The 447th 1972 bus, A Sierra Yellow Westfalia Tin top build

[Ceckert64]

Figure I’ll post a little update here,

I ended up driving the bus out to Wisconsin two weeks back to my internship, filled it with stuff for the subie swap for the swap on the 71. It’s been doing fairly well, I have a few things to sort out but it’s running well overall. Just starting a little hard. It’s back as the daily though.

Yesterday I took it out to the beach since it was nice out and did some exploring, as well as getting a few pictures of it

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1964 sunroof Beetle Restoration "Herbie"
“Joann” 1970 Elm Green Squareback
1972 Sierra Yellow Tin Top Westfalia Camper
“Fitz” 1971 Westfalia Poptop

[dodger tom]

[RalphWiggam]

Looks much better w the bumpers painted.

[orwell84]

Looks great! Nice clean bus.

I see you have been traveling at light speed.

[Ceckert64]

Just finished most of the paint touch up. I got a spot on the front nose touched up and got the bumpers on and everything working properly again. I drove it around today and it was nice to drive it again and enjoy it.

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1964 sunroof Beetle Restoration "Herbie"
“Joann” 1970 Elm Green Squareback
1972 Sierra Yellow Tin Top Westfalia Camper
“Fitz” 1971 Westfalia Poptop

[Ceckert64]

heyskull,

I’m not sure if they ship to the UK but there is a company called Temple Paint or something similarly that does rattle cans of original VW paint colors. They have matches for all the original color codes.

You could also try to find a paint shop and see if they are willing to color match and even blend new paint into old. You could do all the prep work, sanding, masking, etc and it will make it cheaper.

If the paint is faded, polishing may help blend in the new paint or get a more accurate representation of what the color currently is to match.

It may be worth looking in the paint forum here for some better advice.

Good luck,
Aiden
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1964 sunroof Beetle Restoration "Herbie"
“Joann” 1970 Elm Green Squareback
1972 Sierra Yellow Tin Top Westfalia Camper
“Fitz” 1971 Westfalia Poptop

[heyskull]

I also like you have a 1972 Westfalia.
In April 2024 my son is getting married and has asked to use my bus as his wedding vehicle.

So I am thinking about doing a few bits of bodywork on mine but want to keep the originality of the existing paintwork as more than 70% is original paint.
I have had the wheels blasted and powder coated which has improved it no end.

Sadly the front panel on mine has been replaced at some point in its life and although newer panels have been used/altered it is showing signs of corrosion again.
Is there anywhere in the UK that could match the colour so that i can carry these repairs out myself? I need to add that the paintwork is faded.

I have a compressor, sander and a paint gun but I do not want to do any welding as I know this would end as a full blown restoration and i do not have the time for this and it would end up being a garage ornament.

SC

[Ceckert64]

[orwell84]

Your paint looks good. Nice work. I love the idea of taking my bus down the the bare shell, prepping it and sending it to a shop for paint.

The reality is that it would probably end up being in pieces for years.

The rolling resto, paint in sections is probably the best way for me and results can still be quite good.

[Ceckert64]

Did an early morning paint sessions and the bumpers are finally done, I got a few runs but it laid down smooth

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1964 sunroof Beetle Restoration "Herbie"
“Joann” 1970 Elm Green Squareback
1972 Sierra Yellow Tin Top Westfalia Camper
“Fitz” 1971 Westfalia Poptop

[Ceckert64]

Some stupid bugs flew into what I painted yesterday I thought it was cold enough they’d be gone for the season.

But today I got a lot of random things done. I found a good voltage regulator so that should fix the charging issues I was having.

I got a new muffler in. The old one I realized was rattling and had blown apart inside. I picked up a new cherry bomb and cut up the old one and welded up the parts to the new one. It turned out pretty good. I mocked up the rear bumper to get it all in the right spot.

I also got the bumpers scuffed and ready for paint tomorrow. I also worked on fixing a dent on the front end. Hopefully everything starts going back together soon.
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1964 sunroof Beetle Restoration "Herbie"
“Joann” 1970 Elm Green Squareback
1972 Sierra Yellow Tin Top Westfalia Camper
“Fitz” 1971 Westfalia Poptop

[Ceckert64]

[DocNexil]

Awesome work. Love seeing the updates on this!
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1971 Dormobile "Juliett"
1970 beetle "Rudie"

[Ceckert64]

The last few days I kept working on preparing the bumpers. I wire wheeled them clean and then polished the last bit up with a flapper wheel. Then I got them a bit more into shape. After that I put some filler and sanded them down and they turned out nice, still need a little work though.

I also got the rear corner body work started and finished, it turned out really nice. It wasn’t too bad to start, I pounded it into shape, put some filler on and sanded.

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1964 sunroof Beetle Restoration "Herbie"
“Joann” 1970 Elm Green Squareback
1972 Sierra Yellow Tin Top Westfalia Camper
“Fitz” 1971 Westfalia Poptop

[Ceckert64]

[Davy_B.]

Bumper damage!!

[Ceckert64]

Thanks everyone! I just looked and saw the quote in there Abscate And that engine is still chugging along, though I think the alternator or starter is on its way out I have to do some more investigating. It barely cranks anymore and I just replaced the battery a week back because it tested bad. Thankfully there are enough hills up here I can almost always bump start it. Then just a little fall into winter photo dump

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1964 sunroof Beetle Restoration "Herbie"
“Joann” 1970 Elm Green Squareback
1972 Sierra Yellow Tin Top Westfalia Camper
“Fitz” 1971 Westfalia Poptop

[Abscate]

[Davy_B.]

Nice to see you are having Fun! Sierra yellow for life!

[airschooled]