1960 cocktail van ‘Frankie’ ready to shake up Townsville event scene
Transforming a 60-year-old mobile coffee caravan into a sophisticated cocktail bar has been a wild ride for two Townsville bartenders.
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Transforming a 60-year-old mobile coffee caravan into a sophisticated cocktail bar has been a wild ride for two Townsville bartenders.
Cody Coulton and Alex Jones launched The Vintage Bar Co. on Melbourne Cup Day after breathing new life into a 1960 vintage Furness caravan. After the duo found the Australian-made caravan in Melbourne at the start of the year, they invested $10,000 into transforming the 4.26m mobile home, affectionately known as “Frankie’’.
Mr Coulton said it took six months to launch The Vintage Bar Co.
“We wanted to keep Frankie as original as possible so it did involve taking off a lot of the old wood and sanding it down and bringing it back to her glory,” he said.
“There was definitely a lot of Bunnings trips and it was about giving Frankie some tender loving care and Botox.”
Mr Coulton said he was “excited for people to see Frankie and to fall in love with her like we did”.
“We are in a time where vintage is really coming back in style so it is the perfect time to put a van out there that is actually vintage.”
Furness caravans were originally manufactured in the 1950s and were specially made for Holden cars. Frankie was the 837th caravan made by Furness Caravans.
Travelling as far south as Bowen and as far north as Ingham, Mr Coulton said bookings were flooding in for the new year.
“There is nothing else like Frankie out there in Townsville and she will be great for rural and backyard weddings,” he said.
Originally published as 1960 cocktail van ‘Frankie’ ready to shake up Townsville event scene