{"id":573275,"date":"2026-05-08T17:14:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T17:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/573275\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T17:14:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T17:14:08","slug":"dads-army-museum-in-thetford-repairs-corporal-jones-van","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/573275\/","title":{"rendered":"Dad&#8217;s Army Museum in Thetford repairs Corporal Jones&#8217; van"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n  Corporal Jones\u2019 van, which featured in the classic BBC sitcom, recently needed more than \u00a310,000 of repairs after structural issues were found during a routine service.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The 1935 Ford BB box van, owned by Lance Corporal Jones in the show and now based at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.edp24.co.uk\/lifestyle\/20705871.dont-panic-revisiting-days-dads-army-filmed-norfolk\/?ref=ed_direct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Dad\u2019s Army Museum<\/a> in Thetford, was made roadworthy thanks to the repairs, but the cost has drained the museum\u2019s reserves.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   width=\"100%\" alt=\"Don't Panic! - The Dad's Army Museum is fundraising after Corporal Jones' butcher's van was hit with a \u00a310.000 repair bill. \/\/ The 91-year-old van featured in the hit comedy depicting the hapless Home Guard volunteers during WWII. It was owned by Lance-Corporal Jones during the show which ran from 1968 and now lives at The Dad's Army Museum. Jones was famous for his catchphrase 'Don't Panic!'.\"\/>The van lives at the Dad&#8217;s Army Museum in Thetford (Image: Dad&#8217;s Army Museum \/ SWNS)\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Museum chairman Stuart Wright, 61, said: &#8220;We don&#8217;t want a static vehicle stuck in a museum.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  &#8220;We want to get out and share the love with the public \u2013 we are guardians of a national treasure.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The volunteer-run museum is now appealing for donations to cover the repair costs and keep the vehicle on the road.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Mr Wright said: &#8220;The service looked at it stringently and found issues with the van\u2019s structural integrity.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  &#8220;The parts had to all be made as she\u2019s 91 years old.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   width=\"100%\" alt=\"Don't Panic! - The Dad's Army Museum is fundraising after Corporal Jones' butcher's van was hit with a \u00a310.000 repair bill. \/\/ The 91-year-old van featured in the hit comedy depicting the hapless Home Guard volunteers during WWII. It was owned by Lance-Corporal Jones during the show which ran from 1968 and now lives at The Dad's Army Museum. Jones was famous for his catchphrase 'Don't Panic!'.\"\/>Much of the sitcom was filmed in Thetford (Image: Dad&#8217;s Army Museum \/ SWNS)\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  &#8220;It cost a lot of money in terms of time and materials.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  &#8220;We normally allow between \u00a31,000 to \u00a32,000 for repairs.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  &#8220;This year it was a bitter pill to swallow but a necessary evil.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The museum purchased the van in 2012 for \u00a363,100.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  In 2016, it appeared in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.edp24.co.uk\/lifestyle\/23046460.dads-army-norfolk-filming-locations-named-among-bbcs-iconic-places\/?ref=ed_direct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Dad\u2019s Army<\/a> film.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   width=\"100%\" alt=\"Don't Panic! - The Dad's Army Museum is fundraising after Corporal Jones' butcher's van was hit with a \u00a310.000 repair bill. \/\/ The 91-year-old van featured in the hit comedy depicting the hapless Home Guard volunteers during WWII. It was owned by Lance-Corporal Jones during the show which ran from 1968 and now lives at The Dad's Army Museum. Jones was famous for his catchphrase 'Don't Panic!'.\"\/>The museum is run by volunteers (Image: Dad&#8217;s Army Museum \/ SWNS)\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Repairs included new wheel bearings, steering linkage and attention to a fuel leak.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The rear axle clamps had also eroded from the bodywork.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The Dad\u2019s Army Museum opened in 2007.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  It was launched after years of volunteer-led walking tours around Thetford, where much of the show was filmed, and now attracts 10,000 visitors a year.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Donations can be made via the GoFundMe page.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Corporal Jones\u2019 van, which featured in the classic BBC sitcom, recently needed more than \u00a310,000 of repairs after&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":573276,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[96,391,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-573275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=573275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/573276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}