C'est la vie. She'll be right!

Here's the finished chassis with all new Alko gear. The springs recommended to me are rated at a max capacity of 1300kg, But apparently are progressive so they're not too hard at half that weight.
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Last edited by Grandad on Sat Aug 17, 2019 12:13 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Grandad
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Re: The rebuilding of a 1969 Franklin Mini - AKA "The Pumpkin"

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Now the walls.

Franklin pioneered the use of sandwich construction in Australia back in 1967 with a new factory in Wendouree and in partnership with 3M. My Mini therefore has no frame. Just a small bit around the windows and a larger piece across the bottom where it is bolted to the chassis. All were rotted.
The internal ply itself was less than perfect.
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So, step one, remove the internal ply.
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Step two. Route grooves into the polystyrene for conduit for the electrical.
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Step 3. Determine the best (water based) adhesive to use to attach new ply. I did this by gluing several pieces to a large block with numerous different adhesives. After 24 hours I pulled each piece off to se which one worked the best.
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Grandad
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Re: The rebuilding of a 1969 Franklin Mini - AKA "The Pumpkin"

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Step 4 was to reattach new ply to the walls. If you think this caused me more than a few headaches, challenges and anxiety attacks, you'd be right.

If the wall wasn't DEAD flat when the internal ply was glued on, the wall would be permanently curved.
And, how does one clamp down a very large piece of ply?

Hmmm. I purchased some 90x45 stud pine because I had the germ of an idea of how to hold the walls upright when I was attaching them back to the chassis. So.….. I used them to help me clamp things together.

I could only do one sheet at a time and each sheet needed 48 hours to fully cure. There were three sheets on each wall and two walls. So this whole process took a while. Outdoors in the weather. ( I NEED A SHED!!!) Thank goodness I live in Bendigo where rain in the summer was just a theory held by some old folk with good memories.

So here's how it all looked as I was doing it.
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Once all the sheets were attached, it was an easy job to use a pattern bit in the router to trim all the edges.
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Dot
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Re: The rebuilding of a 1969 Franklin Mini - AKA "The Pumpkin"

Post by Dot »

That is one big job but if it keeps you off the streets then get on with it then get out and enjoy it. :D
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Grandad
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Re: The rebuilding of a 1969 Franklin Mini - AKA "The Pumpkin"

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Thank you Dot. With this plus renovating the house plus trying to earn a dollar here and there certainly keeps me occupied. But, there are no deadlines so I just potter on. I still find time to get up to some mischief.

Ok, what next? Oh, re-attach the walls to the chassis.

My neighbour came over and gave me a hand first to make sure everything looked right to proceed.
IMG_0245 (Small).JPG

Anywho. Remember those pine studs I mentioned?
Well, I used them to make two stud wall, minus the studs, and then took great care to ensure they were dead square and the exact width of the internal wall measurement of the van.

Franklin was most helpful when they designed this van to put two windows directly opposite each other so I could clamp the walls to these two frames through the windows.
Like this.
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Next, attach the roof ply and the front and back window frames.
Oh, forgot to mention them didn't I? I made new ones.
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And, here's a shot of the first time The Pumpkin had become 3 dimensional again in over a year and a half.
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I sent this pic to my daughter and she was thrilled to see it.

Then, I made up some curved ribs for the back. There were no ribs originally. Just a sheet of ply pop riveted to the walls and then the outer cladding. Reduction of weight and cost was obviously paramount to Franklin at this stage.
So, this is how that turned out.
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Then, the external ply was attached
IMG_0861 (Medium) (Small).JPG
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