SilverCross Equerry

In Autumn 2008 I was approached by Natalie, who had found an old SilverCross pram on a tip and had bought it for £10 with the intention of having it renovated and so she emailed me for a quote. I itemised all the jobs which would need doing and Natalie was happy with the quote so her husband delivered the pram to me in September. The following photos show the condition of the pram at the start of the project.

The first job was to strip everything down to the individual components and sort out what needed to be done ie. rechroming, spraying, replacing etc. We made several different piles of bits and pieces and made sure we kept the nuts, bolts, washers, split pins etc so we would know what sizes we would need when it came to reassembling the pram.

I took the body, chassis and brake assembly to my friend Dave and gave him strict instructions as to the colour Natalie had chosen for her new pram - a lovely ivory - and he said it would be ready in about 2 weeks. Then I went over to the rechromer in Walsall and gave him the box of bits to work his magic on. However, it was at this point that the problems started! He shook his head and said "The wheel hubs will have to be taken to pieces, I can't rechrome them with the bearings inside" - "But you did it last time!" I said. He was adamant, he couldn't do it unless I took the bearings out of the hubs and I had the feeling he just didn't want the job. So I brought the hubs home with me and asked Norman if he could take them to pieces. He also shook his head and said he didn't think it could be done without destroying the hub, but he knew a mate who would tell him for sure. Mark confirmed what Norman had said so I was at a loss to know what to do next. However, Mark's boss had seen us discussing the problem and came across and gave us the name of a rechromer he uses and advised us to go to him. The next day Norman collected the rest of the bits I had left in Walsall and told the rechromer that we wouldn't be needing his services after all!

Next day I went to see Kirk, the guy who had been recommended to us, and lo and behold! he said "No problem! I'll have them done in two weeks time!" I was so overwhelmed with gratitude I very nearly kissed him!! Two weeks later and true to his word he telephoned me to say everything was ready. He had made a wonderful job of everything and he didn't charge me an arm and a leg!

I had also collected the body and chassis from Dave and was now ready to tackle the upholstery.

When this was finished I then gave Natalie a selection of designs which I thought she may like painted on the side of the pram. We tried roses:-

We tried Ivy:-

We tried Marguerites:-

But Natalie had her heart set on Polka Dots - so Polka Dots it had to be!!!

My daughter Jeananne is the artist in the family so I gave her the job of painting the spots on the side of the pram - she quite enjoyed it too!

Then it was back to the sewing machine and the hood and apron was made, in the Marimo type fabric which gives a lovely dense black colour, rather than the shiny black achieved with hopsack.

Whilst all this was going on, I had taken the newly chromed wheel rims and the hubs down to Lynda for her to take to her "bike Man" Mick for him to respoke and balance. Natalie had asked for the pram to be ready before Christmas and I thought I might just make it. However, when Lynda called Mick to check on the progress of the respoking he told her he was overwhelmed with bike wheels in readiness for the Christmas market. This put all the plans for the Christmas delivery on hold, which was quite disappointing, but Natalie was quite happy just to see the photographs of our progress.

Lynda tried Mick several times over the next couple of weeks to get the wheels ready but he was still overwhelmed with work.

Whilst I was moving some of Jeananne's belongings from under the bed in the spare room (she has recently moved to her own apartment) I happened upon a set of rechromed wheels, the same size as the wheels we were waiting for!! Hallelujah, I could get the wheels ready after all, so I got them out and found the spokes and relaced one of the wheels but couldn't balance it. At this point, Norman said he would try a local bike shop and see if they could help us out, and as luck would have it they didn't have a lot of work on so they took all the wheels, relaced and balanced them and we put them on the chassis. However, our euphoria was soon dampened! The antique SilverCross hubcaps belonging to the pram, and which were so beautifully rechromed, wouldn't fit on the wheels, they would only take the Wilson hubcaps so the wheels I had found couldn't be used after all.

But because we had found someone to respoke the wheels we decided to collect the original wheels from Mick and bring them back home, get them respoked and balanced locally and the pram would, at long last, be ready with all her own fittings!

I also discovered the name of the model, she is a SilverCross Equerry circa 1953/55!

Lovely new Straps and buckles