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Date:         Mon, 18 Oct 2010 11:17:26 -0700
Reply-To:     "Brandon A. Christophel" <bchristophel@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         "Brandon A. Christophel" <bchristophel@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Simply Stunning....  PICTURES!
In-Reply-To:  <003f01cb6eed$17657260$46305720$@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Whoops, Had to edit some links. They should all be working now. Edits inline below...

-----Original Message----- From: Brandon A. Christophel [mailto:bchristophel@gmail.com] Sent: Monday, October 18, 2010 10:51 AM To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Subject: RE: Simply Stunning.... PICTURES!

Hello all,

PHASE 2 of my project plan is now complete... Phase 3 is already in the works. I didn't have Zoltan do the Pop Top because I have something special planned for it in Phase 3.

Without further a do, here it is in all its beauty. It looks like it just rolled off the assembly line.

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_1aEHGM4ZimM/TLx8Ey7jF4I/AAAAAAAAAMc/FsohAwJYgL0/s800/3 .jpg

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_1aEHGM4ZimM/TLx8DfNcCLI/AAAAAAAAAMQ/tzHcINcF3OQ/s800/6 .jpg

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_1aEHGM4ZimM/TLyN5N2k82I/AAAAAAAAANg/_r5m0Xbzpdc/s800/4 .jpg

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_1aEHGM4ZimM/TLyN5Wgi5pI/AAAAAAAAANk/EfSokrA4mx4/s800/2 .jpg

I bought this NINE gallon! propane tank from Bus Depot. I thought I was going to lose more clearance but, Zoltan made a bracket that was great. I only ended up losing 1 inch of clearance from original factory spec.

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_1aEHGM4ZimM/TLx8C5AJfSI/AAAAAAAAAMM/InngZqAPVtc/s800/7 .jpg

THANK YOU Zoltan!

-Brandon -----Original Message----- From: Brandon Christophel [mailto:bchristophel@gmail.com] Sent: Saturday, September 25, 2010 2:04 PM To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Subject: Simply Stunning....

I had beed doing small projects on my 1987 Westy for a few months. As you do van research, you can't help but run across peoples experiences with rust. I could see where my seams were showing a tinge of rust color. I sense of dread sunk in. Rust is like an iceberg they say. If you can see the tip, then whats underneath is huge. This is what started the sense of dread that I carried while finishing up small projects. Pretty soon it became the monkey on my back and I couldn't take it anymore. I finished up the projects and began to seek out a doctor for my baby. Not just any doctor, I wanted a specialist.

I put out some feelers. The name that came back was "Zoltan". He's had my van for awhile now. He sent me a mail saying, "its out of paint and it looks beautiful". You have to know the man but, he usually doesn't use decorative words like that. He'll say, "and it's fine" or "that's ok". So, I was *very* curious what I was to see.

Getting the van to this point is the culmination of a lot of hard work. Zoltan has been like the conductor of an orchestra. Doing the tear down of *everything*, noting items to be replaced or fixed and giving me options along the way, getting the sanding done and bringing the body metal back to trueness, attacking rust and going through the procedures he has to get rid of it and probably a hundred other things I'll never know he did.

Today I get to see it. The results of all this work so far. So, in my car and off to Lynnwood I go. I saw Zoltan and waved hello. He was moving cars around among the fleet of Westys that are his domain. We greeted and walked as we were chatting. We rounded the corner of one of the other Westys and suddenly, I looked up and there it was, my baby... it was simply STUNNING... I think I clapped my hands and yelped. I turned to Zoltan and shook his hand. "It's fantastic!" I said. All his preparation work had paid off. The van is incredible looking and yet, it doesn't even have it's trim put back on it yet. Zoltan took me around the vehicle and led me through pieces of the the work and how it was done. I just couldn't stop looking. It's gorgeous! We still have a ways to go but, man it's going well. It is a work of art already.

Zoltan won't brag so, I felt it necessary to send this mail. He may not like it but, the way I see it, If I don't inform the community of the availability of a master craftsman and the fine work he is doing then, I am doing a disservice to all all those van owners who were like me and had a monkey on their back but, didn't know who to trust.

Get rid of your monkey. Call Zoltan.

-Brandon


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