We bought our van from California as we wanted a rust free basis for a restoration. Here is the van in some of the original pictures sent from the seller. It is a 1972 Westie pop top, although the Westie interior has seen better days!
Rear view showing the low mounted bumper. Someone has cut some holes in the panel, which will need welding up.
Rear corner needs a bit of work. Damage here, but solid. Battery tray rusted through and needs replacement.
Small section rusted through on the driver's side. Looks like brake fuid was spilt and ran down the seat area and stripped off the paint in this area.
That brings the thread back to where it was before the great crash of 2011. The body shop was on shut down last week, so progress should begin again this week. Bought a pile of stuff for the van too - ball joints, track rods, clutch, engine and box seals and a full set of seals for windows, doors etc. Might even start to look a bit better in a couple of weeks!
The van is back on the mend now. Paul the painter has finally got some free time to make a bit of progress, as he has been bogged down with crash repairs for the past 6 weeks. So: Battery tray part ripped out. Spot welds drilled out to remove remaining parts.
The door bottoms are perfect. The previous owner had removed the old paint with a grinder, leaving some marks in the steel, so a skim of filler is needed in places before priming.
Same story with the slider. There's no rust, but the steel has been gouged with a grinding wheel in places.
