68+86auto wrote:
drmini in aust wrote:
Travellers here are all private imports.
That's what I thought and believe too. I recently pointed out that one "Traveller" was not one but everyone (not on here) seemed to want to tell me I was wrong. One claimed that it is an "Australian conversion" - still not a Traveller to me.
Apparently I'm wrong because it has four seats and windows (not the proper Traveller ones)
I seem to remember an article by Craig many years ago about a special prototype wagon that Leyland Oz built. Not sure what they called it, noting the Morrisi are "Travellers", Austins are "Countryma/en" and BLs are "Estates"....
Travellers are not converted vans. The structure is quite different. As far as the shell is concerned there are far more differences between the Traveller and a van than there are between an 850 and an S. It would be a major job to do a conversion..... New floors, subfloors, side structures, internal bracing etc before you even got to thinking about window and seats. I wonder how many of the van conversions included opening rear windows??
I think a ute conversion would be easier.
I suppose BMC thought of them as station wagons as they have "W" chassis numbers.
I don't know about Registers but if you do have a Traveller/Countryman Heritage can supply a build certificate (just send $$
.
BMC (in the UK) originally supplied vans without side windows so they could be registered as commercial vehicles; thereby avoiding purchase tax. Of course there were any number of people selling kits to add windows (don't know how many people fronted up with the extra tax
.
Back in the day, Volvo sold kits to convert their (2 seater) vans into wagons to anyone looking to save a few dollars.... anyone remember whether the vans had 3 doors or 5??
There are quite a few Travellers around Canberra. Allegedly the British High Commission imported a group which were issued to the wives of senior diplomats.
Cheers, Ian