George’s Cars

Well she is gone to a new home. But again she is not going far, only about 3 miles so i should see it again….

I have decided to try sell the van as is, I have too much on to try finish it so we’ll see how it goes. Being honest, she is a lovely van and if it doesn’t go it wouldn’t bother me but i need to know one way or another.

its an original westy with all the interior stuff in there but its in bad need of TLC, nothing a few hours cleaning wouldn’t sort out.

She recently when through a full respray in original colours.
New Windscreen + Rubber
New Cab door rubbers
New Sliding Door rubber
New Tailgate and engine lid rubbers.
Engine wise, she starts runs and drives but could do with a tune up.

Price €7200 no offers.

If no one here wants her I’ll retrim in the interior and do the TLC and she will be up for much more money then.

I haven’t been updating the blog lately because i haven’t been doing a lot of work in the garage lately. Work has been busy and the family has been a bit under the weather so between one thing and another the garage stuff has been put on the long finger BUT i want to start getting stuff done again.

I’m putting this todo list here as much for myself as anyone else, it nice to see these things in black and white, if might give me the kick i need. Right now I want to start work on the beach buggy BUT i have a few other things to do first.

Blue 72 Beetle:

Sort out the interior, fit rear door cards, install parcel shelf and speakers and fix carpet.

I would also like to do the body work on this but we might have to sell it on so i might sell her as is.

Fit heat exchangers

Red 70 Beetle:

This is away getting the bit of bodywork done, when it comes back it needs a new steering box and front shocks, then it will be sold. We have someone interested in her.

71 Bay westy:

Unfortunately this will have to go to make room for the new camper (more on that later)

Rewire front indicators

Order new door rubbers all round & fit

Clean the interior

Recover the seats and door cards

Sell!

New Camper – Hymer B694:

I’ll put pics of this up soon, I want to finish cleaning it before I start showing it off. As usual, the father and myself bought this together.

She needs a big spring clean and all the appliances need a service, fridge, hot water heater, night heater etc etc

I want to have her ready to use so we can go on short notice.

So that’s what has to be done before I get back to the beach buggy, none of them are big jobs BUT because I’m not getting much time in the garage they seem to be taking forever. I’m hoping to finish cleaning the Hymer over the weekend and maybe start servicing some of the bits in her with the help of a buddy Tristan who works with campers for a living. If you need anything camper related check out the guys on Pat Horan Campers

Finally my bay window is back home. It does look good but there is another weeks work in cleaning her out and getting her ready for sale. Yip unfortunately I have purchased another van,I’ll tell ye more about that later on but basically the bay has to go to make room for the new van, and being honest, the bank manager wants it gone too!!

Well I called up to see progress on my 71 Westy, i was supposed to be picking it up on Sunday but as you can see thats not going to happen. He reckons it will be another 2 weeks before its ready.

I am impressed with how good the body is, it will need a litte filler in one or two spots but not much considering its 38 years old. When it was sanded back to bare metal there was no filler on the van, no sign of accident damage.

So its taking longer than I wanted but by the looks of the quality of the van it will be worth the wait.

Well i got an update on the bay window today. Unfortunately due to some problems at the paint shop I’m not going to get it back until the second or third week in Janruary. Its a pain in the arse but what can I do.

I’ll post pictures when I see her.

Right time i got my ass back in gear and started doing some work in the garage:

71 Westy – this is away being painted at the moment, hoping to get it back next week

Morris Traveller – this isn;t ok at the moment, on the last drive it cut out on me and i have no idea why, fuel is getting to the carb, it getting a spark but nothing is happening. the carb is clean too so i don’t know what the problem is. It drove perfect for 20 miles then decided that it had enough and had to be trailered home

Beach Buggy – between the holiday and work this have been put on the back burner for the last few weeks but i want to get it going again soon. Newt job is to get all the chassis parts sandblasted and painted so i can continue to build the chassis. I also want to get aluminium checkerplate for the floor of the buggy, i like the rough and ready look.

I was talking to Frank Farrel over the weekend, he is going to spray the 71 Westy for me in about 2 weeks time. Its more of a freshen up than a full resto.

It should be about in about 6 weeks all nice and clean.

This is the 71 Westy I ended up with. Its a long story that I’ll go into again but here she is.

She is a good solid van, you can tell that she is original, everything is there is just needs a good clean and after that it comes down to personal choice.Mechanically she seems to be very good, I brought her for a spin when she got to galway and I’m very happy with her, I would have no worries about driving her anywhere.Body work. Now this comes down personal taste, I don’t like the rat look, if it was my bus I would spray it asap but thats me. Around the front screen is the worst and that is solid, I attacked it will and screw driver and it didn’t even make a mark let alone going through it. The body is very very straight, one or two small little dents but for the year its very straight. The front screen is cracked and the window rubber is perished.Biggest positive about this is it looks 100% original, no one has messed with it over the years. Besides the years of dust it looks exactly as it left westifilia in 1971.So thats my assessment of the bus. As Ruairi mentioned, I helped him out with this, I never really wanted this bus and with the beach buggy project I don’t want to take the project on for the winter BUT I will if i have to. So if anyone anyone want to take a look or make a offer I would consider it, if not it will be back up for sale next summer with a shiney coat of paint and all the dust cleaned out of her.