Butchers Van
- Thread starter martin maltas
- Start date
quote:
Originally posted by martin maltas
Wishing I hadn't touched it now,
Well , you did
so keep on welding, will be great when finished.
Originally posted by martin maltas
Wishing I hadn't touched it now,
Well , you did
so keep on welding, will be great when finished.Is it already finished?
Wicked! Really glad to see you're getting started on this van Martin...
Ive not been on the forum for a while but Im restoring a Commer for a customer at the moment and Im lowering a lovely panel van too. Not crazy low but subtle and its rekindled my enthusiasm a bit... to the point that another Commer project has just joined my fleet. It's special, really special! Some might say it is the holy grail!
I'll tell you a little secret! The first Commer meet I came to; my main objective was to meet you and find out what was happening with this van because I wanted it! Id seen a pic of it so researched it and saw you'd bought it, then considered selling it , but that was a few years earlier... If it was for sale; i wanted to be at the top of the list! My background is in VW's, particularly commercial VW's and for us an original paint, original logo's panel van is just about as good as it gets... The other thing we really strive for is to have the earliest van possible so the Butchers van really is the Daddy!
Talking to you I sussed out that it wasnt for sale any longer but fortunately a few weeks later Sunny Citrus came up for sale and I knew it was the one for me... The logos were amazing and it was a PA so pretty early... albeit a '65 sidelamp and indicator van (Id have preffered a single lamp) but still a PA!
If the Butchers was mine Id repair it and then try and match the paint to keep it as original and unrestored looking as possible even though I know the cab wont have much left at all once youve waved your magic welding wand over it!!! Matching original paint usually takes as long as it would to completely repaint the van which may sound ridiculous but if you buy a lovely old farmhouse kitchen table you wouldnt get it french polished! You'd leave it as is to show its character and history...
So I've come up with a compromise! Restore the cab and chassis and rear frame to perfection, properly, super clean and lovely paintwork, but then put the original aluminium sheetmetal back onto the rear body. That way you keep a huge chunk of originality. Starighten it out if it needs it but retain all those original logos. Polish it, clean it, make it look cherished but dont repaint it. Anyone can restore a van and in its lifetime it could be restored 10 times but you only get one chance with original paint cause no matter what you do your van will only ever have it once. When it's gone, it's gone forever. What do you reckon? Preservation rather than restoration? Well actually no thats not quite right... Preservation and restoration!
Ive not been on the forum for a while but Im restoring a Commer for a customer at the moment and Im lowering a lovely panel van too. Not crazy low but subtle and its rekindled my enthusiasm a bit... to the point that another Commer project has just joined my fleet. It's special, really special! Some might say it is the holy grail!
I'll tell you a little secret! The first Commer meet I came to; my main objective was to meet you and find out what was happening with this van because I wanted it! Id seen a pic of it so researched it and saw you'd bought it, then considered selling it , but that was a few years earlier... If it was for sale; i wanted to be at the top of the list! My background is in VW's, particularly commercial VW's and for us an original paint, original logo's panel van is just about as good as it gets... The other thing we really strive for is to have the earliest van possible so the Butchers van really is the Daddy!
Talking to you I sussed out that it wasnt for sale any longer but fortunately a few weeks later Sunny Citrus came up for sale and I knew it was the one for me... The logos were amazing and it was a PA so pretty early... albeit a '65 sidelamp and indicator van (Id have preffered a single lamp) but still a PA!
If the Butchers was mine Id repair it and then try and match the paint to keep it as original and unrestored looking as possible even though I know the cab wont have much left at all once youve waved your magic welding wand over it!!! Matching original paint usually takes as long as it would to completely repaint the van which may sound ridiculous but if you buy a lovely old farmhouse kitchen table you wouldnt get it french polished! You'd leave it as is to show its character and history...
So I've come up with a compromise! Restore the cab and chassis and rear frame to perfection, properly, super clean and lovely paintwork, but then put the original aluminium sheetmetal back onto the rear body. That way you keep a huge chunk of originality. Starighten it out if it needs it but retain all those original logos. Polish it, clean it, make it look cherished but dont repaint it. Anyone can restore a van and in its lifetime it could be restored 10 times but you only get one chance with original paint cause no matter what you do your van will only ever have it once. When it's gone, it's gone forever. What do you reckon? Preservation rather than restoration? Well actually no thats not quite right... Preservation and restoration!
is it a milk float?
No silly, it's Woolfies brakedown truck
Hi Bobby, nice to hear from you again. It's a really difficult decision to make, I have left as many panels on the rear as possible. The chassis cab is so far gone, it wouldn't be possible to leave the patina. Half and half an interesting theory though
http://www.commervanspares.co.uk/
http://www.yorkshireclassiccampers.co.uk/
Hi Bobby, nice to hear from you again. It's a really difficult decision to make, I have left as many panels on the rear as possible. The chassis cab is so far gone, it wouldn't be possible to leave the patina. Half and half an interesting theory though
http://www.commervanspares.co.uk/
http://www.yorkshireclassiccampers.co.uk/
glad the truck arrived ok mate.yes guys i had the holy grail in my hands one minute and then the next it was gone,haha. i just havent got the time at the moment to start restoring another project, as i still have customers vans to sort out and then finish on or two things of my own which have been on the back burner for a year or so.so i decided to do a deal with bobby and hes gonna take it on. best of luck fella.
Big Bad Woolf
Big Bad Woolf