71 Danbury

[Wannabay]

this is the sierra yellow/white van in the EB banner pic above taken at the EB lineup at Volksworld show 4 (?) years ago
now in local VW bodyshop
on the 'road'

stripped and the usual rust revealed

lurking behind the front bumper

front arch

rear arch

windscreen

rear corners

sliding door

the bottoms of the cab doors and tailgate are shot and so are being replaced
the sliding door is borderline; prefer to find a rustfree replacement but may have to repair; if anybody has one stashed away......
the rear bumper has taken a knock, reversed into a lamp post obscured by rear qtr, and may need replacing
cab and cargo floors are pretty solid
the door cards need replacing but I'm hoping to be able to peel off the original grey/black vinyl and reuse as the interior is 90% stock danbury
haven't decided on colour yet
will post new pics as/when I get chance to pop over to Brickfields
cheers
gerry

 

[Danbury Doug]

Not seen you about for a while Gerry!

I think the original Sierra Yellow and White takes a lot of beating, but if you're fancying a change, I'm sure your bus will look fab with whatever you decide to go for. 8)

Oh and make sure that Danbury badge is saved, and goes back on afterwards! :lol:

 

[Wannabay]

the resto has been continuing, more rot revealed, inner lower front panel

behind each cab seat

in the cargo floor but chassis and cross members OK, plus good opportunity to take off the belly pans too

rear nearside arch cut away

ditto both front arches

 

[Camperdan]

Thought I recognised that workshop...
Will be watching this take shape with much interest..... Phil does great work.

....and a Danbury too, excellent!

 

[Nugsy]

Yep been there two with all that lot, at least you know its in good hands. Got all my original Danbury interior to go in my new US bus as not being sided it can go in either way LHD or RHD

One question, do they not take the alloys off when doing that kind of work. I put some shabby steelies on when doing mine as the crap from grinding/slittling was starting to stick in the soft alloy in parts?

Gotta keep that colour though as its a corcking choice

 

[Robb]

cool! another danbury! will be following this 8)

 

[Wannabay]

found some more pics of the rot, look away now...........
lower front inner panel

rusty floor, outrigger and non-existent jacking point

sill

more sill with belly pan peeled away

inner sill

arch, can't make out if it's front or rear

 

[Wannabay]

moving on.......
new n/s rear qtr plus new battery tray

patch behind cab seat, both sides

new front outrigger and jacking point, both sides

n/s inner arch repair

new inner and outer sills, both sides

half new floor in

and complete

better pic of outrigger/jacking point with new floor

 

[Wannabay]

on to the doors
slider had previously been (poorly) repaired at bottom and was badly corroded under window aperture

so decided to see if I could find a replacement; on verge of giving up when Richard at Coolair came up with these on EB

Richard took my slider away and thought it may be salvageable by a 'cut and shut' with another door he had
I also got 2 NOS cab doors as mine were rotten at bottom and had been glass fibre repaired at some stage
But they were difficult to fit, esp the passenger door, so Phil resorted to major surgery
my old door

NOS door

and join the 2 best bits

finally, rather than have a join across the face of the door, Phil replaced the outer skins with a NOS complete door skin he had

 

[rallye dale]

Cool

keep the pics coming

 

[Wannabay]

new front arches

and new n/s rear arch, the o/s rear arch and qtr just had surface rust and cleaned up fine

windscreen surround repair, before

after

o/s side window opening repair

lower front bottom outer panel

passenger cab door, clearly showing old top and new bottom halves, anyone want the top half hanging on the wall at back?

view of n/s with new passenger and sliding doors on, reminds me of the Fiat Uno (?) with different colour body panels

driver's cab door, Phil managed to get a decent fit after a bit of judicious realignment of the upper half

think there's a bit of fettling to do on the driver's door, then it's on to the prep stage next
am really not sure about colours, whether to stick with the sierra yellow/pastel white or do something completely new........................

 

[dubscum]

nice to see rot being replaced by nice metal. As for the colour its crying out for harlequin

then slam it

8)

 

[Wannabay]

van was finished a few weeks back after 4 months work by Phil Norman of Brickfields, in SE London.
Phil has done a fabulous job and i'd certainly recommend him.
So here's the paint pics and the first 'back on the road' pics
in primer

roof in pastel white

is that a raleigh chopper?

i did think of a grey finish when i saw this

'new' doors and tailgate in the paint booth

first pics in its new livery, beryl green, a beetle colour from the 60s

it's quite 'vibrant' under artificial light, sometimes verging on lime green!

that's the top half of the NOS passenger door hanging on the wall, it just wouldn't fit

shiny, shiny

can't get over the finish, it is amazing

coming together, deluxe bumper trims are new

new rear tail lght lenses

back on the road after 4 months of work!

this is more representative of it's 'true' colour

waist line trim is stainless steel from the states; i will put some tips on fitting/clips in the tech section

more deluxe bumper trims; a couple of Doris' brackets fitted, awaiting reversing lights

lined up outside Phil's unit

and his amazing van; he also has a beetle drag racer in similar livery!

 

[Airtime]

Great job, great colour too! 8)

Phils van is also very cool, I like the '70's style striping! 8)

 

[matt-me]

Looking great, well done. Phil's a top man, he did my bus about four years ago now. A Danbury too.

 

[Chris C]

Looks really cool, and exactly how my 72 Danbury will need restoring next year - would it be cheeky to ask approx cost (saving already for mine) PM if thats OK ?.

Chris C

 

[68_early_bay]

Wow cracking job 8) nice colour

 

[Wannabay]

A long time since I put anything on this thread
In 2015 we got a litesteer power steering unit fitted which was a revelation, then last winter, after several years of using the original danbury layout we decided on an interior makeover
so in spring 2016, Spaceroofs in Devon fitted a poptop with gas struts so it's really easy to raise and lower, and has side mesh panels which allow air to circulate, good when it's hot


and in summer i fitted a new interior from SJS VW in Southport to replace the original danbury interior, although I kept the original topbox having to cut it down to fit the new roof profile. It's a really practical layout with lots of cupboard space and the bed is slightly wider than the standard 3/4 width. I've since replaced the 'porta potti' seat by the sliding door with a rusty lee foldaway buddy seat to make better use of the space




then in August we got the ferry to Bilbao and drove back over 2 weeks via San Sebastien and the French atlantic coast...................and it was all worth it, we could stand up in the van, the R&R bed was a breeze compared to the danbury's diy effort, we had a fridge, hob and sink (although we cook and wash up oustide mainly) and we're looking forward to more adventures when it's warmer. I'll post details of our itinerary on the camping forum shortly

 

[*Sam*]

Looks really good.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Fernando Palmela]

Congratulations............it´s very well