The paint shop owner told me that he had inspected the work and that it wasn't up to standard. He reminded me that I had told him that I was fussy and that he didn't want to have to re-assemble it and dismantle it again - so he instructed his team to prepare it and paint it again. Once done I think that the paint was around half an inch thick....

Three weeks or so later it had been re-painted, cut, polished and re-assembled. To be fair to the man the paint was very good indeed, not a swirl or hologram on it anywhere. I was pleased.

I was not idle while the van was away, I had sourced a set of Sierra / Onion pepperpots and (I must be getting old, I didn't paint them myself...) had them powder coated and fitted with five matching tyres. I had the bulkhead divider powdered matt black and a new pair of roof bars made and powdered gloss black. I know the roof bars don't look great but I do have to carry ladders now and again as well as the odd thing over 3m long that won't fit inside so I have to live with them. New genuine mirrors and front bumper lifted the look of the front and the rear bumpers were powder coated (the wrong colour actually but hey ho) along with new door rubbers, window seals and roof gutter trim clips.

The underside was also treated to 'quick' restoration: sanded clean and undersealed. Maybe not to the standard of the top but fine for an all year round every day vehicle preservation exercise. Certainly smarter than the average Escort van left out there....

The sills were drilled with 6 drain / ventilation holes each side. I was wary of this but the paint man said that he had done it before on other old vans and the sills had remained in good condition on them as they usually condensate and rust from the inside out. I pointed out that if the sills do rust then it will be him sorting them out..... Everything was waxoyled to death too.













The interior was still pretty smart at this stage, the rubber carpet is still hole free and the drivers seat has stood up pretty well to the 30k miles that I have put on it but there is a plan for it.... I have managed to source a NOS steering wheel and gear knob, that, combined, make a real difference to the driving experience:



The paint man added the black strips over the lower door shuts, I wasn't sure when I first saw them, he said that I could peel it off if I didn't like it but they have grown on me....