I made the comment at last Saturday's drive-'n-lunch that I had to get back home to finish painting the van. Well, the project's done.

Those of you that have seen the old van knew that paint was peeling off the hood, roof, and bumper. After 18 years, the water-based paint had lost it's affection for the primer and had taken flight (literally) for greener pastures.

Removing the paint took a knife blade and a lot of time. The entire hood, about 90% of the roof, and about half the front bumper were scraped clean down to the primer. Then came wet sanding, new primer, more wet sanding, lots of coats of DupliColor (cleaned out three different AutoZone stores of two different shades of white), more wet sanding, and a final buffing.

I didn't take a good "before" shot, but here are a couple of the in-process shots and the final result.

so the HOA got on your ass about the van too eh??


how am I gonna reconize you now when youre rolling the van?

you killed all its "character"
when I show people my van I grab a handful of the rusting body falling apart and give it to them as a keepsake....so my van has alot of holes in it
I think Palmy was the last to have the honor, I hope he still has a peice of the pedo van

No. I AM the HOA. What I says goes (or stays in this case).

I just got tired of having to clean up all the paint chips off the driveway after washing the thing.

you washed it????

Had my Ram 1500 for 6 years, washed it once, Ram 2500 4 1/2 years, twice

it came out good though Im sure you can ride around Carmel now without the glares, and the neighbors Im sure are glad

to fix mine yould need aloooooooot of body putty and duct tape
I fixed my broken window with duct tape, fyi, using a hammer to open the window is not a good idea

Just saw this - Wow! Looks good Rick. Who needs a $3000 paint job?

I still remember seeing that van when I was in high school when your wife was picking up your sons from school...lol props to you Rick for keeping that van!

It's strange how things work out. With all the money I've spent on cars, this is the one I can't live without. Cost nothing to buy, costs nothing to maintain, costs nothing to insure, don't care if it's stolen, don't have to lock it, don't have to worry about where it's parked, don't care if it gets crunched, don't care if it gets dirty/wet/snowy/caught in hail storm, can carry anything, and if the economy really goes to shit I can sell my house and live in it. Plus now I'm not even ashamed to be seen driving it.

That's funny but sad. My parents bought a 1987 Plymouth Voyager when I was born and we had it until 2005. We finally got rid of it when the sliding door fell off while it was parked, and my dad had to hold it shut while we drove home I miss it though, it was comfortable and it had pimp wheels too, kind of like these ones:
http://www.daytonwirewheels.com/images/wheels/c-c3-cross-bead-lace.jpg

I feal the same about my Van, even the not embarassed to be seen in it part

I was brought home from the hospital a month after i was born in a very similar van

theres the source of my attraction to you

HELP!

its too late for you palmy, youve already been in my Van.....