Can't wait to see this one come together

I think it was one of them "honey I had an accident in your car" moments....."what you do babe Scratch it?"

"er no I buried it in the fookin woods"

Wow this is amazing, i knew it would be in a fair condition because it was protected from the elements, but not that good. What's the underside like then?

many thanks gents. Will be fun for sure. As far as the chassis goes well i guess you wont be shocked to hear its bad. It needs nearly everything that you can do to it - doing to it, same as the 52 but worse in some places better in others. I will have to build the chassis and pop the body on i think. The thin body has faired better suprisingly, but it does need a bit of straightening in the back and side. Made gotenberg in sweden tonight, more travelling tomorrow and hands on it monday. Going to be an interesting trip back,hope it doesnt fall apart on the trailer. cheers mark

52panelvan wrote:many thanks gents. Will be fun for sure. As far as the chassis goes well i guess you wont be shocked to hear its bad. It needs nearly everything that you can do to it - doing to it, same as the 52 but worse in some places better in others. I will have to build the chassis and pop the body on i think. The thin body has faired better suprisingly, but it does need a bit of straightening in the back and side. Made gotenberg in sweden tonight, more travelling tomorrow and hands on it monday. Going to be an interesting trip back,hope it doesnt fall apart on the trailer. cheers mark

dont forget the pics for the perv's ....oh and good luck

..and Gawd bless,mate! - England vs France NEXT Sat, btw ..

I'm looking forward to this...
Who needs prison break....
Roll on.....

How do you find them Mark? Amazing how good she is considering where it was buried/parked. Good look with the road trip.

Looks like you've found an amazing project, can't wait to see more pics once you've got it back home and then watching this threads, good work fella

Thanks

Well Made it back last night, had an amazing trip, met some fantastic and very hospitable people and had some trips out in some very early vans too.
Many many thanks to the Gents over there. I know they will read this and the other pair who were on a mission of a simular kind.
My new 51 is just a monster(well may be just in my eyes ), im over the moon with it.

Ok here are some more pics of the van as found....and a bit of its recovery a month or two back for the people who like pics...


This is the hacked in back window and the mud coming through, the glass had broken under the pressure. All the windows have had lovely aluminium surrounds made and a harboard covering.

The trees growing on its roof


The kit

The rescue and its rescuers









The way home, did 1994 miles to collect it




Also i got all the history and how the van was found etc, the first company on that sheet who bought it a few months after it was made was a logging company and it turns out its doubled logo'd as they had logos on it too which you can see in places, then Kempes had it in 58 and painted up as you see it now.

My main worry - the roof turned out to be fine as the gutters are straight as new both sides and there is no rot at all in the roof line inside or out. The roof basically for the most part just popped out
Cab X parts are very good and also almost unbelievably the front panel and A posts are perfect, and even the bottom of the original A post are there which is almost miracle stuff and alot of the inner and outer valance although it will have to be changed. Front doors are very good considering, and the sides are not too terrible.
The Centre front chassis is Bad but not as bad as the 52 and looks to be fixable which is nice as its the very early style as does the beam, all the centre of the chassis is toast under the cargo floor, not one part usable. The rear torsion tube looks ok over the double section but the rear part of the chassis rails look not so good and very bad by the battery trays.
The back floor panel to engine bay is not good and also the rear wheel tubs are bad espesially on the pass side but on the plus side the back corners and engine lid do look like they will straighten ok - hopefully.

The guys abroad put in a frame under the van to stop it from collapsing to get me home which held just fine.

The Plan now is to make a huge jig using the 52 chassis then remove all the 51 chassis shot blast it all repair the front and rear sections, slot them in the jig and then put the rest of the frame together. Repair the body and pop them together. All that driving gives you alot of time to think...

Will probably start it next year..
Cheers

Mark

fantastic!!!! cant wait to see the resto pics.....well done

Fantastic, you are a total nutter but I can't wait to see this started, personally I liked the roof top tree feature but then again you would never get it in the garage with them on

Excellent stuff Mark..

Our 54 Single Cab was the same around the front valance.. and that sat in the woods for 30 years.. unbelievable that there is no rot at all around that area..

Fantastic stuff mark, I do believe you are actually mad FIngers crossed for a full recovery!

Mark, I already took my hat off to you on your '52 resto...... this is going to be amazing! Great pics and fantastic history!

How did it end up were it was found? and buried?