626 style sheet steel wardrobe
Wardrobe cabinet with
seat
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The 626 style Land Rover Dormobile
came standard with a steel wardrobe cabinet and a top hinged
flip up side facing seat. The wardrobe is 23-1/2
inches wide and 45 inches tall.
The inside of the metal cabinet is completely open except
for a hanger bar at the top. The inside of the door
comes standard with a plywood backed vanity mirror.
The wardrobe cabinet, like the kitchen cabinet and spice
rack is finished with silver hammerite paint.
There is a steel shelf welded to the outside right (rear
door facing) side. This shelf is for the upper
water bottle. There are two bevel edged horizontal wood strips that
are mounted on the side of the cabinet along side each of
the two water bottles to keep the bottles from rubbing the
paint off the wardrobe.
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Left: Standard
fitment fold up seat.
Right: Extra cost optional chemical toilet
Note that the cut out hole in the wardrobe is
the same size for each item.
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Here is a picture of the vanity mirror that is standard
fitment on the inside of the wardrobe door.
The mirror is 9 inches high and 10-1/2" wide and it mounted
to a 1/4 inch thick sheet of plywood with the metal brackets
as shown. The plywood is affixed to the door with four
short screws.
Note the wood rack below the mirror is a non-Dormobile add
on I installed in 1998 as a place to keep toiletries handy
for fast access. I have a second one sitting below the
first so I can keep four items handy. |
Here is a rear view of the wardrobe with the sheet metal
back panel removed.Since the potty or flip up seat is higher
than the Land Rover's side bench there is an internal cover
for that area as can be seen near the bottom. The
space enclosed by the flip up seat is great for storing tall
cerial boxes.
You can see the two rear cross braces. The upper one has
holes for mounting to the Land Rover's walls (see the next
picture below). This
is the upper wardrobe mount. |
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This picture of a cabinet on its side shows the wood slats that protect the cabinet finish from the plastic water bottles. You can also see the welded on shelf for the top bottle. The'L' channel bolts to the back of the hard top. The straps are for retaining the bottles.
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1966 Land Rover Dormobile right rear interior
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This picture shows the wardrobe's
built in hanger rod along with 3 of the special hangers |
Here is close up of a Land Rover Dormobile hanger. They
are plastic coated steel and come colour coded to help you know
whose clothes are whose.
Note the undersize top hook which nicely
fits the small diameter wardrobe hanger rod. |
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Standard top hinged seat: (Pictures
of the optional toilet are on their own page)
Fold up seat/step in lowered position. Seat measures 21-1/4" by
13-3/4" and is held in place by two hinges each set in 1-1/2
inches from the outside edge. The 1 inch dia hole centered 2 inches
from the bottom is used as a finger hold to lift the seat.
With the seat lifted up, you can see the seat frame which is an 'L' channel 1" high
and 1/2" across the base. The frame is 18-1/4" long, 11-1/4" wide
and is spot welded centered side to side under the seat top. The frame edge sits
1-1/2" from the hinged side of the top.
A
view of the seat/step underside with the legs extended. The top ends
of the legs are rounded. The tops of the mounted legs are slightly
wider than the bottom. The bottom edges of the seat top are also
rounded
Dormobile seat/step in the upright position sits upon two 1/2" dia
steel tube 'U' shaped legs. Each leg is 13-3/4" long and 10-1/2" wide
at the base. The ends are flattened at the last 1-1/4" for attachment
to the base frame. The seat takes up all the space between the wardrobe
frame members.
Here is a view of a seat leg rivet and one of the two nylon bottom
latches. The nylon friction latch keeps the seat from swinging in
the stowed position whilst off roading. The base of the catch is
screwed to the floor. This nylon latch is also used for the kitchen
cabinet broiler door.
Bottom left wardrobe mount and latch for wardrobe swing
down seat. The wood block sets the height to match
the latch on the seat. There is one latch on each
side of the swing down seat base. See the pictures above. |
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This is a close up of a standard Dormobile hinge used to hold the
door in position and throughout Dormobile furniture construction.
It is chrome plated steel 1-1/2" wide at the hinge pin and 3/4" wide.
It is held in place by pop rivets. A standard 626 Land Rover interior
uses 11 of these hinges.
Left: Chrome plated latch assembly used on both the ward robe
cabinet and the lower cooker door.
One was pop riveted to the top of the door as shown and a
second was pop riveted to the bottom of the door.
A standard configuration
626 Land Rover Dormobile uses 4 of these latches. The
optional chemical toilet uses a fifth. |
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The photos below show the inside of the Middleton/Britt 1969 NADA
Land Rover Dormobile. The interior cabinets are unusual because they
are wood with formica laminate. They mimic the sheet metal cabinets
that are commonly found in Dormobiles and were said to be installed
at the factory. The stove looks like a standard Martin Walter item
but the stainless steel sink and water faucet are not. Dormobile
conversions could be custom fabricated pre the owner's specifications
and some. like this one were.
The right hand cabinet is much taller and wider than the standard
sheet metal cabinet. Look at the right side of the cabinet-- It extends
to the rear wall of the vehicle, eliminating the area where the water
bottles would normally go. Inside the cabinet are several shelves,
providing more organized storage space than the regular sheet metal
cabinet illustrated below.
Water bottles:
The plastic water bottles usually grow brittle and crack with
age so are often missing out of Land Rover Dormobiles. Some owners
of Dormobiles go to great lengths to find original Dormobile accessories. With
Water bottles it is important to realize that Martian Walter purchased
their accessories ready made from other companies. It was more
a matter of what was offered at any time at a good price than having
an exact style.
There is no one
single correct bottle shape and fitting. They changed over
time and possibly if another supplier offered a sale. You will see
a number of variations in the pictures on this page. Use
the pictures below as a reference and if you are going to actually
use your Dormobile for camping, you might be better off with new
bottles that look approximately like the pictures than old ones than
one that are identical to the pictures and cracks the first time
you try to use them full.
Both 3 gallon and five gallon water bottles were available. Some Dormobiles had two three gallon, some two five gallon and some with a three gallon bottle at top and a five gallon at the bottom. It is possible that the three gallon size was offered for people who would have trouble lifting full five gallon bottles. One bottle came with a spigot mounted on the lower end and one came without a spicket. Some bottles had red lids and some had the white translucent lid.
Here are some water bottle pictures:
Side view of lower water bottle with spout.
Diagonal view
Water bottle top
Here is a close up of the valve
that is fitted to one of the Land Rover Dormobile water containers. Usually
the bottles are identical except this valve is attached to
one. The
container with the valve is intended for bottom storage. The
top bottle is usually fitted with a pour spout camp. |
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Here is a picture of the pour
spout attached to the top water bottle. The spout comes
in three pieces, the cap, a removable spout and a disk that
mounts in place of the spout to keep the water in place. |
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Looking down inside the spout
you can see an air channel for smother pouring. |
Here is the underside of the water bottle cap with
the spout removed and a blocking cap in place. |
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This photo shows the water bottles in place. Earlier Land
Rover Dormobiles came with a two gallon upper bottle and a
five gallon lower bottle with spout. Later Land Rover
Dormobiles came with two 3 gallon bottles, one with a
drain spout. Some 1970's Land Rover Dormobiles had only a single
water bottle with the space above it converted to additional
storage. All
the bottles were made of a food grade white translucent plastic.
There appear to have been variations in the bottles as different
molds were used to make them over time. They
may also have been sourced from multiple venders.
The lower bottle sat on the side bench and the upper bottle
sat on a steel shelf welded to the side of the wardrobe. For
each water bottle there are two horizontal wood spacers screwed
into the side of the wardrobe to keep the bottles from rubbing
the paint off. The edges of the wood spacers are beveled.
White cotton straps with steel buckles held the bottles into
place. |
When the Dormobile is equipped with a refrigerator the shelf for
the top bottle is secured to the back and side of the roof sides.
Picture
showing location of original water bottles.
Lower water storage area in a 1960's Land Rover Dormobile
showing the mounting straps and wood slats. The
wood slats keep the bottle from rubbing the paint off the wardrobe. |
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These
two pictures show the top water bottle mount. The rubber
pad is an owner add on. The steel platform that the water bottle
rests on is welded to the side of the wardrobe. The
'L' channel is bolted to the rear of the Land Rover
There are close ups of the securing strap hardware lower on
this page. |
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Newer water bottle support on a 1972 Land Rover Dormobile |
This picture shows the newer
design water bottle mounting rack. The water bottles
are boxed in providing better back end support for the upper
bottle shelf and there is a metal brace added to the outside
to help keep the bottles in place if they are not strapped
down.
Note: the four screw heads that hold the mirror in place on
the inside of the wardrobe door are plainly visible in the
picture. The lock hasp is an owner add on. |
This wardrobe is in a 1974
Land Rover Dormobile. Notice the water bottle area on the right
side. The bottom is open for a single water bottle. The
top is extra storage space. |
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Water bottle attachment straps
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Each water bottle was held in place by a 1-1/4 inch wide
white cotton strap. The side with the buckle is 12 inches
long. The
buckle is galvanized steel and is held onto the cotton strap by
2 rivets. |
The strap is anchored to the side of the wardrobe cabinet
by a single pop rivet and pop rivet washer through an aluminium
end piece.
The aluminium end piece is 1-1/4 X 2 inches folded into a
'U' shape over the end of the strap. The end piece on
the strap that came on my Dormobile kit is painted with Silver
Hammerite. |
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More Land Rover Dormobile Features:
Badges | Seats | Kitchen | Refrigerator | Toilet | External
options | Other
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