Devonmoonraker Sales Brochure

The 1978 Moonraker in detail

Rather than just reproduce the sales brochure in its entirety, I will try to describe in a little more detail some of the points that I have observed. You can find a full copy here. This also includes information on the Devon Sundowner, another type of Devon Design, which is sometimes confused with the Moonraker. 1978 saw a new design Devon Moonraker for sale. Devon Conversions Ltd. produced a new sales brochure in May of that year. It's full of lots and lots of nice period sales photographs. Great as reference material if you are doing a restoration project on your own Moonraker. The colours are something to die for, my God! I can remember starting Art Collage around this time, Brown and Cream where the "in colours". The big bold designs reflect the sense of optimism after the strikes of the mid 70's.	1978 Devon Sales Brochure
This is the general layout of the Moonraker, were possible I shall use the original illustration numbers as a text reference. (i.e (D3) = By day, sink) The buddy seat (D6) and the rock and roll bed (D9 & D11) cushions that we see in todays vans are a very faded shadows of the original colour. In a few places where I had removed the frame on the buddy seat, the orange was very bright and not that faded dirty brown colour that most of us have. I mean really "in your face" orange! If the thickness of the original cushion that we found in Katy were anything to go by, then your cushions will be the same. They started out in life being 4 inches thick, but with time have rotted down to 2 inches or so.
	There is plenty of cupboard space in the Moonraker. Two draws under the cooker (D3). One for eating tools and the other, well that holds all those bits of junk the wife thinks she may need. Below these, are two cupboards ideal for storing those essential tinned and dry goods. Like Ry-king, Quosh, biscuits, peas and beans. Next to these cupboards is a large locker (D8), that our "advert" family use to store their plates, cups, jugs and washing up liquid. Notice the wire basket, this was part of the supplied kit for this locker. How many have survived the test of time.
	We think that the fridge (D3) in Katy had been fitted at a later date. The panel above it had been hacked about to allow extra switches to be fitted. A flue vent hole had been crudely cut out of Katys side panel, then a plastic domestic vent cover had been fitted to allow heat and excess gases to escape from the van. Devon had offered a fridge as an optional extra. Normally a cool box was fitted behind a matching cupboard door. Our fridge is a two way job, 12v and gas. Electric for when you are driving and gas when stopped or camping for any length of time. As you can see from the picture they will hold a fair bit. You can even make ice in the freezer compartment. The down side is that they will only work properly when within 3° of level. Standard fittings included the stainless steel sink unit with electric Labcraft water pump and a 7 gallon water tank slung under the van. The filler cap is located behind the passenger seat (D2). The pump is housed in the bottom cupboard under the gas hob (D4). The switch is located on the panel above the fridge/cool box (D3).
The two ring hob has a built in stainless steel splash guard that folds neatly away after use (D4). I have seen at least two variations of this guard. Ours, pictured here, and another that is attached to the brown work surface and hinges back on itself. The hob has two gas burners and a grill, just right for that early morning hot chocolate with toast. The hob really works very well for its size.
	The gas bottle was originally stored in the small locker found under the larger locker (D8, D9), with a door just in front of the rock and roll bed. You can just see this on a picture of Katy's interior. The bottle is connected via rubber pipe to a copper pipe and gas tap. The rubber pipe should be change at least every couple of years. They are date stamped when they are made, do not confuse this with the date of the regulations which is also printed on the pipe (1991). Devon anticipated that most users would be using a smaller gas bottle then the ones most of us use today. Ours is a 14kg bottle that sits in a hole that had been cut between the upper and lower lockers.
The rear seat pulls out flat to form a bed, commonly known as a "rock and roll bed"(D9, N1, N2). In the Moonraker it's a 3/4 width bed, O.K. for two small adults or one big bloke. It's a bit tight but comfortable to sleep on. The bedding is kept in a locker under the seat formed by the "rock and roll bed" when not in use. When the "pop top" is up, two more berths can be found in the roof space in the form of two child size bunk beds (N2). An optional extra was an over cab bunk (N6) that clips to the window pillars, a fifth bed. O.K. for a child, extra storage while camping or use it as we do, our two dogs love it up there.
	To the rear of the van is a side cupboard with door,(D10) this is large, allowing you to store all your togs in, Wendy and I are able to store at least a weeks worth of clean togs in this cupboard. Then at the very back are three pigeon holes, very useful for spare shoes and bits and bobs etc. The lower hole, in Katy, houses a consumer unit for the 240v electric's. It has 4 sockets and a trip switch. This is very useful for when you are on a camping site with electric hook-up. On a prolonged stay we take a fan heater, small micro wave, radio and lamps. On average it costs about Ł2.00 per night so you may as well use it. The hook up itself is sited inside the engine bay, all you have to do is undo the engine bay lid and plug one end of your cable in and run the other end to the power point. We use a standard 30m caravan cable. Just watch that you do not over load the hook-up, otherwise you have to call out the site manager to switch you on again! And before I get any comments that this is not standard, you are right, but it is useful.
Above the side cupboard is the top locker (D11), although not very tall it is wide and deep. It has a hinged front that acts as a shelf for a free standing mirror if you need it. Slung under the top locker is the table top (D12). This sits in two metal runners and a latch keeps it from flying out if you hit the brakes too hard. The table leg is a steel tube that fits into a hole in the middle of the floor when in use (D7). The table top has a cast aluminum attachment on the under side to fit the top end of the table leg. These fitting are the same design that are still available from caravan shops today, if it works, don't mess with it! Devon, when they put the tables into a van, did not allow a space for storing the table leg. Over the years many people have used various methods to do this. When we first had Katy, someone had cut up some drain pipe and screwed it the side of the wardrobe behind the passenger seat. The leg then slide in to it. Only problem was, it was in the way when you tried to walk through to the cab. Our solution was to buy 4 clips that are designed to fit the leg, these I screwed to the front of the rock and roll bed locker.
	Well, I only used two clips for the leg and the other two I used for a fire extinguisher that also fits on to the same surface. This makes two extinguisher's and a fire blanket that we carry in Katy. Better safe then sorry! The last bit of kit that Devon fitted was the cupboard/wardrobe (D6) that sits behind the passenger seat. This was designed as a wardrobe for those posh frocks and suits that people did dress up with, in the 1970's. But today's people are more casual in their dress code, so we converted it to a food and general storage cupboard by added two shelves. This brings us to the buddy seats (D6), these are a couple of seats that fold out of the way. The main seat is attached to the wardrobe and swings down towards the back of the van. And the second seat hooks onto the side of this. Many van's do not have the attaching seat, that is because they are a removable item and get lost or are not passed on to the next owner. Ours was missing, so I managed to find one off the Internet via a private sale. These seats are useful when you use the table, it means four can sit around it. It's a bit tight but friendly.
The Moonraker floor had a removable "Toning" brown carpet, which had long gone from Katy. Under this is a brown and cream vinyl floor. The floor and the pop top roof where insulated with polystrene. The Kombi has four large windows in the passenger area and the off side front has a double louvre for fresh air ventilation. These are particularly good on very hot days as you can get a good draft going, it also helps when you are cooking to vent these burnt food smells. (You do not know my cooking skills or rather the lack of them.)
	The Moonraker was available with or without the Devon elevating roof that was later known as the "Pop top". On the late Devons the roof was a one piece fibreglass top with polystrene insulation and a carpet covered headlining that matched the side panels. The picture above shows a normal late Devon pop top, it was also available as a full length version (Double Top). A Labcraft fluorescent light was fitted in the centre of the "pop top" with two small round air vents on either side towards to rear of the van. They are the two mushroom looking objects on top of the roof. The roof is held up with spring loaded tubes and locks into place in the up or down position with small metal clips at each corner. The roof skirt is made of a stripped vinyl cloth that matches the van's paint work. How many van's have been painted a different colour without this cloth being changed. Don't they look odd! You can now buy replacement cloth to the colours you want.
Finally Devon offered optional extras which included: Refrigerator (12volt and Gas) Side Step Cab Hammock Elevating roof (Which included the two bunk beds) Drive Away Tent. Check out the 1971 Motent Leaflet. One other item I have not covered is the spare wheel, Devon's solution was to use a bracket off the back bumper which allowed the wheel to swing down. This allowed you to get to the engine compartment. This was not a popular way to carry the spare and most, like Katy's found their way to the front of the Van.