Download - restore old/vintage/Silvercross coach pram

If anyone would like a copy of this booklet as a download version it is available by e mailing me at lucygracewriter@hotmail.com

The price is £5.95 but I require payment by Paypal preferably please before the file will be sent.

I also sell the booklet on EBay but will not be listing any until after 10th July, price £5.95 plus p & p

recovering pram handle

I feel as thought I have really achieved something, even though it was such a simple task! I have removed the old plastic covering from my dolly pram handle and replaced it with new. This was SO easy!!!! I have a heat gun, but a hairdryer will do just as well, so used this to melt the old handle covering. The middle part had already been removed so it was just the end parts, where the handle is grooved. Once the heat started to melt the plastic it simply peeled off. A couple of stubborn pieces did require a knife underneath to help remove, but it was all so easy. I then rubbed down the wooden handle until it was nice and smooth, then slipped the handle into a new plastic sleeve of covering. You can buy this from E Bay but a very kind lady gave me some of hers, it is on a roll but have no idea of cost. Anyway once the sleeve was in place I simply heated it with the heat gun and it melted into place and formed itself around the handle! It was incredible to see what was happening. So if you have a pram handle that is in poor condition, do recover it and it will be as good as new. The only downside is that the manufacturer's logo will not be on the new piece, unless this has been engraved into the wooden handle (which it hadn't on my pram). I would have liked to take a video of the process but unfortunately handling a heat gun with one hand and the plastic with the other didn't give me the opportunity. WORD OF WARNING - be careful not to burn yourself when using the heat gun or hairdryer and keep your fingers well out of the way of the heat.

sunny days

What beautiful weather it has been lately, and how nice it was the other day to see a young mum out with her baby in a coachbuilt pram, complete with canopy!!!! The baby looked so content sitting up and watching everything that was going on and the mum looked so happy, almost bursting with pride at being able to give her baby "The Best" by getting a coachbuilt. I didn't get chance to stop and congratulate her on her choice of pram as I was stopped at traffic lights, but there were lots of people looking on in envy and admiration. So much better than the other babies that had cardigans draped over the hoods of their buggies to keep the sun off. How claustrophobic that must be for the poor little mites. Or those silly little parasols that never seem to stay in place or give much protection from the sun. Maybe the hot weather will make people think how best to protect their babies and realise a good old fashioned canopy is the best way.

Pram Hood Fabric

The fabric I bought on Sunday is so easy to sew, I am not the world's best needlwoman but I am really looking forward to this project. I obtained the fabric from the same supplier (see my previous post) as the leather straps. Great value for money! I can highly recommend classicalbabyprams, they also advertise on E Bay but you can order direct from their website.

straps

I needed new leather straps for the chassis of my Wedgwood pram and searched on the internet to find good quality at a reasonable price. I ordered from Classical Baby Prams www.classicalbabyprams.weebly.com

The straps arrived this morning and I am delighted with them, beautiful sturdy leather and excellent value for money. So if you are wanting straps to hold the body of your pram onto the chassis then I can highly recommend this company. I sent my order and it was delivered within a few days.

Pram display

Today I have been to a display of vintage prams at Harewood House in Leeds, it was wonderful to see so many prams of different makes and styles. The comments from people as we walked around pushing the prams were amazing, memories of happy baby days were certainly stirred. One lady was upset that the Pram Society were not going to walk their prams around the arena and display them like they were doing with the classic cars. The weather was gorgeous and the grounds of Harewood were packed, and it was good that there was something of interest for the ladies who had accompanied their car mad male partners. There are more events throughout the UK where pram enthusiasts take their prams to display, so do go along to one near you and have a great time chatting to other prammies as well as an enjoyable stroll with your pram. Whilst I was there I bought some fabric to renew the hood and apron on my dolls' pram, it is from Jackie Burnett in East Yorkshire, and is of excellent quality and a very reasonable price, Highly recommended if you need fabric for your own pram.

one job leads to another......

I set out today with good intentions of removing the old plastic from the dolls pram handle. However, I became sidetracked and decided to take the pram wheels off first. The first two were easy to remove, I simply inserted a thin screwdriver under each hubcab until it loosened, then removed the split pin underneath and the wheels slid off. The other two were somewhat more difficult! The first one had a split pin which didn't want to move but with a little persuasion it did come free eventually. The last wheel had no split pin (and also no hub cap which I hadn't noticed before), instead a nail had been bent and put through. I managed to straighten the nail and pull it out. The wheels are over 50 years old and the tyres look quite brittle but I decided to try and clean them up so off they went into the dishwasher. In the meantime, having forgotten about the handle, I sanded down the bodywork ready to paint. By that time the dishwasher had finished and out came four very clean wheels! BUT the downside of this was that I had to clean the dishwasher out as it smelled of rubber and there was some residue in the bottom. Ah well, an afternoon well spent, even if I didn't get the plastic replaced on the handle. I am off to do that now....!

pram handle

Today I am going to recover the handle on my doll's pram. The old white sleeve has been removed in the middle part but the end parts are still on. I have been told to use a heat gun to remove the old sleeve the rub down the wood to make sure it is smooth. Then it is just a matter of putting on the new sleeve and using a hairdryer to shrink it to a tight fit. Sounds easy? I will let you know if it is!

"VIcky" dolls pram

this is a picture of the dolls pram as it would have looked when it was new, called "Vicky" it was bought for my cousin in the early 1950's and still has the original pram shop label on the back. It cost 12 guineas new.

wheels

Now I have been shown how to remove the old type wheels (not the ones with the clip on hubcaps) I am going to have a go at removing the wheels from my dolls pram, then I shall put them in the dishwasher. Hope they are not too old and worn that they disintegrate, but putting them in the dishwasher takes out a lot of the hard scrubbing if you try to clean them yourself.  This is a picture of the dolls pram in the state it was in when I rescued it from my relative's garage. As you can see the hood and apron are in tatters, having been nibbled by mice and the handles and chassis have been painted with hammerite! The handles have now gone for rechroming but I shall have to repaint the rest of the pram and recover the handle (more on this later).

decisions!!!

Yesterday I met up with another pram enthusiast and we spent a lovely afternoon talking prams and sorting out my Wedgwood. We decided the chrome is beyond cleaning up so it has been sent off for rechroming now. I had struggled with taking off the wheels myself but with the right equipment and know-how this turned out to be quite simple! Just ease a tack lifter around the rim of the hubcap until it lifts, then insert the tack lifter and tap with a small hammer until the hub cap lifts off. Easy when you know how!

searching this site

Just a reminder, if you are looking for something in particular on this blog, then go to the top of the page and in the box at the top left hand side, type in a keyword, for example "rust", and it will take you to the relevant page on the blog.

rechroming quote

I am still trying to clean up the wheels myself and may resort to painting them in "country style" to match the bodywork instead of having them rechromed. The tyres are probably good for a lot more miles yet and if I have the wheels rechromed the tyres will have to be removed and will probaby need replacing. I really want to keep the pram as original as possible. So it could be that I will just have the handles rechromed and hopefully clean up the rest. The handles are very pitted with rust and this is the only thing to do with them I feel.

A friend suggested I try to sand down the chrome to make it smooth enough to paint so I might try that if all efforts to clean off the rust fail. 

hood and apron Wedgwood

Unfortunately the Wedgwood had been stored with the hood down and the apron not fastened, so there was no way they were going to go into place as they were. The fabric had stiffened with age and trying to put the hood up was tricky as it put the fabric in danger of splitting. The hood arms are very nice original ones but they wouldn't move either.

I tried to get the hood arms to move using WD40 but it did nothing, so someone recommended trying Dismantling fluid which is used in engineering and car maintenance. I bought some on E Bay and lo and behold it did the trick and the hood arms moved!

But the hood remained firmly stuck! On a sunny afternoon I wheeled the pram into the garden and soaked the hood and apron in warm soapy water, with lots of fabric conditioner in there too. I scrubbed the liquid over the hood and apron then rinsed it all off thoroughly with clean water, I actually used a hose pipe for this but you have to be careful no water gets into the interior of the pram. Says a lot for the old hoods and aprons, they are certainly waterproof because not a drop got inside the pram!

A friend helped me stretch the apron onto all its fasteners around the pram bed, this was hard work but we managed. We then struggled to put up the hood and managed that too. I then left the pram outside in the breeze to dry off and once that was done I was able to put the hood up and down with no problems.

However, unfortunately at the back of the hood some of the fabric has come away, but I am going to patch this up. More on this in my next post.

rusty wheels

Not a very clear picture, but an idea of the state of the wheels

chrome

I have really been struggling with trying to remove the rust from the wheels on the Wedgwood pram. I have tried all the tips from using aluminium foil to a brass brush, also tried Autosol and rust removers, none of them have made much impact on the second wheel. The first one has cleaned up reasonably well. I thought the only solution might be to get the wheels rechromed, but that would mean removing all the spokes and the tyres. As the tyres are old I think they would crumble if removed, whereas they probably have several miles of use left in them as they are. I shall persevere trying to get rid of the rust on the wheels, but have decided to obtain a quote for having the handles and the hood arms rechromed and have found a company a couple of miles from my home who is going to give me an estimate.

Renovation of Wedgwood pram

I am currently restoring a beautiful Wilson Wedgwood pram. These prams were made from around 1959 until 1965 by Silver Cross of Guiseley, Leeds. Special permission was obtained from the Wedgwood pottery company to use their plaque on the side of the pram. The one on my pram is oval in pale blue, a typical Wedgwood colour the Wedgwood Blue. The plaques were also available in green or lilac, but I have never seen either.

Unfortunately this beautiful pram has been stored for many years in a garage, with the hood down and the apron removed. The handle had also been removed. The chrome on the wheels is very rusty, flaking and pitted, this is going to take a lot of work to clean it up and it may even have to be rechromed. 

To date I have spent two whole days cleaning up the chrome on one wheel for it to have made any significant difference. I will update on a regular basis of the progress.

This pram is worth restoring, but I want to keep it as original as possible and not resort to having parts replaced if they can be cleaned up and restored. Keep checking back for more progress.