VW Camper finished restoration – the exterior pics

After several years and a few months of driving we finally arrived at the time for a photo shoot – the Camper was about perfect – restored how we liked it to be. There are imperfections and non original items but on the whole the finished bus was a pleasure to drive and own. Click pictures to view in hi resolution..

A bright sunny North Carolina day, after a day of detail work, lovely rich deep red – Titian red – with Beige grey upper. The bumpers and wheels were powdercoated in RAL Signal White – close to Silver Beige but not exact. The important thing was the bumpers were not the same colour as the top half of the bus (common mistake);

Side picture shows front door gaps to be spot on. Cargo door alignment on the other hand is a pain once the door seals are in place – here you can just see a gap at the bottom of the door – however, it is water tight and locked. Correct L code door handles and keys were expensive to track down and key alike – Gabe keys in Texas helped here;

Rear quarter picture showing near perfect rear hatch alignment. Correct 2 year only trigger pull on the rear hatch and engine cover decklid. Correct pointy or diamond rear bumpers with the correct deluxe trim mounted;

Spot the grateful dead VW wreath on the back window – a credit to the previous owners. All red rear lights, age related North Carolina 1967 TAG – in that state you are allowed to run a TAG that is not registered to the car so long as it has the correct year of manufacture and state on it. The local police were also interested in the TAG for a while until they realised it was ok. Ceramic coated exhaust tip in the stock location poking out from under the bumper;

The long panel – perhaps the most difficult to make look right and as the factory intended. There are two schools of thought here – either go with the factory rippled look or spend a huge amount of time (and money) making the long side as smooth and mirror finished as possible. We had a half way between the two result. Still the reflection is crisp and smooth – a credit to the painter (Brent);

Drivers side front door (LHD) another view of the long panel and more details of the front of the bus, round clamp mirrors, fish eye indicators, deluxe trim on the US spec bumpers, rocker trim, and a door gap that is about perfect;

And finally the cover shot;