In the mean time, here's the text of the letter I have detailing the state of the bus when I took it away in order to speed up the process by shifting from a one man band to a team of four.
To be fair, some of the previous delay was down to me having to send money at intervals, but we reached a point where my man's business model (take on several projects to secure cashflow and work on all of them part time) meant it wasn't going to be finished anywhere near on time ...
The letter's author had taken great pains to dissuade me from having him complete the work ... because HE has some integrity!
"Dear Mr ..........
With reference to Volkswagen Motor caravan bearing VRM ........., please find following my assessment of your failed restoration project. I speak in my capacity as a classic VW restoration specialist with much experience in these matters.
My initial assessment of your vehicle was conducted through the link you sent me to a photo-bucket account linked to a fairly well known local ‘VW Specialist’.
If I understand things correctly, he had your vehicle for an extended period of time and you were making staged payments for parts and labour when he demonstrated, via photos in this account, that he’d completed certain tasks or areas of repair work.
Having spent around two hours studying these pictures I began to feel that serious errors were being made.
In my opinion the job was not one that should have been undertaken in the first place and, at best, would be extremely difficult to finish off to any satisfactory standard.
My observations from the pictures included, but were not limited to the following points.
RHS rear wheel tub had been fitted in the wrong position.
This had a knock-on effect to the position of the battery platform and the rear corner.
Many areas of repairs were started, but none finished.
Those that were started clearly needed cutting off and starting again.
The routine jobs (inner and outer sills, cargo floor, rear wheel tubs, rear arches, battery trays and corners etc) all appeared to the untrained eye to be complete, but in fact were far from finished.
The areas of extensive corrosion, such as the roof gutters and roof edge support had largely been ignored. Given that this area is one of the most critical and difficult to repair, surely this should have been fully assessed at the onset of the repairs?
All of these suspicions were confirmed when in Feb 2017 we took delivery of your vehicle and undertook a detailed inspection.
In addition to the above, the following issues were identified.
Inner and outer sills fitted in wrong position.
Incorrect cargo floor supplied, unfitted. (Item supplied was cheap split screen panels, not the correct Type 2 ones that retail at about 4 times the price).
Both rear outer arches not attached to wheel tubs or rear corners.
Rear corners and battery trays incorrectly fitted.
RHS rear wheel tub installed too far back in van.
Top-hat floor supports welded in incorrectly.
Front bulkhead repairs welded in too high, on both sides.
Corrosion around tailgate aperture ignored when should have been repaired with full d-posts and full height rear corners.
Expensive LHS rear wheel tub butchered for small sections when specific cheap repair parts could have been purchased instead.
My suspicion is that the RHS tub mistake had been realised at this point and given the lack of cargo-floor reference points, your restorer did not favour his chances of ‘guessing’ where the second rear wheel tub went so opted for not fitting it at all.
Multiple small sections of front cab steps and front wheel tubs had been cut-out, when time should have been spent removing the panels by drilling spot welds, ready for full replacement panels to be fitted in conjunction with the front end restoration requirements.
Wiring loom had been cut through rather than being removed or working around.
Area under fuel tank was extensively corroded – no efforts had been made to address these areas
even though the van had spent some considerable time on its side having areas stripped, repaired and
painted.
Sliding door aperture was incorrect (owing to poor fitting of outer sill) and sliding door would not
operate on its runners.
Sliding door parts were also missing, even though there was no reason for them to have been removed from the door.
I’m afraid to say that the workbyou have paid for is some of the worst I’ve ever seen.
In my opinion, the van was never restorable for less than £60,000.
It needed extensive donor body cuts to fix the front end, back end and the roof.
It also needed every available VW repair panel and many custom
parts.
Whilst I’m sure if money was no object, we could have saved the vehicle for you from the on-set, once a vehicle has undergone so many bad repairs, restoration becomes virtually impossible and the costs spiral.
There was no area of repair work that passed for restoration standard work and sadly, I doubt much of it would even have passed for basic MOT standard repairs.
I feel that an experienced restoration company would have guided you in the right direction from the off, rather than trying to restore a vehicle that simply wasn’t viable.
I have voiced my concerns to the person responsible for your repairs and his response was to ask if he could come and have some ‘time in the workshop with us, so he can see what he’s doing wrong’.
Sadly, I do not feel this is appropriate.
My recommendation was that the vehicle defects were documented and be broken up and written off, for practical and safety reasons.
The outfit who you initially instructed is known to work alone and run multiple restorations side-by-side.
I employ 3-4 staff as this type of work physically can not be done single handed, and we never have more than two large restorations on the go at any time.
The outfit you initially instructed is known for his poor workmanship within the trade, and I am not the first person to raise issues with him.
I have sent you a short video highlighting some of the defects on your van. Please feel free to use it as you see fit.
I am happy to stand by the opinions expressed here and in the video I’ve sent you.
I wish you luck with your current projects and I hope you are, to some degree, compensated for the shocking work you have paid for by the person responsible for those repairs.
Any questions please don’t hesitate to contact me on ..........."
