Well apparently I don’t have enough to do since I decided to purchase a Viscount (read: Vai-count, the “s” is silent)  to do it up for when we go away. This one will hopefully be a reasonably quick project to do, unlike the other two. And she shall be named “Dora.” Not that I’m in the least a fan of the show… but it just sounds fitting.

So the first thing I worked out about Viscount vans, is that for the greater part of the 70s it’s very easy to work out what year and model it is, provided the original A frame is still there. This runs true from around 1971 to around 1977 models. First there’s a letter. A signifies Ambassador, R for Royal and S for Supreme.
The following number represents the year of manufacture  (ie 197x) .
The remaining numbers are the sequential number of the chassis rolling off the manufacturer’s floor.
Thus, Dora is a 1973 Viscount Royal #6813 off the production line.
Prior and subsequent vans have different chassis identification methods I’ve been told, and there is a lovely lady on the Viscount Owners Group on Facebook who keeps a list of all known (to her) vans and chassis numbers. The Viscount group is a great tool for anyone with a Viscount and is able to fill in the blanks should you need your Viscount identified.

I have big plans for Dora. She will become a 7-sleeper van to accommodate all of us if ever the need arises. There will be a permanent structure triple bunk, a permanent double bed and a bench seat which will convert to two extra single beds (or possibly also to a double, this is a new thought not entirely investigated as yet though). I will be drawing my inspiration almost entirely from these photos that I found:

There is a long way to go before this becomes an eventuality though… Poor Dora has seen better days. I will need to begin with plugging up the hole for the air conditioner that had been installed, then rip out all the panels and cupboards inside. Reclad all of inside, paint and then rebuild the interior. Here are some current internal photos of Dora: