Author of the book and volunteer Chris Garrod described what it was like to drive it.
“Noisy! It’s one of those vehicles that has no indicators, no seatbelts and it misbehaves,” he said.
“It’ll go around 40 odd miles an hour, so it’s not a slow machine, but it’s not the most comfortable of rides.
“It’s had an amazing time. It worked as a baker’s van, a confectioner’s van and went round the whole of London.”
The van was bought by the museum at auction in 2012 and it has become one of its prize assets.
Stuart Wright, chairman of the museum, said: “We can’t take the museum on the road but we do take the van out with our platoon of lookalikes and they’re well received. People love having their photo taken beside it.”
Regarding the work he added: “Is it something that we thought might be coming at some point? Not to this extent.
“We try and have it serviced once a year, which obviously keeps us ship-shape, but obviously it’s all come as a perfect storm this year and needed to be done.”
The Dad’s Army Museum is open now until the end of November.