Wilson Coachbuilt Pram
Park Ward model
This is a traditional English Pram, built in 1973 (approximately), for the British brand
Wilson - Silver Cross.
In England this type of Pram is named: " Coachbuilt Pram ".
The Body:
The Body is connected to the chassis, with 4 leather
straps, and two other hold back
straps, in the lower part; it has a very comfortable
suspension sistem, inherited from high
class coaches.
Another characteristic that distinguished this Pram, its metal body, 36" (914 mm) long
measured on the outside.
The inside lining is cream rubberized cloth.
Two swan neck supports with elliptical section are connected to the body, where the
handle is fixed.
Hood, apron and pram bag are tailored outside with waterproof fabric; the inside in
rubberized cloth.
To the hood it's possible to connect the sun canopy, fixing it with two light ropes at two
hinges at the front and at the rear of the body.
The colours of the chassis and the body of this pram are very peculiar:
- Burgundy red, for the chassis and part of the body
- cream white, for the rest of body
The body is embellished with a chromium plated sheet and a central pendant.
The Chassis:
It is built with two Sheffield spings, fixed to two wheel axles.
Rear wheels measure 20" (508mm) in diameter.
Front wheels measure 18" (457mm) in diameter.
On them acts the brake, moved with a lever hinged on the upper part of the right sping,
which, wuth a levers system, moves two pads, so that they block the wheels.
Suspended from the axles, there is a chromium steel basket.
Condition before restoration:
This pram comes from Graz (Austria).
It was certainly not in excellent conditions.
The chromium plated parts, wheels in particular,
presented oxidized surfaces, where
as the spring chassis presented scrapings.
The rubber parts of the wheels were completely
worm out. Two hubcaps were missing.
The body presented scrapings on the white part and the apron
was missing too.
The leather straps were dried up and some of them were also
broken.
Restoration:
The restoration process took a long time; the results, however, gave me a gratification
that repaid the long work .
In order to illustrate it, the restoration process is divided into two phases:
the first is about the chassis and the second concerns the body. In fact, the work on the
two parts was done at same time.
First phase:
- Complete dismaintling of the chassis in all its
parts
- Rust elimination, and chromed parts polishing
(brake and other small parts)
- Rust elimination and polishing of the wheels,
after the tyres dismaintling
(the polishing of every single spoke being a
really tedious work)
- Assembling the new tyres on the wheels (bough
in Nederland)
- Looking for wheels hub caps and brake pads on the Internet.
- Stuccowork and polishing of the chassis before the painting
- Preparation of burgundy red colour, in a paint
factory
- Spaying the chassis with burgundy red paint,
and then with the final transparent varnish,
because the original colour was metallic
- Rebuilding of the leather straps, using the
original buckles
- Chassis reassembling
Second phase:
- Dismaintling the inside, hood and handle
of the body
- Stuccowork and polishing of the cream white
damaged parts
- Masking and subsequent spaying with cream
white paint
- Polishing chromed parts
- Polishing of the external surface of the body
- Rebuilding all over of the apron (made by Mors Ouderwetse-Kinderwagens,
Nederland)
- Reassembling of the body
- Positioning of the body on the chassis
