Hello! Log in or Register   |  Help  |  Donate  |  Buy Shirts See all banner ads | Advertise on TheSamba.com  
TheSamba.com
 
My Custom '88 Vanagon, "Big Red"
Forum Index -> Reader's Rides Share: Facebook Twitter
Reply to topic
Print View
Quick sort: Show newest posts on top | Show oldest posts on top View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
madmax25
Samba Member


Joined: March 04, 2007
Posts: 204
Location: Kansas City MO
madmax25 is offline 

PostPosted: Sat Sep 17, 2011 4:29 pm    Post subject: My Custom '88 Vanagon, "Big Red" Reply with quote

Behold my beloved bus.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


My parents bought this van new the year I came into this world. It was the trusty family hauler throughout my childhood, until it was parked forlornly around 2001 with 160k and a busted head.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Enter High School. As a project while taking auto shop, I did a partial top end rebuild and brought her back to life. For the last 6 years since then, I've been replacing worn parts and fixing her as needed, as well as doing a lot of custom painting and part swapping to give her a classic surf bus vibe. I put a bamboo floor in the passenger space a few years ago and am currently working on a birch headliner.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


To date, I've turned just about every nut on it. I have learned so much about cars from working on the van, much of that knowledge from the great members here.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Big Red isn't perfect. The paint isn't show quality. The interior needs a lot more work. I've certainly done a few things to the car that purists would scowl at, but it has been a creative journey and worthwhile learning experience. Isn't that what VWs are all about?
I've put so much love into this machine (and a fair amount of blood and knuckle skin), I've also been so frustrated I've considered pushing it off a cliff at times. But it still puts a smile on my face every time I get in and start her up.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

_________________
-Elliot

'88 Vanagon GL "Big Red"
'90 Westy
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Gallery Classifieds Feedback
tkelley
Samba Member


Joined: January 10, 2006
Posts: 1597
Location: Where Pterodactyls crash and burn...
tkelley is offline 

PostPosted: Sat Sep 17, 2011 9:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Don't tell anyone.....but, kinda like it. Shocked


I started this whole vw addiction with an 81' ac vanagon. Original yellow and cream.

I've owned all sorts of acvw's since...but sometimes (very seldom)
I kinda, sort-of, in a odd kinda way.....miss it(?)


Please don't tell anyone... Laughing




Tom
_________________
When the sun doesn't rise, we'll replace it
with an H-bomb explosion or a painted jail cell...
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Gallery Classifieds Feedback
madmax25
Samba Member


Joined: March 04, 2007
Posts: 204
Location: Kansas City MO
madmax25 is offline 

PostPosted: Sat Sep 17, 2011 10:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I actually haven't yet ventured into ACVW territory yet. I know it will come, I would love to get an old bug or bus at some point for another project. But I figure the only thing separating it from a true bus is the pesky radiator.
In my mind she is a bus. It has been beaten to a pulp on this site the definition of "bus" and "van" and "transporter", and I have decided that it's quirky enough, I sit over the wheels, the flat four is in the back...it's a bus.

I started out on this site loving the splitties and bays and wishing that I had one. I was young and had this, plus I grew up in it, so it had a lot of sentimental value. Some time after I painted it I decided that I love the van for what it is. I have made it my own. I don't mind that occasionally she may spring a coolant leak. Everyone I know still sprouts conversation about that Volkswagen I have and every bus and bug that their uncle or whomever had, and I get waves from other two tone buses, so I'm content.
_________________
-Elliot

'88 Vanagon GL "Big Red"
'90 Westy
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Gallery Classifieds Feedback
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Forum Index -> Reader's Rides All times are Mountain Standard Time/Pacific Daylight Savings Time
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum

About | Help! | Advertise | Donate | Premium Membership | Privacy/Terms of Use | Contact Us | Site Map
Copyright © 1996-2023, Everett Barnes. All Rights Reserved.
Not affiliated with or sponsored by Volkswagen of America | Forum powered by phpBB
Links to eBay or other vendor sites may be affiliate links where the site receives compensation.