Hi peeps,

Just thought you might like to have a look at the restoration of my '52 Panel van. Been working on it now since April/May time and nearly got the chassis done.

Starting work on the body next week.

Hope you like it - aiming to have it done for Stanford Hall 2012 (fingers crossed)

Pictures and details are on my blog:

http://statusvw1952van.blogspot.com/

Barclay.

Looking good so far, keep up the good work!

Nice work, looking great!

Any pics of how the van looked b4 u started?

Factory spot welds
You should do Rockstocks samba when your finished.

Looking very nice!

vwsplitbus wrote:Nice work, looking great!

Any pics of how the van looked b4 u started?

Thanks - pics of 'before' just added to the blog now - would have been a good idea to have started with those 'doh'

Saw this bus on the Samba a while ago......

Will keep my eye on this thread...

Cut the full short side off this morning

The inner rear wheel arch is in amazing condition

Just got to re-make the inner horizontal support pieces and tidy up the bottom of the upright piece

More pics going on the blog this afternoon!

looking good barclay
looks a lot better with the new side panel on just out of interest wouldnt a 52 have chrome hubcaps not painted?

Thanks Ben.

Hubcaps - that's a minefield if ever there was one!! One that I'm really trying to get the details correct on

Certainly the Kombi and Samba had chrome hubcaps.

The Panel from what I can work out (and I would welcome anyone to correct me please) kept painted hubcaps until 53-54 era

However, the colour of the hubcap is most debatable and the colour of the logo.

If the van had all white wheels (Lotus white L82), then the hubcap was painted grey. The colour of the logo changed a few times though. It was either black or from sometime in 52/53 it changed to body colour. Also, the customer could specify colour-coded hubcaps in which case the logo would have been painted white.

Hope this helps (or not!!)

Hi barclay
yes the old hubcap question i was always led to believe anything pre 57 was chrome and then they started the painted hubcaps for kombis and panels etc in the 58 model year?
Im sure somebody will have the exact dates somewhere.
looks like you have a bit of body work to keep you busy though it looks a lot straighter than i remember it.
ben

Had a trial fit of the body back onto the chassis yesterday - after lots of holding of breath it went on perfectly. That was a major milestone for us. Isn't it nice when a plan goes together LOL

Pics on the blog:

http://statusvw1952van.blogspot.com/

More pics posted in the last few days on the blog:

http://statusvw1952van.blogspot.com/

Here's a pic of the side panel removed and the newly fabricated inner support pieces now in place:

..will be watching this thread intently..

Loving the attention to detail but shouldnt your bus have a wide accelerator pedal not a thin? And is it correct to have the badge with missing section between the V and W. Thought that was very early barndoor?

looking good