Volkswagen Caravelle C T25 1985

[nnabeel]

Wow...cool trick for the window rubber. i wonder youtube is really a blessing.....

[nnabeel]

Sir, ur patience has resulted a good outcome ...selecting the right workshop......smooth straight panels.

[nnabeel]

Sir, i am no expert but some pipe are evident behind the wheels. will they be covered with the shield or are they dislocated?

[abdul_basit007]

Fender Splash Shield is use to hide those pipes and avoid the dirt touch the body!

[msabbasi]

Good catch. Those are the a/c pipes to the drier. It is located here. I will check to see if the T25 has fender liners. As far as I know this van does not. but I am now eager to find out. Will update you about the outcome.

[msabbasi]

@nnabeel The online parts book does not list fender liners for this van. The only thing remotely similar are mud flaps and fender flares. Just as I had suspected.

Fender flares

Mud flaps

[msabbasi]

Exterior/Interior: The van is still in primer at the shop. They have had the blue colour mixed. As per them they will apply a small patch of the blue alongside a few shades of white so that the wife can go and pick out the shade that best compliments the blue. For the blue, we are sticking with the factory shade as it is easy because the inside of the van will not need any colour change.

Factory colour code is J2J2. Other numbers relate to the options etc.

The factory blue is J2J2 which translates to VW Marine Blue. Here I will point out that the first J2 refers to the roof and the second J2 refers to the lower body. In two tone vans, the code might be say, J4J2 in which case the roof is Kurilen Blue and lower body Marine Blue. You get the idea. Our interest is in the J2 colour. Deciphering colour code is not as simple as that, J2 has a further reference code which is LA5B. So if one went the paint shop and looked at their paint shade book to find J2 under VW shades, it will not be found. But LA5B is there. Strange, but that is the way it is.

I learned that there are about 3000 shades of white. We have to pick out just the right one to sit with the Marine Blue. Right now I and wife are hanging between Old English White and Tafeta White (Honda). This part of the project is pretty straight forward but the inside layout is giving me a bit of a problem.

I have discussed the matter with my wife but she is not giving me any correct guidance about her needs. From my side I thought of putting a solar panel on the roof big enough to power a fan, fridge, coffee maker etc. Put a hard wood floor to make her stay out doors be more comfortable. Some thing like this:

Van is a Bay Window (previous generation to mine) owned by a young German boy who bought it here, restored it and was driving back to Germany in it.

Note the floor. The box is a portable fridge. This van had the solar panel installation.

But she said that she finds the steering too hard and cannot drive it on her own. So I will have to accompany her. This has thrown a wrench in the whole project.

So if I am to accompany her then I can guard her and she can sit outside just as in the pics above. And if she is not going to paint sitting inside the van then I may as well return the van to factory layout, i.e 7 seater. Totally confused!!! Maybe a power steering conversion???

[xenerking]

Obviously, she wants a BRV or Fortuner or a Rover.

[msabbasi]

How did you guess?????

The other day she asked how much was the Fortuner. She is nuts about the Range Rover.

[mehran]

If you can afford it, the Range Rover should get all your jobs done. Restore the Transporter as a fun project

[xenerking]

just a little understanding of female thinking and and knowing that you drive a Jag..

an old Rover with lesser electronics will be most suitable with lift up back door where you can sit and enjoy the view..

dont tell her about the new RR SUV having built in chairs and other stuff in back

[msabbasi]

I can afford the Range Rover but what I don't have is parking space. Already the poor V Dub is relegated to standing on the street outside.

[msabbasi]

Oh Dear!! Good thing she doesn't know about the new RR Cullinan. I saw all the promotional videos back when it was introduced. She also likes the Land Rover Defender. But the main issue is parking space. On top of that if my son decides to return from Europe then he will be buying a car and that too will need a parking space.

[msabbasi]

Well nothing much is going on with the van so I thought it appropriate to give a tribute to my artist wife by posting a few photos of her work just so we know what the fuss is all about

As one can see she is pretty serious about her work. At the moment she is gearing up for a solo exhibition in Karachi.

[mehran]

Maybe it's time to upgrade or expand your real estate too

[msabbasi]

Good one. I think you are out to move me to a whole new ZIP code. I think it is better I keep a tight grip on my valet.

[msabbasi]

After a frustrating week with the workshop Today I decided that I will go an sit in the middle of the entrance to the workshop and tell them that I will not leave until they apply a sample of the colours on the van as they had promised me a week ago. I was informed by the foreman that the blue colour has already been obtained it was the white that was being arranged. That was about a week ago.

Today I found out that the foreman has been fired for misleading customers. Apparently I was not the only one to whom lies were told. So to cut a long story short, no paint had been mixed - nothing was done.

I had to take the painter in my car from I-9 to G-8 burned my petrol to get a sample of the blue and a couple of whites mixed. On top of this I found that the foreman had written an amount on the internal copy of the job card 40% more amount than what was agreed with me . So I was not too thrilled about driving the painter around Islamabad collecting paint samples. On the mater of the cost, I and the work shop owner agreed that we cannot move forward until it is resolved.

That's pretty close considering that all the paint shop got was LA5B code.

The wife has rejected both the white shades I got and decided to follow an old VW own colour scheme

The blue is not quite Marine Blue but close enough. The white is Damuso White code P6

This the colour scheme she has picked out.

So tomorrow, I go to the paint shop and get some VW LH9D made. We will see how that goes.

[msabbasi]

At the moment, I and the workshop are in a deadlock over the price issue. So things have ground to a halt. Yesterday, I had a shouting match with the shop owner's son who was in the office at the time. I managed to convince the son that I had been dealt with unfairly by the terminated foreman. Now I am waiting for the actual owner to accept my point of view. I have in the mean time arranged a few paint samples to be made up for selection. Due to the phone camera auto colour correction the actual colour is a bit different in real life.

Blue with VW LL1M shade click on the image to see full picture

Blue with VW LH9D shade click on the image to see full picture

[msabbasi]

Will probably go for the second option.

[nnabeel]

sECOND OPTION IS BEST.