Date:         Tue, 5 Sep 1995 18:39:22 -0700
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         jim@atcweb.atc.1dc.com (Jim Ellis)
Subject:      More L82 White Discussion

Regarding the L82 "Silver White" 
Sami Dakhlia asked:

SAMI> Does this color code and use apply to all model years or only to
>splits?

rvb>> I really don't know. I saw a list of codes somtime back but the L82
wasn't even included in the list! The closest I found was the L282 Lotus White.


SAMI> Poptops actually get painted? (Although impermeable, the poptop of my
>'75 is rough and porous. If L82 is the real thing, then there's a new
>project for some distant future...)
>
rvb>> There is absolutely no way that I am gonna pretend to be a guru and
give a definitive answer. My personal opinion and judgement is that the
fiberglass/glassfibre tops were probably "Gelcoated" when new to create the
smoother surface of the Dormobiles and the '65-'67 Westies. The only
Dormobiles that I have seen have the topspainted to match the bottom (one
coloured) bus. I personally needed to repair the chalky surface of the
poptop of my '67 Westy. The poptop was sanded primed sanded again after the
application of a minor skin of glazing/bondo and then sanded and primered
for paint. From what I have been told/led to believe from several sources is
that the Silver White would at least appear as being correct. I think that
it would make plenty of sense to paint the bugger to match the L87 Pearl top
half of the bus or the top half color what ever it is. Who's gonna bust you
the "Resto Police"? =)
Would I paint the top of my '83 Westy? I personally would avoid it as long
as I could primarily for the pebbled surface and the size of it and secondly
I think I wouldn't want to deal with the potential of the paint chipping
etc. Ithink I can justify (to myself) painting the poptop of the '67 because
I don't have much choice and because of the smaller size and smooth suface.
I think I would like to do more reading and research about paint prep and
fiberglass treatments proir to taking on the '83 or your '75 topper.
.............................................................................

Below is the list of "whites" that I saw from several sources:

L87 Pearl White '58-'67  Beetle and Cab, Type2 and 3, KGhia TypeI/ Cabrio/3

L282 Lotus White '65-'71  Beetle, KGhia, Type2, Type3

L286 Turquiose White '61-'63  Beetle

L289 Blue-White 3/'61-'66 Beetle and Cab, Type2

L567 Ivory  '65-  Type2

L680 Cumulus White '65-'71 Beetle and Cab

No Number  Opal White '61-'63  Beetle