The factory famously used up old stock parts on vans, and the like, to keep the prices down.
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A frequently-made comment with which I disagree: the vans retained older features not because there was an unused supply of old stock parts, but because it suited the features required in the van. The scuttle petrol tank was retained because it was cheaper than designing a rear end which incorporated bot tank and spare wheel, but the tank itself was a completely different item, not RN old stock.
The motor industry has frequently retained a discontinued style for their commercial vehicles: think A35 when the Farina A40 was the current passenger car, the old-style A60 van rather than a Farina version, and the HA Viva van never got updated to HB or HC style.
05-06-2020, 01:02 PM (This post was last modified: 05-06-2020, 01:10 PM by Tony Griffiths.)
(05-06-2020, 11:42 AM)Ruairidh Dunford Wrote:
(05-06-2020, 08:29 AM)Mike Costigan Wrote: Not using up old bits, Ruairidh, that's a bespoke panel. That panel takes a PA speedo; I'm surprised it's as late as 1934, as the van had a 4-speed gearbox by then. Also there's no provision for a fuel gauge, which a 1934 van did have, so I would date it rather earlier.
Mike,
the panel uses up old bits, not the panel itself.
As you say, PA speedo. Also SM5 switch panel, and DH oil gauge with separate bezel, all "old" by the end of 1932.
I have seen these exact panels with old instrumentation fitted to 1933 vans (not least the van Charlie mentions above) - they have a front mounted dipstick tank under the bonnet - no fuel gauge.
The factory famously used up old stock parts on vans, and the like, to keep the prices down.
Would it look like this? A quick and dirty mock-up... BTW - does anyone have really clear pictures of each of the different switch panels - or just individual ones? I can find odds and ends, but none that are good enough to show the whole range set in a side-by-side format.
Hi Mike although later vans may have had different petrol tanks the one on our van is definitely an RN tank with no gauge and the dual tap with the reserve pull under the bonnet. I had a RN for years and compared the 2 when I had the van one out for painting so I am sure about my facts.
Vans certainly do seem to have earlier parts fitted. My '32 RN van has the earlier helmet type front wings from 1930/31 which means the running boards have to be over 2" longer at the front. I have seen this feature on another RN van and I have a period photograph of my van, so I know that it is original.
(05-06-2020, 02:35 PM)charlie carpenter Wrote: Hi Mike although later vans may have had different petrol tanks the one on our van is definitely an RN tank with no gauge and the dual tap with the reserve pull under the bonnet. I had a RN for years and compared the 2 when I had the van one out for painting so I am sure about my facts.
Regards
Charlie
Interesting, Charlie; so what year is your van, and what sort of dashboard?
Hi Mike it was registered on 14/03/1933 chassis no 1696xx it is on a RP shell as per the waist line in previous threads the van floor is above what is the RP floor pan. The spare wheel fits between the van floor and the original floor. The dash sits where a RP dash would sit but with the RN dials.
It was delivered to the garage in Strathaven and was brought up in the guards van from Birmingham accompanied by the Garage apprentice and sold to the local farmer.
(05-06-2020, 04:55 PM)charlie carpenter Wrote: ... The dash sits where a RP dash would sit but with the RN dials.
Do you mean it has the separate dash panel as in the opening post, or do the RN dials fit directly into the dashboard in the RN manner? If the former, then that pins this type of panel down to late 1932 (post RN style) to early 1933, as later 1933 vans have the conventional RP panel with a scuttle tank with sender unit.
Later vans are different - the panel at the start of the thread is fitted to Vans like Charlie's - with the older style gauges and the RN type petrol tank - plus a few other earlier items.
I really do think they were using up leftover parts and then moved to the later stuff when those ran out - I appreciate that you may disagree but I cannot see why they would intentionally continue to use older (i.e. items not in general production line use) parts, then switch to the modified tanks and newer instrumentation for any other reason?
OK Ruairidh! I was not aware of these features on early 1933 vans. I will accept that does looks like a case of using up old stock, but interim versions of various models feature out-of-date components until such time as the new part becomes available. My gripe is the sweeping statement that 'vans used up old stock' - I've seen that comment made regarding AVJ vans even though practically every 'old stock' feature is unique to the vans.
05-06-2020, 07:52 PM (This post was last modified: 05-06-2020, 11:57 PM by Tony Griffiths.)
(05-06-2020, 07:12 PM)Ruairidh Dunford Wrote: Later vans are different - the panel at the start of the thread is fitted to Vans like Charlie's - with the older style gauges and the RN type petrol tank - plus a few other earlier items.
I really do think they were using up leftover parts and then moved to the later stuff when those ran out - I appreciate that you may disagree but I cannot see why they would intentionally continue to use older (i.e. items not in general production line use) parts, then switch to the modified tanks and newer instrumentation for any other reason?
This is a real puzzle, for Austin obviously operated a spares service with items drawn from what must have been a very large parts store. That being the case, if a number of items were kept back to build vans, how did they decide what to keep - or did they wander round to the parts department and ask the brown-coated, bad-tempered, clipboard-toting parts guys what they'd like to "disappear"? Would it not have been easier to use regular, up-to-the-minute production items, rather than muck about trying to cobble together something old and new? There must have been some logic to this farrago - but what, I cannot, for a moment, imagine.
As an aside, I wonder for how long parts were available; for example, in 1935, could a garage order the wings and radiator cowl for a car built during 1925?
