The Paint is Finished

The boys down at Cotswold Group bodyshop have finished working their magic and the paint on the van is now finished.

They're putting the doors back on and then giving it a final polish before bringing it back to us in the next week.

Then the work starts in earnest again here building it back up and bolting on all the lovely things we've got ready!!!

Here now with the front doors bolted back into place and the handles on

The rear of the van showing the huge Barndoor engine lid back in place.

The side cargo doors bolted back on and a close up of the lock mechanism and door rods.

All we have to do now, is bolt everything else back on....... 

Finishing Off Painting The Chassis

After the van was turned over on its 'spit', the guys at Cotswold Group Bodyshop could make a start on painting the underside and the chassis. Here we see the finishing touches to the chassis paint...

The front end of the bus now finished underneath:

A closer shot of the front end showing the underside of the cab area - the correct 'X' pattern is right for early Barndoors.

The underside showing the length of the chassis

The back end of the chassis.

Its nearly ready for the doors to be re-fitted and come back to us ready for re-build......

Painting The Underside

The van is currently fitted onto 'spit' so they can rotate it in order to paint the chassis and underside properly.

Here you can see the underneath of the van and all the detailing that went into the chassis. Once its painted this detailing and huge amount of effort will surely be worth it.

Will post some more pics as soon as they get some paint on it. They've made a special jig to adapt their 'spit' so they can paint split vans easier again in the future.

Its Painted !!!!

The excellent people down at Cotswold Group Body Shop have been working their magic again and finished painting the exterior bodywork. Its looks particularly awesome we think!

Here's some pics of the body as of today. There's just the underside and chassis to do next.....

Visiting The Paint Shop

We had a trip down to see the van at The Cotswold Group Body Shop over the weekend to see the progress on the van. We were utterly blown away with the paint work. Really, really pleased!!!

The cab area now finished:

The bulkhead divider panel

The front panel / dashboard area and dash pod bracket:

The engine bay area:

and in more close-up detail:

However, it was the rear cargo area that totally blew us away. The attention to detail on the ribbing is amazing. They've really put a massive amount of effort into getting the ribs to be perfect:

Still a fair amount to do yet, but its looking stunning and we're really, really pleased with it. Well done to the guys at Cotswold Group! THANKS!

More Paint.....

The excellent people down at Cotswold Group Bodyshop have been mega busy doing even more paint!

Here's the latest pics:

Here they are masking up areas ready to start painting

The engine bay looking resplendent in Dove Blue

The cab area now painted in Dove Blue too!

And the rear cargo area in Grey

We're off to visit the van tomorrow, so more pics to follow soon!

COLOUR !!!!

After nearly 18 months since the van first rolled into our warehouse, its been Green.

It was Green when we bought it, when we had it blasted and etch primed it was green and nearly all the repair panels we've used were green. So when the day finally arrived yesterday that we saw some blue - it was a massive milestone.........

The bumper beautifully painted in Dove Blue and White.

Remember those gnarly beat up side cargo doors.......

Now look at them:

The rear valence is all done and ready now too:

Remember that rather sorry looking dash pod:

Yep, this is the same one.....:

Remember those beat up, bent, twisted and mangled cab doors........

Here they are now all perfectly painted ready to go back on the van: