Painting pram bodywork

A very helpful man, Rover1, on the Preloved pram restoration forum has very kindly given a link to a company in Leeds who sell paint for prams which can be applied with a brush. The paint has been used for restoration of motorbikes and is listed in the phone book as such. The contact details are  http://www.cwylde.co.uk C Wylde Son Ltd,Tthe Weighbridge, Aire Place mills, 143 Kirkstall Road, Leeds, West Yorkshire LS3 1JL Tele No 0113 246 8888.

Book - Pram restoration and renovation

In August last year I self published a small booklet about renovating coachbuilt prams. This was compiled after researching various sources and sold like hot cakes!!! The last copy of the first edition is on E Bay at the moment, auction starting at 99p as this has a damaged cover. I am in the  process of updating the booklet and if anyone has anything they would like to add then please contact me before the end of March. I know a lot of people have their own tried and tested tips for the restoration process and I will be happy to include these, with an acknowledgement. The new book will be a different format to the first one, which was very much experimental to see if it would sell! It did so now I am using a professional publisher to produce the new books, hence the cost will be slightly higher but the content will be improved so still excellent value for money for a handy reference book. Please leave a comment below or e mail me at lucygracewriter@hotmail.com if you want to include anything.

cleaning tyres and wheels

A very effective way to clean dirty tyres is to pop the wheels into the dishwasher and run them through on a hot wash! This was a tip recommended to me by a young woman who tried this with the wheels on her pram and I passed the tip on to others and it is amazing how clean the tyres are! Of course the chrome also comes up clean too, so using the dishwasher is a great way to save all the hard work that normally goes with scrubbing tyres to clean them. If you don't have a dishwasher and have to clean your tyres the hard way, remember not to use bleach as this causes the white rubber to yellow. The best method is to use something like Cif or Cillit Bang and a green scouring pad. You might want to soak the wheels first to get rid of some of the grime. If you put them into the bath remember to put an old towel down first to prevent scratching your bath. An alternative is to buy an old baby bath from a car boot sale and use this. More tips of cleaning tyres and wheels are in my book Restoration and Renovation of Coachbuilt prams. The last copy of the current print run is now listed on E Bay, the cover is marked so this is listed as a bidding auction with a starting price of 99p and runs for 3 days. The next print run of the new updated version of the book is due out at the end of April

Preventing fading

When prams are exposed to sunlight the fabric will soon fade. For this reason it is best to always use a sun canopy when your pram is outside in sunny weather. (Yes, I am sure we can remember what that is, even though we are in the depths of winter here!) When the pram is in the house put it out of direct sunlight, or if you can't do this then make sure you keep the hood and apron covered. I use an old duvet cover to drape over the hood and the apron when the pram is not being used. This also keeps the dust off as well as preventing fading. Any fabric which is exposed to sunlight for any length of time will fade and it can also rot so best take care of your pram fabrics.

pram hood

Someone contacted me the other day about a pram they had bought where the hood was badly creased, not worn in any way, just creased. It had been stored away with the hood down and although the hood went up and down okay the creases were still there. I suggested she got a steam cleaner and tried that to get the creases out, but not to hold it onto the fabric too long as steam is very hot obviously!!! Glad to say it worked a treat and the creases came out - same as steam ironing I suppose.

modern appeal

Did you see the Brit Awards on tv this week where they had several Silver Cross prams as part of the show? If you missed it, try a link via YouTube. It was great publicity for Silver Cross and obviously meant to appeal to the younger parents as the prams were wheeled about, twirled around, up-ended and the models did a dance routine where they twisted themselves under the handle!! These are prams that are never going to go out of fashion, unlike the modern fabric ones which are outdated as soon as the manufacturer comes up with a new design. I bought a new pushchair for my grandchild last week, in what I was assured was the latest colourway. Lo and behold this week I have received the catalogue for this manufacturer's summer range and already they have brought out a new fabric!!!! Not that it bothers me, I prefer to take the "Proper" pram with me when I am on grandma duty, but at just over 2, the "baby" now has a mind of her own and wants to climb in and out herself, which she can't do with the coachbuilt. Going back to the Brit Awards, apparently the prams on the show are going to be auctioned off for charity - which brings me back to yesterday's post about auctions being a source of prams.

Where to find prams

If you are having problems finding a coachbuilt pram here are some suggestions on how to find one. Maybe you have seen one on E Bay but have been pipped at the very last second (yes, I mean last second!) by a higher bid. The best thing to do  if you see a pram you like is to watch it until the day the auction is due to finish. You will then have an idea if the bids have gone out of your reach. If they are still within your budget, then put in a bid for the highest amount you are prepared to pay. E Bay will then bid on your behalf until bidding reaches your price and you may be lucky. If you are not, then at least you have not been tempted to go over budget!! Another way to source prams is to put an ad in your local classifieds paper, it is amazing how many people have these prams stored away in their lofts or garages. You could also try going to an auction sale. I have just been watching Cash in the Attic today and a beautiful Royale pram was sold at auction for only fifty pounds! Make your interest in coachbuilt prams known to all your friends and contacts, they may know of someone who has one they would be willing to sell. It is hard to believe, but thirty or so years ago, when coachbuilt prams began to go out of fashion people couldn't sell them at all. As a result a lot of them were dumped in fields or left at railway stations! I did ask at several charity shops if they ever got coachbuilt prams but I was told they no longer accept prams of any kind due to health and safety regulations!

Bedding

If you are planning on renovating a pram for use by a new baby then it must be thoroughly cleaned inside and out. The most important part is the interior bed. In older pram the bed liners were stuffed with different types of padding, imagine over the years how much bacteria has accumulated in this - a child being sick, spilt food, wet or soiled nappies on the bottoms of the babies. Makes you feel queasy doesn't it just thinking about the germs that could be lurking in the pram bedding. I am not talking about the mattress here, but the interior lining of the pram. Therefore if you are going to use a pram for a baby, it is best to replace the interior bed or at the very least give it a thorough clean with a bacteria killing cleaner, but not bleach! It makes me shudder when I see the new style prams with their fabric linings, how often do busy mums wash these I wonder? At least with a coachbuilt pram the vinyl interior linings are easily wiped clean.

E Bay

I check on E Bay almost daily to see if there are any new listings for coachbuilt prams. But that is all I do, look ! I just don't have space to store any more prams, being in the process of renovating two baby prams and a dolls pram, as well as the Kensington I bought for my grandchild. Yesterday when I was searching for coachbuilt prams I came across a listing for my book on restoring and renovating as an auction. As I only sell this as a Buy It Now I was somewhat confused until I read the details. Someone bought the book from me with the intention of renovating a pram for their expected baby but the baby came early so the pram never got finished. I am not sure whether to be flattered that my book is being sold secondhand on E Bay or not!

Wheels

If a pram wheel gets knocked against the pavement it can easily distort. The best thing to do if this happens is to remove the wheel and take it to a bicycle repair shop. Usually they will be able to straighten it. If the wheel is beyond repair you may have to buy a new one. Bear in mind that if the pram is old then a brand new wheel is going to look odd against the other three. In that case it might be better to look out for a secondhand wheel, they often come up for sale on E Bay. Another alternative is to buy a complete pram, at a cheap price, which is in need of a lot of restoration and use one of the wheels from this. You can then dismantle the remainder of the pram and sell the parts as spares.

Coachbuilt on Facebook!

If there are any Facebook members out there you might not know there is a group on there dedicated to coachbuilt prams! A good way to discuss any problems and share hints and tips or just to chat to someone else who shares your passion for prams.

worth the effort

If you have a wreck of a pram you may wonder if it is worth all the effort and hard work to make it look good again. But believe me, it is worth it, especially when other people remark on your efforts. As mentioned in an earlier post I have researched and written a small booklet, packed with hints and tips about renovating and restoring prams. The reason for doing this was because I knew there was nothing like that out there, yet a lot of people are doing up prams and I thought it would be handy to have a reference to look at without having to put the computer on and trawl through various sites. The book had to be cheap to produce and a handy size, not too big. It has sold really well on E Bay, and the feedback has been positive from people who have said how useful they have found the book. But there is always one isn't there! Last week a buyer left me negative feedback to say the book was not a book at all, but a pamphlet and she asked for a refund. Obviously I do not give refunds for something that could be sent for, copied and then returned. However, what really annoyed me was the person never made a mention of the useful information in the booklet, she was merely concerned with the actual look of the booklet not the content. Then lo and behold, a couple of days later another buyer left me positive feedback, saying how much they appreciated my hard work and effort. So the moral of this post is when you are feeling down and people tell you that you are never going to get that pram looking good, just carry on and when it is finished there will be lots of people who will tell you what a good job you have done, which makes it all worthwhile.

More help with chrome

The first thing to do with chrome is to give it a good wash using warm soapy water, this will immediately brighten it up after removing layers of accumulated dirt and grime. You will then be able to see if the rust is too bad to be cleaned up, or needs replacing (see my earlier post). Be careful when cleaning the chrome as most scouring pads are made of wire wool and will leave tiny scratches behind. If the rust is minimal you could try make a scrunchy out of acrylic knitting yarn, this is not as abrasive as brillo pads or other wire wool products. Another method is to use tinfoil, scrunched into a ball and dipped in white vinegar. Or yet another method, a brass brush dipped in white spirit. Halfords sell a product called Autosol which can also be used, but personally I found this did not help much with removing rust, but is great for polishing the chrome afterwards.

chrome on coachbuilt prams

When looking at your pram check the chrome to see if it can be cleaned up or needs rechroming. If the chrome is flaking then in lots of places then it is probably worth having it rechromed. Look in yellow pages to find companies who will do this, often there are car/motorcycle repair shops who might tackle this. Obtain an estimate first as rechroming is not cheap. I will shortly add other tips about how to clean up rusty chrome.

Repainting bodywork coachlines

If you are wanting to change the colour of the body of a pram, you must decide what to do about the coachlines. If you want to keep the original coachlines, these should be masked over with either masking tape or try painting on artists' masking fluid. Alternatively, you can paint the entire body and then put the coachlines on afterwards. You can buy strips of lines from car accessory shops, but these are peel off and may not be very durable. If you are going to try and paint the coachlines yourself, it is best to buy a special curved brush, called a sword liner, from an art shop. Practise lots of times on a piece of wood before tackling your pram, as there is a knack to painting coachlines. If you are not confident about repainting the body yourself then it is best to obtain a quote from a car bodyshop who might do the job for you. More information about painting bodywork is available in my book "Renovation and Restoration of coachbuilt prams" available on E Bay £5.95 plus p & p

Where are all the coachbuilt prams?

Where are all the coachbuilt prams? How long is it since you saw one being pushed out by a proud parent? Well, for me it was last year in North Yorkshire. As I strolled around the shops with my friend, (another pram enthusiast), out of the corner of my eye I glimpsed a coachbuilt pram being pushed towards us. "Look at that!" I exclaimed to my friend. She thought I meant something in a shop window, but then as the pram came nearer we were both drooling. It was a Wilson, made by Silver Cross, in beautiful condition and had the Wedgewood plaque on the side. Inside the pram was a very contented baby, reclining against the raised backrest and surveying the world. But back to my original question - where are all the coachbuilt prams? Are they lurking in someone's attic or garage or barn, forgotten about now there are no babies in the family? Or are they all being carefully cared for by those of us who used similar prams for our own babies and now use them for our grandchildren? I know some are used to display reborn dolls as well. So do let us know, where you have seen a coachbuilt pram or where do you keep yours and how often do you take it out.

WW2 events

I have been reading about  people who take part in World War 2 re-enactments. Not only do they dress in wartime uniforms, but there are also civilians and in particular mothers with babies. Of course if they have a real baby so much the better, but many use reborn dolls and wheel them around in vintage prams. It is fairly easy to determine the age of a pram and date it as either pre or post war. Before the war most pram bodies were made from wood. However during wartime the Silver Cross pram factory was commissioned and used to manufacture aeroplane parts. The company learnt different techniques from this and after the war their prams were made with aluminium bodies. Another interesting fact is that prams manufactured in the war years had no chrome on the wheels, instead they were painted. So if you have an old pram this might make it easier for you to find out how old it is. And if you enjoy wheeling out your pram, why not check out some websites to see what WW2 events are being held in your area this summer. I might pop along to some of these myself but first of all I shall have to find myself a vintage pram!!

overseas contacts for spare parts

If you live in USA and need parts for your pram then this contact may be able to help

www.silvercrossparts.com

The company is known as The Fixery and although I have not used them myself as I live in the UK, they are recommended by people living in The States.

It really is amazing how popular coachbuilt prams are, not just in the UK, but around the world. Keep checking the Blog for more overseas contacts.

pram tyres, rubber brake pads

If you are in need of new tyres or other parts for your pram, these may be obtainable from a highly recommended supplier in the Netherlands. The company is owned by Rudi, who is very helpful. His website is packed full of pictures of prams and a very useful and interesting resource. The website is www.ouderwetse-kinderwagens.nl