You may remember my post a few weeks ago about a stolen car being crashed into my kombi. Well I got the kombi back from the smach repairers the other day, and now the nose is the best-looking bit of the whole kombi!

They said the old nose was full of bog from previous smashes, the bog was over an inch thick in places! They cut at the A-pillars, and wrapped the replacement nose panel onto the body seams at the doors and along the bottom just behind the bumper. The A-pillars were all rusted away under the existing paint, so they patched and reinforced them with steel. The new bumper has slightly thinner metal than the previous one but it's brand new and looks good so I don't mind. The replacement bullbar is identical to the previous one. The license plate is hidden by the spare tyre, hopefully I won't get in trouble for that!

got to be happy with that!!

maybe just move the number plate to the side??

The number plate used to be on the side on the previous bumper, it was still partly hidden by the spotlight. To be honest I'm not really bothered by it being hidden. I'm good at being polite to the police, they usually let me go even if I have been a bit naughty. :P

Always good when something bad turns good. Looks smick:thumb

very nice looking, why ot try putting the No plate in the middle of the spare wheel ? thats if you want :bounce

Looking good Tell anyone who asks you're in the middle of a respray!

Hey Purple
The front looks so good, you will have to paint the rest of the Kombi now!
Rob..:thumb

[Edited on 8-8-2003 by Robo]

I wish the front of mine looked that good! You'll have to put a cheapie wheel-trim on the spare so it looks nicer - worked for me! :thumb

ooooooooooooh. so nice and shinnneeeeeee!

Definitley a :thumb

Not a lot of panel shops will take on work like that these days.

Thanks for all the positive replies

You're right Helbus, I had to do some searching to find someone who would do a panel replacement not just a bog-job, even though it was an NRMA insurance job. I'm not saying anything against the NRMA, they're great, it's just that most smash repairers seem to only want to work on new expensive cars.

In the end I found that Everlast in Fyshwick (Canberra) would do it. I know it's a big chain, but this branch is run by a family who've been doing it for decades. The guys who do the repairs are quite old now (they look 50-60ish) and I think they're brothers. Anyway, they've got a great attitude and they want to do a proper job of any job. So if you're in Canberra and you need some body work done, go to them before they retire and we lose them forever!

I think "panel beating " is a lost a art these days most are "panel replacers" took my scratched beetle guard to a few panel beaters and they quoted ridiculous prices because the really don't want the work. Found you have to pay for a quote if your not making an insurance claim.