Back to......VANagains NEWest 65 Chevy SportVan Deluxe

Subway??? What ??? No Dog or cheeseburger? What is the world comin to?
Great shots y'all.Glad ya got to get some road time in.Beaches looked crowded too.

That's right, this is the final push to get the van into the body shop!! Thanks to Don for pitching in this weekend. The helped me to remove the tricky parts, like the windows and heater unit. At long last, it's going into the shop this week!!

Last Pic is the Greatest!! 12 Grand to get a van painted?? Who are these Guys KIDDIN?? Remember Earl Sheib-I'll paint any car for $29.95

What color??? stock colors???

I tell ya, it was not easy getting into position for my face to show thru the headlight opening! But I had to do it!

I've decided to stick with the stock colors, turquoise and white. That's the way this one came, that's how they always showed it in the original ads, and I like it. Nice retro color scheme.

That shop with the $12K estimate is like those you see on TV. Total restoration. They've always got a booth at the big Good Guys car show. He said to me, "If you get a quote somewhere else for less than $5000, run!" I'm sure they would do a top-notch job. They're shop is very impressive. It might be worth it for cars with some big buck value but I can't justify it.

I've still got a few more little things to do. I'll take a day off this week, wrap it up, and then meet Don at the body shop. I'm taking it to a father/son shop where a friend of ours had his 2nd Gen Chevy done. But even they are saying between $5000 and $7500. Hopefully I've saved them many hours by stripping it down like this.

Should be a fun drive over there, with all the windows and headlights out!!

That's a big effort!! The next part is gonna have to be like a kid waiting for Christmas morning !! There is no way it won't turn out great.

your choice to go with the stock colors will be a good one I have always like that color combo

This was truly a big day, second only to getting the van running with the new engine and tranny. We had pretty much everything stripped off it except for a mirror, license plate, tail lights, and one door handle!

Yeah, my "paint manual" seemed like a good idea to me but the body man didn't look too thrilled. I said this was better than me trying to tell him every little thing while he's standing there, and hoping he'd remember. I could point out which holes to fill and which not to, where I wanted the two tone breaks in the door jams, stuff like that. I think by the time we got to me signing the $5500 estimate he was feeling better about it. (I wonder what he would have charged if I brought it in with big rust holes, and hadn't stripped all the parts off...)



Here are some videos of me driving there in the very ventilated van!

BodyShop01.wmv
BodyShop02.wmv (That note is from my friend, reminding me that I've got metal parts and glass in the back!)
BodyShop03.wmv

Now I've got a couple months to get all the removed parts cleaned up, polished up, painted, and rechromed. I can't wait to see this van looking all shiny and new!

Don was very helpful in talking to the painter as well as the glass guy down the street. I'm having new glass cut for the windshield and driver & passenger doors. I'll have him install all the glass with the new rubber. I sure don't want to attempt that around all that shiny paint!

Vanagain, hope this is not the case for you, but sometimes these body guys don't work as fast as you may like. Count on double the time to get her done. I have to say can't wait to see her painted. But sure to keep us updated

Hey, look at that!! Something tells me they haven't been actually working on it for all 9 days but it's progress! The white door turned yellow! Thanks a lot Don for the photo report! And for dropping off those two parts for them. I wanted them to have a headlight trim rim to make sure it still fits after they replace the metal on the front corner damage. And so they can see where they might want to hide some welds behind the ring.

This weekend I plan to get the rest of my sandblasted spare hinges rebuilt and primed so I can get them over to the body shop. The plan is they swap them while they're working on the doors.

And there are many other things to get ready. Now is the time to re-chrome a couple things. I'm ordering many parts from the various catalogs.

Very exciting!

I am excited to see it finished ! Bill

I'm guessing next time we see it, it will be pretty

Body Shop Prison , I know it well

Hope you didnt pay these guys =before the work is done? Usually - -always takes them more time that way to get the finished product done. From an old body & paint man - Look it over SLOWLEY =in the sun when its finished. Remember - painting is just like baseball!! NO Drips, No Runs =NO Errors!!

"Body Shop Prison"....I like that! Mine was in "BSP" 18 months, back in 1975! Made the mistake of paying up front! ' learned a good lesson from that one! lol

Don't worry Don she doing hard time in painter prison