Vanagon Stripes - how-to tips, tricks and shop recommendations

[jimf909]

I grabbed the photo below from the Vanagon Owner's Group fb site. I love the stripes and they're the first that inspire me to add stripes to my van (although multi-colored stripes in the Vanagons belt line are interesting too).

My van is flash silver and I'm thinking of three shades of grey, or possibly three tints/shades of a color for some pop.

Questions:
- Where would I go to have such stripes made and installed? A sign maker with a vinyl cutter? Some other type of shop?
- Does anyone here have experience doing this or working with a pro? Do you have any suggestions?
- Does anyone have a recommendation for a shop in Seattle?
- Any other suggestions?

Thanks.
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- Jim

[IdahoDoug]

Thats a super flattering view of that stripe package but what does it look like straight from the side? I used to help choose factory strip kits on Tacoma trucks once in a while. We always looked from a few angles.
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1987 2WD Wolfsburg Vanagon Weekender "Mango", two fully locked 80 Series LandCruisers. 2017 Subaru Outback boxer. 1990 Audi 90 Quattro 20V with rear locking differential, 1990 burgundy parts Vanagon. 1984 Porsche 944, 1993 Toyota LandCruiser, 2002 BMW 325iX, 1982 Toyota Sunrader

[jimf909]

^^^

The creppy Vanagon stalker (me ) has returned from fb with this photo...

It looks like the stripe passes through the utility boxes nicely instead of being off-center.

Also the horizontal stripe is about 1/3 the width of the vertical stripes. Gotta use the Golden Ratio to design these stripes.

Whddya think, IdahoDoug?

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- Jim

[mikemtnbike]

I’m not Doug but I think those stripes look awesome. They accentuate the vans unique profile. That’s how stripes work, they draw your eyes so you want them to highlight strengths. Because our vans have great lines to begin with, I think stripes look great on them most of the time.
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1991 Vanagon GL 2.1 AT Westfauxlia. "Frankie" Totaled https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=764510&highlight=carnage
1995 Eurovan Camper "Marzivan"
2020 GTI SE manual

[Squidfish]

There is a business on Etsy called "Vanagon Dwellers" that does custom stripes, etc, I just noticed the other day in the PNW. Ordered a few of their stickers, one that looks exactly like our Westfalia too, which is very cool. I haven't seen much of their striping work, but it maybe worth a contact.
I saw that green van on FB, he just bought it recently I think, a pretty neat 80's survivor combo for sure!

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5402710 A very neat old thread on the samba here.
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1985.5 - Vanagon Westfalia Weekender Wolfsburg Edition - LH8U - "Penny"
- 2.6i 5-Cylinder 10v (2004)

[IdahoDoug]

Agree - looks pretty good actually. Someone a year or two ago did a grey n red van with a simple mountain shape that I also liked. But this one is nice and you can choose colors too.
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1987 2WD Wolfsburg Vanagon Weekender "Mango", two fully locked 80 Series LandCruisers. 2017 Subaru Outback boxer. 1990 Audi 90 Quattro 20V with rear locking differential, 1990 burgundy parts Vanagon. 1984 Porsche 944, 1993 Toyota LandCruiser, 2002 BMW 325iX, 1982 Toyota Sunrader

[levi]

[sanchius]

Nope, not Doug either, but those stripes look a little too seventyslicious for me.

Not being one to be critical without offering an alternative, here's what I've got.

After seeing the small mountain decals on TigerJoe's & Syncro Jael's hightops, I've been playing with these more full length mountain decal concepts.

The outline is loosely based (left to right) on the Colorado Front Range Indian Peaks with Longs+Meeker Peaks as the big ones to the far right.

To apply, I'd either have two mirror decals made or, if I was feeling frugal, I'd tape out the body colored elements & sky and rattlecan spray the dark mountain shapes black.

I haven't actually concluded that I want to put these on my van, so it's just a design concept I'm kicking around for now.
If anyone wants to use the design on their van, help yourself.

I drew them up in powerpoint since I know it so well, with the bus and the black triangles as the master slide background and the body color elements as shapes I could easily change and move around until they felt right. TheSamba gallery isn't letting me upload the editable source ppts, so if you want them to experiment with, drop me a line.

Poptop mountains

Side Panel mountains

If I wasn't so darn conventional, Salt 'n Peppers is the design I'd really use, though with red, green and orange chilies.
Actually, SnP would be perfect for 10c's van since he's in the middle of chili country.

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[levi]

Mountains on the pop top I REALLY like.

...and where's the spare?
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but till I do I won't be hangin round.
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[4Gears4Tires]

Tires are too big to fit in the spare tire carrier.

I'm a fan of the forest/mountains vinyl overlay. I have been kicking around the idea for awhile. Something along these lines. The only question is, get it painted it first and then do graphics. Or do graphics, see how I like it, then remove and get it painted. I think graphics will look silly on the champagne/gold color vs the Toyota Sandy Taupe that I want, but the benefit is that I can do it now. Decisions.

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'87 Syncro Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition
'85 Westy Sciuridae Domus Edition

[alaskadan]

Hey, those trees are my idea! I've been waiting to repaint my syncro again and then put vinyl trees on it. I had a room mate back in 97 who was a sign guy and he had a vinyl plotter at home. I had put trees like that on my XT 550 gas tank. They looked great. My blue baywindow just wasn't the right fit for them so we put them on his nissan 4x4 truck. I think he is still driving it today down in the PNW.

[shadetreemech]

For a coupla years I've wanted to do a continuous stripe in the "belt" area around the Van, repeating the Chacoan triangular design in the middle of this pottery sherd:

Dark brown on tan

Dan
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'84 GL 1.9
'01 Volvo V70 T5
'88 Westy - "MZDRTHY"

[T3 Pilot]

More Stripes to consider:



Early VW livery from a French Mountain Rallye in the Late 1980’s

An excellent Tribute from 2012 on custom panel van conversion:

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1988 Vanagon

The most important part in every vehicle is the nut behind the wheel......

[dhaavers]

FWIW: A personal favorite I saved from member "fairweather" elsewhere on Samba...

- Dave
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86 White Wolfsburg Westy Weekender
"The WonderVan"
<EDITED TO PROTECT INNOCENT PIXELS>

[kamzcab86]

The green van reminds me of this:

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~Kamz
1986 Cabriolet: www.Cabby-Info.com
1990 Vanagon Westfalia: Old Blue's Blog
2016 Golf GTI S
"Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance." - 孔子

[jimf909]

[jimf909]

[RoryGirl]

A little Easter present for those wanting the stripes on the green van...I quick and dirtied some vector files for those that want to take them to a sign shop. With the side/hatch stripes using such a long length of material this will work out much better $$$ wise if people go in and get a bunch cut at once.

Theres 5 illustrator .ai files (backsaved to eight), the 3 "hockey stick" stripes for the door and 2 single stripes - one for the side and one for the hatch (I'm assuming they carry around). Those will need to be cut out in whatever the three colors you go with are. These were all properly scaled to the dimensions diagram and should be cut as is.

I'm also willing to tweak these a bit if anyone thinks I've gotten some lines wrong.

They're on my google drive for now (in a zip), if anyone has space and wants to host...feel free
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1mfBmbOHxndFSd5pBFqP5sD4rtXb_9EBd

These pics are just for reference and show how much extra material I've included so there's a bit of leeway. Hatch Stripes on the bottom.

Disclaimer - I have not cut these out and tested them on an actual van.
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1991 Twin Slider VR6
1985 Audi 4k

[4Gears4Tires]

[sanchius]