Itinerant Air-Cooled

Hey Gang,
I am the proud owner of a 1982 Westfalia that I have poured a lot of money into over the years. Mechanically it's in pretty decent shape. The body... Well let's just say it could use some help. Body work is not my strong suit but I can follow directions and am willing to put some sweat equity into the project. I have recently retired and on a fixed income so it's becoming increasingly difficult to finance any more work on the van through conventional methods. What I do have is time. I also have Extensive Mechanical and Customer Service Experience and I am Computer Literate. I can also offer on-site security. Being an old fart I also understand what a Work Ethic is and am not averse to performing janitorial duties (Yep... I can muck out a toilet!). I live in the Bay Area but I'm willing to travel a reasonable distance and would consider re-locating temporarily. Ideally I would like to work with a shop that specializes in Vanagons.

I can be contacted via email; scruffyboy12001@yahoo.com or phone 415-500-2277

Thanks for looking!

scruffyboy wrote:Hey Gang,
I am the proud owner of a 1982 Westfalia that I have poured a lot of money into over the years. Mechanically it's in pretty decent shape. The body... Well let's just say it could use some help. Body work is not my strong suit but I can follow directions

Read up on how to do body work and even some light painting yourself right here in the Sticky threads.
Colin

viewtopic.php?f=49&t=9101#p163803

Thanks for the suggestion but... Afraid there's a little more to it than that though. I live in an apartment in the Bay Area and though I'm fortunate enough to have off-street parking I doubt very seriously the building manager would appreciate me doing any kind of work on my vehicle. I've also investigated the possibility of renting space but it's prohibitively expensive. I really do appreciate the suggestion and I'll have a look at the sticky and see if I can find any way to do what needs doing. I'm sure something will come up.

Thanks!

Jim

scruffyboy wrote:Thanks for the suggestion but... Afraid there's a little more to it than that though. I live in an apartment in the Bay Area and though I'm fortunate enough to have off-street parking I doubt very seriously the building manager would appreciate me doing any kind of work on my vehicle. I've also investigated the possibility of renting space but it's prohibitively expensive. I really do appreciate the suggestion and I'll have a look at the sticky and see if I can find any way to do what needs doing. I'm sure something will come up.

Thanks!

Jim

I did all the body work in the write-ups in a loading dock area of Yuma corporate park on weekends and painted the front of the bus in a desert area outside of Casa Grande AZ. You need only to map out starting point and ending point so you can let it ride out your next work week until the next go-around. That means, any bondo/filler work needs a primer coat before you knock off.
Colin

Well.... One thing I do have more of lately is time. I'll start looking for a place to do the work.

Thanks

scruffyboy wrote:Well.... One thing I do have more of lately is time. I'll start looking for a place to do the work.

Thanks

Switch around a bit . . .
Here's my torsion bar reset squatter's camp:

Wait... Wait... Your wheels are making a run for it!
Yeah I went looking around today and I think I might have found a couple of places I might go un-noticed

scruffyboy wrote:Wait... Wait... Your wheels are making a run for it!
Yeah I went looking around today and I think I might have found a couple of places I might go un-noticed

My explanation that gets the best traction is "I didn't want to hit anyone with overspray."
I was on a power line trail in Arizona when I did the passenger door bondo/glazing putty applications on the BobD. A couple of Border Patrol agents stopped by and asked what was I doing out there?
They were intrigued . . .
Colin

I've certainly had enough experience with "roadside repairs" and not all of them were done under the most ideal conditions so... Picking a time and place to do body-work shouldn't be a real biggie.

Amskeptic wrote: ....
My explanation that gets the best traction is "I didn't want to hit anyone with overspray."
....

Brilliant!

I think about the only thing I *might* have to turn over to a pro would be some rust repair under a back window.