The '71 Deluxe

[TDCTDI]

Worst part is, knowing how are, she'll probably blame you for leaving it where she could back into it.
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Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[dumptuck]

[KentABQ]

I'm betting it's better to have been hit behind the door than on the door.

There isn't a panel or piece of trim on Chloe that hasn't been dented. And I think it's perfect, since I can go down into Mexico without concern of being ripped off. No one would think it has anything inside worth breaking into it.
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-Kent-
1976 Riviera, 1.8l FI chrome yellow VAN - "Chloe"

"I must say, how can you be in a bad mood driving this vehicle full of vibrant color.
Cars of today are so bland in comparison. It's like driving a celebration!" ---WildIdea

Bus ownership via emoticons:
---williamM

[Abscate]

That metal can be massaged back into place by a panel beater. Try to watch, it’s magical. Don’t freak when s/he startsby putting new dents in your Bus.
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.ssS!

[Spike0180]

[dumptuck]

Managed to push the fender out enough to be driving again, although it’s off to a local VW shop to get fixed up in the comings weeks. Went for a nice sunny drive, and truely fell in love

[Chochobeef]

I wouldn't worry about that panel. LIke others said, be thankful it wasn't the door. That would introduce a whole nightmare.

If you pushed it out to be able to drive it, a good body guy should be able to fix that with little to no filler. Do you have any painter friends? See if they have a body guy who would come do it on the side. Just have your sister pay for it.

[dumptuck]

Been driving the bus every day recently, I can’t get enough of it. Suprisingly good on gas aswell, although I don’t have a precise figure yet. Good times so far

[dumptuck]

Well, my apologies for neglecting to update this thread for a few months, but a lot has happened! We took the bus to our local reputable VW restoration shop, AVR Import Specialties in Chilliwack. Initially I’d only planned to have the recent dent removed and the engine rebuilt, hoping to save the “original” paint. While looking over the bus, the guys at AVR revealed that nearly the entire lower half of the bus was a repaint, and had begun to flake off and rust after only sitting behind their shop for a week or so. Long story short, one thing led to another and now I’m having the all the rust repaired, a repaint in Neptune Blue & Cloud White, and fully refreshed mechanicals (rebuilt engine, rebuilt trans, rebuilt front end, new brakes, etc.) I do feel like a bit of a sell-out, since I respect the amount of work many of the forum members here have put in to their bus themselves, and the long journey of restoring that makes one truely know their own bus inside and out. That said, I take comfort in knowing that my bus is in good hands, and will have a much higher quality of work done to it than I would have been able to provide at home. Hopefully this restoration will ensure that my bus will be healthy & happy for many years to come

Here is the bus at the shop a couple months ago

Sitting behind the shop

As it is now, stipped to a shell, waiting for paint removal and then bodywork.

You can see in this last picture where the bumper had been pushed in at some point, causing a minor dent and slight rust behind the overriders. Despite that, I’m very pleased to see the condition of the body is still nice and solid inside. Fingers crossed that removing the paint doesn’t reveal any nasty previous damage!

Luckily I’ve saved up a fair bit of cash flipping cars and working various jobs, however I’ve only just finished highschool and still need to work my ass off to pay for all of this. It’s worth it to me

[dumptuck]

I recently started disassembling one of my jalousies, to replace the gear mechanism, replace some rivets and clean them up....

Found that on the pivot arms was broken, luckily these are available on the classifieds

Also picked up a sink cabinet out of a ‘76 westfalia, should go well with my bed (from a ‘74 westfalia I believe).

Missing a few small parts (2 handles & some sink piping) but overall in pretty nice shape. I’m planning to pick a up a small butane countertop stove soon to use with this.

[dumptuck]

Update time...

Sandblasted & Painted!


A little rust in the window sills as it turns out... all welded up now!

Sandblasted! Looks naked

Little bodywork... Overall didn’t need much though, thank god

Interior paint first, all pearl white inside

And finally... painted!

Looks better than I’d ever imagined. Very impressed so far.
That’s all I got for now, hope you all had a great weekend. We’re currently in the midst a beautiful snowfall here in BC.
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Erik

[metz]

Good color choice. Looks very good!
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68 panel
64 ghia coupe

[dumptuck]

[dumptuck]

Visited the shop yesterday, here’s some photos...

Up on the hoist, they were working on the front suspension when I arrived

Engine is in, rebuilt dualport, all stock spec except for alternator conversion and vintage speed exhaust. Aircleaner is off in this picture, but we’re keeping the original oil bath. Looks amazing

Underside has been completely coated with gravel guard, colour matched to the neptune blue. Also note the new transmission

Here’s some interior shots. There’s hole cut in the rear driver side corner from some previous body repair at some point in its life. I plan to just cover it up with the interior panels or possibly put an electric outlet on it with wires going to a secondary battery underneath.

Just some more outside pictures:

Lookin’ good! Very excited to have it back, should hopefully be done around the end of April. The guys at GLI Autowerks have been an absolute pleasure to deal with, honestly some of the most genuine people left around here. The knowledge and kindness they offer is unprecedented! Highly recommended!
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Erik

[SGKent]

looking nice
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“Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin

[dumptuck]

Little update, my birthday was last friday and I received a beautiful set of cab mats from my very kindhearted parents. These are from MadMatz, and are a NLA Blue version of their narrow-weave carpet set. I was planning on using my original mats, but these just happened to be on clearance for half price... I think they will be a great addition to the bus!!

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Erik

[KentABQ]

I don't know how I missed your thread all these months.

You are doing to your bus what most of us only dream of.
It's looking fantastic and I am looking forward to the final product, as you are I imagine.
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-Kent-
1976 Riviera, 1.8l FI chrome yellow VAN - "Chloe"

"I must say, how can you be in a bad mood driving this vehicle full of vibrant color.
Cars of today are so bland in comparison. It's like driving a celebration!" ---WildIdea

Bus ownership via emoticons:
---williamM

[dumptuck]

[dumptuck]

Here is a very rough first sketch on how I’m planning to build out the interior. I’ve decided to rebuild my original mixed westfalia stuff in birch ply, to make it feel brighter and lighter inside the bus. Going to be adding a full width headbanger shelf above the rear bed, installing a flip-up table on the wall, rebuilding the sink cabinet in my own design, and I might even add a small matching stool that will fit between the bench and the sink cabinet when the table is not set up (imagine an L shape rear bench). Otherwise, the stool will be good for extra seating while washing dishes or if I have some company.

That’s the vision for now, nothing set in stone just yet...
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Erik

[dumptuck]

Went to check out the progress on the bus

Also camped in the field out back,

Lots of cool VW’s around!

Also some interesting stuff in the shop

cruisin’

That’s all for now. Hope you enjoyed!
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Erik