When Robert Aernout bought a distinctive 1936 International C1 van for his lamp shop in 2015, it quickly became a familiar sight around town. A little over a year after he bought it, however, a key bearing in the engine failed.
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After 18 months in Canberra with little progress on the repairs, the van was sent to a specialist workshop in Ballarat where it underwent a major mechanical overhaul and then another spell off the road while vital spare parts were sourced from the US.
The van, one of only 74,000 made by International Harvester Company, was brought to Australia from the US in the late 1930s and has had an interesting past, including brushes with fame. It featured as an ‘extra’ in a Melbourne-based film about Marilyn Monroe and more recently it was prominent in a government Environment and Planning brochure for the south-east region.
While the red van with its old style lettering is a popular feature in town, underneath the Lamp Shop’s lettering, the original signage can just be made out indicating its past life as a Melbourne delivery van.
Back in Braidwood again, this grand lady is back on the road and running as well as ever.
