Parts interchangability between LR and Bedford

[dkenner]

How much commonality is there between parts? Are cabinets and such interchangable between the different vehicles or did Martin Walker make unique parts for each marque that they modified? I would guess the former, but would not be surprised about the later. I know roofs can be unique, esp for the VW, but thought that there was a lot in common with the two slab sided vehicles.

Thanks

Dixon
1969 LR dormobile

[Jonny]

Hi Dixon, welcome to the forum, I think the cabinets are limited in thier interchangeability, as you’ve pointed out roofs are unique to each vehicle, and most of the interiors are as well, I’m sure some cabinets can be swapped. We have an Archivist who keeps original brochures for the club, she might be able to help. I’ll get her to look at this topic.

Regards
John

[fussy]

The quick answer to this question is each Dormobile model is unique. There are superficial similarities between many models but Dormobile had to have templates crafted for each vehicle marque and conversion as the vans where all slightly different in shape and size. The commonality between models was mostly in the materials used, the fittings they bought in and the basic layouts of some of the interiors. These varied over time rather than between models.

The most obvious example of this is the side lifting roofs. At a glance they all look much the same. The early models like the Landrover and the Romany had a single long opening vent and the later models like the Ford Transits and the VWs had two small vents. These vents are interchangeable between models but all the roofs themselves are unique to each vehicle marque and model. A VW splitty roof has to be modified to fit on a VW Bay because the curvature of the roof is different. We have had two Ford Transit Explorers and even these had slightly different roofs because one van had a pair of side hinged doors at the rear and the other had a top hinged tailgate. The lifting roof, unlike that on the VW, goes right to the back and sits in the gutter so the shape had to be modified for the tailgate model to accommodate the hinges. The Ford, like some other models, has a fixed fibreglass luggage rack at the front so that the front edge of the raising roof is straight and flat compared to that on the VW.

The Landrover is another good example, Dormatic seats are fitted to many older models including the Bedford Romany but the furniture in the Landrover is radically different from all other Dormobiles, because the cabinets are metal, whereas in all the other conversion the furniture is made from wood. (With the exception of one model of the Ford Enterprise in the early 70’s which had fibreglass cabinets.) Never having had a model with Dormatic seats I don’t know if these are interchangeable. I would guess they maybe but would expect that the fittings to attach them to the vehicle and allow them to fold and slide may have been customised to the vehicle and modified over time.

It is only when one completely strips out a van and then puts it all back together again that one fully appreciates the amount of craftsmanship that went into fitting out these vehicles. The wooden furniture tends not to be free-standing units that are stood in the van and fixed in place but component panels that become furniture once all the parts have been fixed together along with the linings to the roof and body panels. The order of assembly is critical and the units may only function once all the component parts are in place. For example the bed in the Ford requires the furniture down the side, the rear storage box, the near-side body lining panels and the other sliding seat to be fitted before the rear seat can become a bed.

A future projects I have in mind is to get a detailed photographic record of the interior layout and fitting of as many models as possible and make this available on the Web.

[Author]

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