Mk1 VW LT 35 Tipper Truck 'Lucky Lloyd'

Thanks.....that's really appreciated 👍. There still a lot to do, but it's all heading in the right direction. 

Thanks....very kind of you to say so👍. Yeah....I think most people would of scrapped it a long time ago. If fact, I reckon the original owner thought " I'll stick this rusty old patch work quilt on Ebay and see if if some mug buys it......if it hasn't sold in a week I'll scrap it! " .......need I say more. 
I kind of think along the same lines.....as in, it's had a hard life and I'm trying to put a bit of hope back into it.

Thanks....👍.   You can never have too many intergrips 😄😄

When I first started this thread, I had my concerns as to whether an old 90s tipper truck would ' fit in ' within the pages of Retro Rides.....and to be honest, I'm still not sure that it does. The whole Lloyd project has so far been a tough balancing act between family time, work....and anything else that happens inbetween.......( I'm sure many others have the same issues ). So.....whether Lloyd fits in or not.....having a thread really does help with encouragement and enthusiasm. I genuinely appreciate everyone that takes the time to read and comment etc. There are some amazing projects on here along with a lot of very talented people....but my favourite and most inspiring project was/is jimspolicev8sd1 Rover SD1 3500 police car project. The workmanship carried out was phenomenal. If I can get half as close with Lloyd then I'll be happy. 

So, with all that in mind, I was over the moon when I read your comment. It definitely cheered me up after a miserable day at work 👍. I'm really pleased that you're enjoying the updates and certainly hope that you continue to do so. 

Dan.

Know what you mean, I enjoy posting about the Astravan and it’s a great diary of what I’ve done....
buuuuut it’s only a late 90s Astravan.
In the real world it’s quirky and cool, but on here it seems less so because of all the other, much cooler stuff.
So I felt a bit embarrassed, but, and this applies to both of us, they fit the rules on age, being commercial they are a bit rarer too, and you aren’t making anyone read the thread. Anyone not interested will scroll past and read something else, so I’m not going to worry about my build thread popping to the top of the page anymore and you definitely shouldn’t...
I definitely feel a charlatan having only turned a few spammers and wedged an engine in, when you are hand building most of the pickup

Look forward to your updates, they are very interesting!!

Yes, your absolutely right.....if someone's not interested in what you have to offer, then there's plenty of other cool stuff for them to browse through. As you know, I think your van is brilliant! I've not seen another Astra van that looks as tastefully cool as yours does.

Anyway, I'm only doing all this bodywork because I'm stupid enough to do so.....I should of been sensible right from the word go and bought a better example....so definitely don't feel like charlatan 😄👍

Fantstic work on the truck!


Couldnt agree more. The diversity of cars, trucks, boats, houses, wheelbarrows, & people of Retro Rides is amazing.
It's why I no longer visit any other forums, I don't know where else you could find such a eclectic mix of stuff.

Now that the roof had been finished, it was time to move onto the next rusty area......it was tricky to know which one as there's so many of them. I decided on the passenger side arch area. Now......I'd already had a good look under there so I knew that it wasn't good. On the drivers side I'd hand made the arch repair panels etc. But I was lucky that the inner arch was in good shape. The same couldn't be said for the passenger side. It was totally rotten and someone had stuck a load of mastic over it. Looking on line, I managed to find a complete front passenger side arch and step complete with the inner arch. I wish I knew about this before I did the other side! Anyway, I ordered the panel and it arrived safely. It's not the best of pressings.....but 'a panel' is better than 'no panel' of course. In my mind I was thinking "great!.....this'll speed things along.......as always......I was wrong. 



Anyway, here's the new panel......




















This is the area I was going to attack......







Old rusty arch off......



















Then unpick this bit.....











With all that out of way it was time to look deeper into what else needed attention before I could put the new arch in........and the answer was LOADS!!!! I started digging back and it was soon obvious that more major surgery was required.
























The rot went so deep I had to cut the rear left cab pillar apart to be able to address the problem.....




















So......theres a structure/outrigger that runs from the chassis to outside of the lower rear of the cab. It's the bit that's covered with the green plastic........






As you can see, it's all rotten and needs major work. To do this, it has to come off........but before it can go back on...........the chassis needs to be done 😭😭

Soooooooooo.......... only one thing for it.......I cant put it off for any longer. It's time to get my big boy pants on and address that massive ELEPHANT in the room.........the rotten chassis!!!!! 

More on that in the next update........

Your work actually leaves me emotional.


Just amazing what you get up to and make up.


I know that the reading takes 3-10 minues, the writing takes longer than that, and of course the work......


Thanks again for sahring.