1971 niagra blue deluxe microbus

[patina man]

ok, here goes, i bought this deluxe microbus from illinois on just a few pics and a brief description. anyway here it is, a good buff, a bit of welding on the outer sills and a tinker with the brakes and on the road it would be. how wrong.



any a few months passed and the bus arrived in sunny cornwall.

i was a bit shocked when it arrived, the previous owner has gone over every little rust spot or mark with a resin based rust eater, which made the bus look bad and would not come off. also what was described to me as original paint, no accident damage, and no previous welding was wrong too. i hate it when people are not honest about what they are selling.

so anyway, what was going to be a quick 2/3 month turnaround has turned into 18 month (so far) of full resto using as much of the original bus as i can. enjoy.

 

[patina man]

so here is the start of the resto, don't seem to have any full pics of it when it arrived.

rear corner not too bad looking, but full of filler, you can just about see the cracking around the reversing light.



rear o/s rear arch



rear o/s front arch. the mark in the middle is actually a small hole in aluminium sticky foil, with a skim of filler over.



o/s front dogleg to floor

 

[patina man]

front screen removed, nice mess here.





n/s dogleg



n/s rear arch



n/s cab floor



o/s cab floor

 

[Dave.P]

Holy sh1t, plenty to do.. I guess they're not all solid imports :? What's the chassis and interior like ?
One of my favourite colours though !
Soon be right mate
Good luck with it

 

[patina man]

chassis is good as are all the doors, black original underseal did its job.

 

[patina man]

engine runs just, but is leaking like a sieve so will be replaced. rear valance is banannared so a replacement will be needed.



filler and rot

 

[patina man]

out with the grinder and flap discs.





welding the gaps

 

[patina man]

a bit of filler picking

 

[patina man]

crazed filler picked out of the front

 

[patina man]

onto a bit of floor repair







small pieces made and welded in.

 

[patina man]

front outer dogleg





o/s cab floor

 

[patina man]

sill n/s rear outer patch

 

[patina man]

o/s front closing panel, not original paint now black underseal chipped off. the underneath of the bus is actually very solid.

 

[patina man]

o/s front dogleg inner panel/ bumper support

 

[patina man]

sill o/s rear patch

 

[patina man]

onto battery tray and rear o/s corner





note the thick filler around the reverse light aperture



old for new



cut out time



in position

 

[patina man]

rear light panel in position

 

[patina man]

n/s rear corner

 

[georgeyv]

Looks great so far!

It's a shame when you find all the hidden nasties, but you look well equipped to get them sorted!

Good luck!

 

[patina man]

under sliding door sill time



good secondhand rear valance fitted up