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Xtremjeepn
Samba Member
Joined: October 21, 2012
Posts: 1539
Location: Colorado
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 Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2015 8:11 am Post subject: EuroVanGogh.....from "parts van" to "Arts Van |
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A while back a guy showed up on my door step with TWO Eurovans. One was a low mileage hardtop MV that he wanted converted to a poptop Weekender. Turned out to be one VERY sweet van when done!!
The second van was a teal 1993 Westfalia that was supposed to be the donor van for the interior trim and poptop parts. When I saw the "parts van" I just couldn't bring myself to tearing it apart! After all, he DROVE it 600 miles to bring it to me! I've torn apart many used up, rusted out, crashed, end of life vans to make my conversions. This van was none of the above. It needed some love for sure, but not "pull the plug" on it type of love.
I dug out another complete top swap I had been saving and used that to convert the 2003. Thus leaving the 1993 van intact. No idea what I was going to do with it at the time.
Here is a touch of what looked like when I got it.
Soon, A deal was struck to recycle this van into a mobile art studio van for a San Diego artist.
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Xtremjeepn
Samba Member
Joined: October 21, 2012
Posts: 1539
Location: Colorado
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| Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2015 8:29 am Post subject: |
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Of course the first thing to do was to drive this 181K mile van around for awhile and dig through the 2" thick pile of receipts to see if it really was a good van!
Digging through the pile of receipts (and making a spread sheet out of them) shows that this van was actually very well taken care of mechanically. All we really need to do is catch it up on a few items like timing belt/pulleys/waterpump/ fix AC, Trans service, etc.
Most of the real issues are just cosmetic.
After totally gutting the van, I loaded up a KTM and drove the van off to the body shop to have all the rust properly repaired, dents removed and fresh paint put on it.
New vinyl flooring went in, the front seat bases were painted with the van to match. The white VW grill logo is a teaser on what is next.
Fortunately, I have been able to track down, or had, all good interior parts to replace the broken or worn bits.
New 3 window top bring installed.
A little message from the artist on my door step.
She also came over and spent a few hours painting on the floor of the Eurovan with her grand daughter. A mural that would ultimately get covered up by the vinyl flooring, but a fun activity and little secret between grandma and grand daughter.
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61Scout
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Joined: November 06, 2011
Posts: 1297
Location: Shoreline/Yakima WA
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Xtremjeepn
Samba Member
Joined: October 21, 2012
Posts: 1539
Location: Colorado
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| Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2015 8:38 am Post subject: |
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Haha, That's "Samba" the Aussie is one of my 3 sidekicks that goes everywhere. 
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Xtremjeepn
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Joined: October 21, 2012
Posts: 1539
Location: Colorado
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Xtremjeepn
Samba Member
Joined: October 21, 2012
Posts: 1539
Location: Colorado
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| Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2015 7:39 am Post subject: |
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Lots more fun stuff planned for this van! But since it was out in the sun yesterday getting new tires I figured I'd take a few progress photos.
Still have some painting and vinyl to do before the cosmetics are done.
Here you can see the brand new 3 window tent, the fresh 16" steels in white. Soon to have color matched teal center caps.
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Xtremjeepn
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Joined: October 21, 2012
Posts: 1539
Location: Colorado
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| Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2015 8:46 am Post subject: |
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Not done yet. But getting closer.
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debbiej
Samba Member
Joined: December 14, 2008
Posts: 1554
Location: las cruces, nm
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| Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2015 3:10 pm Post subject: |
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| These vans are so pretty! |
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Xtremjeepn
Samba Member
Joined: October 21, 2012
Posts: 1539
Location: Colorado
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| Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2015 3:31 pm Post subject: |
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| debbiej wrote: |
| These vans are so pretty! |
Thank you 
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ALIKA T3
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Joined: July 30, 2009
Posts: 6349
Location: Honolulu,Hawaii and France
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Xtremjeepn
Samba Member
Joined: October 21, 2012
Posts: 1539
Location: Colorado
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| Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2015 6:47 am Post subject: |
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| ALIKA T3 wrote: |
Looking good!!!
Those plastics are a curse though  |
This Van has all good plastics now. I've been saving them from various parts vans. Looks like brand new inside.
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jpfahrstar
Samba Member
Joined: November 12, 2003
Posts: 43
Location: Columbia, MD
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| Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2015 8:50 am Post subject: |
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At first glance, it looked like you had somehow put a dual exhaust on the van! But looking a little closer revealed that it was just the hitch mount sticking out a bit and appearing to be the exhaust pipes.
JP |
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Xtremjeepn
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Joined: October 21, 2012
Posts: 1539
Location: Colorado
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Bills85Westy
Samba Member
Joined: August 01, 2009
Posts: 423
Location: Napa CA
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| Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2015 8:01 pm Post subject: |
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I like it! What a transformation! How many have you done now? Is this 4 or 5?
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89 Tristar Syncro Doka - White
85 Westfalia Syncro (conversion)
SAH 1.8T Conversion - 2005 AWP
Engine Conversion Thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=612144&highlight=
85 Doka L345 Grey - 1.9L |
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Xtremjeepn
Samba Member
Joined: October 21, 2012
Posts: 1539
Location: Colorado
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| Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2015 8:51 pm Post subject: |
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| Bills85Westy wrote: |
| I like it! What a transformation! How many have you done now? Is this 4 or 5? |
I haven't done a build post for all of them Some were minor custom work, some pretty extensive. None were just average boring stuff though.
1-Night Fury GLS to Weekender
2. Blu.O
3.Green Mile GLS - Weekwnder
4. Dylan, Bopb's van
5. SulleyVan MV-Weekender
6. Black Mamba, coming soon MV-Weekender
7. Unnamed Syncro in process.
8. Unnamed silver conversion MV-Weekender
9. EuroVanGogh
10. Unnamed white diesel Weekender
11. Unnamed white diesel Syncro candidate. Not built yet, but have the parts and van here.
12. Unnamed Silver Weekender.
13. Unnamed EVC.
14. Unnamed Silver Weekender.
15. Ruby MV-Weekender conversion.
Soooo.......a few now 
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Xtremjeepn
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Location: Colorado
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jpfahrstar
Samba Member
Joined: November 12, 2003
Posts: 43
Location: Columbia, MD
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| Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2015 5:53 pm Post subject: |
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Nice! The two tone paint works very well on the Eurovan. I think I might have also have painted the pop top white as well.
JP |
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Xtremjeepn
Samba Member
Joined: October 21, 2012
Posts: 1539
Location: Colorado
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| Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2015 9:24 pm Post subject: |
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| jpfahrstar wrote: |
Nice! The two tone paint works very well on the Eurovan. I think I might have also have painted the pop top white as well.
JP |
I intentionally made the top stand out as a separate color from the roof.
While I think one of the cool things about the Eurovan is the sleek camper top, I also think that has been one of its downfalls.
I'm always driving around in one of these vans and often pop the top while at the park, coffee shop, etc. This always draws in a few people that want to talk about the van. You would be amazed to find out that 90% of them had no idea the Eurovan is a poptop camper van!!!....and this is with them being around for 22years!!
I think the design was sleek and stealthy, but actually worked against the Eurovan here in the USA as the mass public didn't actually realize they were campers.
So, I wanted to highlight the camper top by leaving it a contrasting color to the roof line.
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typetwotool
Samba Member
Joined: July 27, 2015
Posts: 43
Location: sonoma, Ca
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| Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2015 7:09 am Post subject: |
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I love the two-tone color scheme and that the top matches the body color. Sweet Van!!
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Nathan
80 Vanagon
00 Eurovan
69 Karmann Ghia |
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Xtremjeepn
Samba Member
Joined: October 21, 2012
Posts: 1539
Location: Colorado
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| Posted: Thu Dec 10, 2015 9:37 am Post subject: Re: EuroVanGogh.....from "parts van" to "Arts |
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I'm still doing final touches to this van. Took it to get a custom exhaust the other day. Always an excuse to stuff a KTM in a van
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