Danbury Interior - renovation or original??

[lcfmonkey]

More advice needed folks (and who better to get it from than you lot!)

I've stripped out the Danbury interior and it's in the garage whilst the bus gets hit with a large welding stick. I need to decide what to do with it before it goes back in. Choices are; leave it totally as is and just put it straight back in, problem with that is that it's tatty but at least it'll be 100% original. Option 2 is to repair the tatty sections, replacing ply and flooring as required. I think I'm worried about the bus losing it's originality.

What have others done? and no telling me it's my bus so I should do what I like, I'm far too indecisive to make my own decisions and need someone else to tell me what to do!!

 

[Lee C]

We had a really original Danbury, even down to the plug in the sink, instructions for the cooker n stuff.
But to make the bed up you have to have the SLDoor open, no good if it's raining!!!!
Also to make the bed full size we had to put the sink unit outside!!!!

So we ended up with a folding caravan too, bit of an overkill eh??

In the end I decided to sell it rather than modernise the interior.
Rock n roll beds are easier to put up n you can do it with the door shut too!!!

Just my opinion, but if it's not in perffect condition, this may be a good time to modernise the interior layout to make it more liveable?????????

 

[willevans79]

We have a Danbury but the Previous owners had seriously butchered it so re-built using two and a half other interiors bought on ebay/slough swap and here! So although the interior isn't original for the bus, it is at least made up of original parts. A compromise I suppose!
So you could go down that route, if something's not right and needs replacing, try to find an original part. Took me two years but we're (just about) there now! Agree about the awkwardness of it tho, but hey, that's why awnings were invented!!
Predictably I now have a storage unit half full of bits of Danbury, some good some not so good, so feel free to drop me a line if you want to have a look at what I've got left over! (one day I'll sort it out and put it up for sale....one day!)

Good luck fella

Will

 

[bananacustard]

Sympathetic, light resto of original interior gets my vote. Bit of sanding and varnishing, repairs to broken veneer, clean up upholstery etc. That's what I did with mine, glad I did. You get used to the quirks of an original interior.

 

[Danbury Doug]

Sympathetic, light resto of original interior gets my vote. Bit of sanding and varnishing, repairs to broken veneer, clean up upholstery etc. That's what I did with mine, glad I did. You get used to the quirks of an original interior.

+ 1

There are plenty of original Danbury bits out there, if you do need to replace items, and like Will said, even if they aren't original to your bus, they are still original parts. Having an original interior is fab!

Doug

 

[matt-me]

Hi, i started with an original Danbury and have done a bit of both. I had the vinyl covered units which were well past it's best, when i say vinyl it was like a mottled greyish sticky back plastic type stuff. I do like the simplicity of the Danbury interior and the space as a result as we have three kids. I approached it as follows :

Rear seat arrangement - When you look at it this is no more than a few bits of 6mm plywood knocked together with some boards as bases for the seats. I didn't fancy trusting this from a safety aspect for my three kids to sit on and the bed is an obvious fiddle so i removed this and fitted a bluebird rock and roll bed in it's place. Comfy bed, well made, strong and operates well and is pretty much 5' wide. I kept the old units in case in the future i sold and someone wanted to put it all back.

Buddy seats (cooker and storage) - i fixed them in position rather than keep them on runners as again i would never use them as seats. I can however reomve them to put in our awning if we're having a long camp over. I removed the old vinyl which left a rough plywood backing, which i sanded down, primed, painted with a similar colour emulsion paint which i had from our house, and coated them wtih two coats of clear varnish. We used them for alot of camping and they still look as good as when i did them. I did the same for the boards and base for the rnr bed this colour too. I still use all the boards when in place to chop etc. again, I've kept all the sliding gear in case someone in the future..The seat positions still allow the rnr bed to pull out so you can make a cuppa in the morning.

I sold the sink unit as it takes up space and i don't like to use a sink in the van, way too small for a family of 5.

Table and top locker - kept these as they are really nice retro laminate and work well

Bunks we've kept and they are still used (well one as my two older boys have outgrown them).

So that's it. I've got most of the bits still hanging from my garage roof but the van wroks well for us and looks cool, as well as light, IMO

A couple of photos below.

Good luck

Al

Sorry Doug, i know how much you like the og, hope all's good with you..