Nobby's having his knob painted.

[pabloalfa76]

Well the van is off to the paint shop on Saturday, to have the high-top painted.
If all goes well I will post pictures of the results. If it looks like a bodge up, I will keep the results to myself.
Every time it rains, it reminds me how the van should look and then it dries and i'm back to a pink roof again.
So fingers crossed.
Regards, Paul.

 

[calikev]

Nice one Paul.it will Look good when it's done get down to cali's on the farm so we can
See it in the flesh

 

[2into1]

Paul, are you able to share approx how much the job will cost?

 

[pabloalfa76]

Paul, are you able to share approx how much the job will cost?

Hi,
I took the van to two company's. One was a commercial truck body-shop ( I though they would be used to dealing with high vehicles ) and one was a car body-shop, that the owner has a VW bay, they do a lot of fibreglass repairs and had a couple of other vans in for work.
They both quoted the same price £600, This sounds expensive to me, but I've no experience with body-shop pricing ?

 

[pabloalfa76]

Hi All,

Well Nobby is back home and I'm very happy with the results. The old Sikaflex has been dug out and replaced ( as good as original ).
I now need to re-fix the roof rack, side awning and refit the decals.

The whole van wants polishing, as its stood outside all winter.( when it gets warmer ).

Paul.

 

[calikev]

Wow that's looking shiny much better than the faded pink

 

[2into1]

Hi Paul. Looks like a nice job, and useful to have the pricing info (thanks). Did the paint company do the Sikaflex? My seals are not perfect but not terrible (I did view a high spec van with Sikaflex done by a 2 year old!).

 

[pabloalfa76]

Hi Paul. Looks like a nice job, and useful to have the pricing info (thanks). Did the paint company do the Sikaflex? My seals are not perfect but not terrible (I did view a high spec van with Sikaflex done by a 2 year old!).

All of the sikaflex on the roof seal had started to lift, I cut out about 2 feet of the sealant last year and resealed it. It looked awful and I wish I had never attempted it, so I can appreciate the skill they have used to get it looking like it should.

 

[redstar]

Was the 2 year olds van green by any chance?

 

[2into1]

It was indeed metallic green and 150hp. It wasn't a bad van..it had great history and new cambelt, but was the first Exclusive I'd seen and I was rather put off by water ingress risk!

 

[redstar]

The green one was local to me and i went to see it.....
got offered a great price on a trade in but i couldnt see
how i could make it 'mint' again. They have another there
now (white) with the same issues... panel damage etc.

shame because it was a top spec bus.

 

[pabloalfa76]

Hi All,
Well the roof looked so good , that I couldn't bring myself to bolt on the old roof bars. They were hand painted black, with lots of rust breaking through.
So I've had them sand blasted and powder coated, by a company in Uckfield, not to far from home.
Now looking tip-top.

Regards, Paul

 

[2into1]

I've having a bit of debate on another part of the forum http://www.vwcaliforniaclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=3394 about if our high tops (well the new T5 Joker actually) crosses the line between Campervan & Motorhome.
I think it may be down to looking cool (or not) and have just suggested so, so get set for some fireworks!

 

[pabloalfa76]

I've just read through the camper/moterhome thread and I've decided that you can be the high-top representative.
I'm staying out of it, I don't want to be chased off the camp site in May!

 

[James]

I've just read through the camper/moterhome thread and I've decided that you can be the high-top representative.
I'm staying out of it, I don't want to be chased off the camp site in May!

There was no debate as such -- VW clearly market the T5 California in a different and specific way to say the Westys.

One is not better than the other but the things likely to attract the California owner and going to be different to the prospective Westy owner.

Each van and conversion has its place, there's no van snobbery. It's just a T25, T4 California is a very very different vehicle. It's a Westy in its own right.

James

 

[2into1]

LOL. I'm not expecting a good pitch!

 

[redstar]

Dont think I best come after my 'rant' on the thread you were
posting on..... :?

 

[2into1]

You better all come. I don't want to be the only Motorhome there!
I'll be proud to show off the Cali Exclusive benefits.