A little hippy love.

Jakerooni · 10-15-09, 08:15

Forgive these teaser pics. They were taken off my phone and there's only a couple of them. I will be taking the DSLR in tomorrow to get some much better pics. But as some know since I've gotten down here to South Carolina I've been helping a guy get his dealership crew on any sort of skill level that can net them some better results... The goal obviously is to raise the standards bar all while keeping the place as idiot proof as possible. Well it's been raining almost the entire time since I've arrived so no cars are really going through. Which is making training rather difficult. Until this morning... I about laughed my butt off when the owner drove in this pile of umm.... well Anyways. He drove it down from the moutains in North Carolina (ashville area) And said practice on this and see what you can come up with...

What we have is a severaly oxidized 1975 Volkwagon Vanagon camper series.. and I don't think it's been washed since 1976 to be honest.

As you can see it's in rough shape.. But it runs and the body is actually solid. The paint is obviously not going to get perfect by any means. But I knew I could get the shine back. The top part was covered in mold and mildew. The interior was for the most part in really good shape. I've seen alot of pics of these things back in the day but this the first I've seen in person.. It's a mini-RV. complete with kitchen stove and sink. bunk beds.. The whole nine.. I can see why these were popular.

The goal was to be quick yet effecient and be as idiot proof as possible. So since only 2 of the guys there have ever used a buffer of any kind before I grabbed out my G110 to let them get some practice in. I only had 2 of the guys me with this one today so I can see where they where. I gave them the tools and the pads and explained (as well as I could) the KBM method with a D/A and 105/205 combo. While I tended to some of the other details.

While they were trying to get it down I popped off the hubcaps and gave the wheels a new coat of silver. Normally I would tape off the rubber but this thing is going in for new tires tomorrow anyways so I just sprayed them and got them loooking good again.

After I got the wheels set I started really nit picking the work the guys were doing. And actually for as much oxidation this thing had I was quite impress with the results they were getting

I had martyn working like a horse on this one. He's one of the few guys there excited to learn proper techniques. (he's actually the acting manager so it really benifits him to know what he's looking for and at)

Wiping some wax off. They used their own paste wax. Not sure what kind it was but the crap stunk like solvant... Ehh in the end it's their place and they can use their stuff... Still working on product selection for them

And then we had to put the camper up and start on the inside.. Which comes tomorrow. And then I'm hopeing for some sun at least part of the day so I can snap up some more pics.

OK so day two begins where day one left off. A friggin mess LOL

We got most of the paint work in shape yesterday. Just a couple of touch up here and there. Today was the day of squaring up all the details.. Now keep in mind Normally I wouldn't do things like this. But.... after talking with the owner of desires and expectations and then training guys in the process it came down to "I want it to look good enough from the road for people to take interest. It dosen't need to be perfect because whoever buys it will either do a full restore on it or just drive it into the ground"..... Mmm alright gotcha...

First step... Get the interior cleaned up a bit. Gotta love the old hipsters and their bigfoot gas pedals

Next up confused me because I didn't know how to read these odometers. Do they have tenths? This van either has 6576 miles on it. Or 65,760 miles on it. Either way very low mileage for a 1975.

I don't even want to know what stories this bed has to tell.....

Some more interior pics... This thing was set up!!!

Jakerooni · 10-15-09, 08:16

Once we tidied up the house a bit we took a vote on how to make it have more curb appeal. The paint that was there shined up quite nicely. However the top and the bumpers were an eye sore.... So the descion was made to repaint them. White bumper paint on the bumpers and then white fiberglass paint on the top..

And then the owner of the shop I'm helping out with had a clown of a idea. He had this old spare tire cover kicking around. Didn't fit for crap but it was his call.. Apprently every yellow hippie van needs to be happy.

I really hope that dosen't stay on for long. But it's not my call so who knows.

Anyways.. After some work to the paint we were able to get some good shine on it....

All in all it was what it was supposed to be. A fun learning experience for some guys that had no clue how to detail paint. It wasn't going to be perfect but it has lot more curb appeal now that it did when it came in yesterday. If I had it under my own belt and a good solid week on it I would've done things a bit differently. But we had two days to get in get it done and get it back so he could just put it out to the road to sell it. So given the parameter's of the detail I think it turned out pretty darn good. And the guys I had working with me on it showed some real potential. Thanks for looking.

bufferbarry · 10-15-09, 08:18

jakers! I want that inside perfect. I want befores and afters of all of it. wow thats One i would love to buff. good luck to ya.

tdekany · 10-15-09, 08:29

Cool!!

You should see Oregon. There are soooooo many of these everywhere.

Good job.

Scottwax · 10-15-09, 09:28

Looks like you are off to a good start with it.

jose206 · 10-15-09, 10:40

how many megapixels is your camera phone? also what did you use to spray those rims? my rims could sure use it...

Jakerooni · 10-16-09, 05:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by jose206

how many megapixels is your camera phone? also what did you use to spray those rims? my rims could sure use it...

I just picked up the new envy3. So it's a 3mp camera phone. Dosen't take bad pics at all for a phone. And the paint is wheel paint metalic grey from your local automotive parts store. (pretty sure they picked it up at autozone)