Mod Idea: Paint Schemes--Skin Deep Beauty Paint

OldWest

2004 T1N Westfalia
1. Trompe-l'oeil rooftop cargo basket.

How about painting or wrapping the fiberglass top so the bottom half looks like a rooftop cargo basket (metal frame and mesh in black) and the top half looks like covered cargo? Add painted cargo holddown straps.

So then would look like a low roof Sprinter that is overloaded with rooftop cargo.

2. Trompe-l'oeil Boat

Some folks have thought the fiberglass top was an upside down boat. Not a bad idea.
 
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OldWest

2004 T1N Westfalia
Okay, more on the "Silver Edition." Saw one in person a couple of years ago in Phoenix, Arizona--a visiting couple from Europe. The Silver Edition may have been a 25th anniversary of the James Cook version for 2003--not sure. Besides the silver paint color like most NAFTA Westies, also had a graphic logo and stripe on the fiberglass top and many options as standard. There are special advertising brochures on the Silver Edition on ebay, but brochures are in German.

Here's a photo in this link:

http://carinpicture.com/2012/09/wes...cedes-sprinter-james-cook-2000-2006-photo-08/
 

OldWest

2004 T1N Westfalia
Limited Edition in all black with chrome accents (beneath windshield fresh air intake grille and front grille), with leather interior. Notice Westfalia logo on front carpet mats. (Note: the two cupholder floor piece on our Westies is also removable for more footspace when leaving seats and moving/heading to rear). Although not in these photographs, believe hard surfaces were a different finish/color. Could be called the Darth Vader edition.

Wonder how many other editions are out there.
 

OldWest

2004 T1N Westfalia
A. Limited Edition

https://sprinter-source.com/forum/showthread.php?t=394&highlight=Edition

https://sprinter-source.com/forum/showthread.php?t=393&highlight=Edition

From Zach's posts above, lots of options for hard and plastic surfaces.

B. Special Edition.

And link below to YouTube review of a Special Edition, with different upholstery fabric, rooftop air conditioning (Westfalia did a better job interior-wise with this unit), etc.

Search YouTube for: WESTFALIA JAMES COOK SPECIAL EDITION REVIEW - YouTube

C. Older James Cook

with wood floors, extra skylight in kitchen area, curtains for upper vent windows and big skylight, front doors' stickered first aid and emergency triangles storage, and Riptide's wow rose/pinknbathroom.
http://www.campervan.es/westfalia-james-cook
 
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OldWest

2004 T1N Westfalia
Hood Protection/Graphic:

Our Sprinter hood is steeply sloped and thus highly visible/exposed and susceptible to little stone chips.

Hood Bra--Some folks use hood bras to protect.their hoods. These need to be removed periodically and when rainy to avoid paint damage.

Clear Invisible.Bra--A clear protective film.

Bedliner--Hood is coated with bedliner or similar product.

Graphic--Large.vinyl graphic. Can be the new compass Westfalia logo, Trans Am Firebird, the NASA logo (Airstreams used by NASA), a family crest, the Presidential Seal if feeling unprecedented presidential, etc.

Other ideas? Anybody have any photos?
 

GoJohnGo

Road trip!
Trans Am Firebird? Makes me want to learn Photoshop!

Thanks for the ideas you're posting here. I have to repaint the roof on mine, and am debating whether to preserve the vinyl graphics, remove them entirely, or replace them with something else. I like some horizontal lines there to make the van appear less tall and monolithic, and I actually like the way the graphics incorporate the swoop of the top windows. Alas, they are no longer available.
 

OldWest

2004 T1N Westfalia
Thick Stripes.

THICK STRIPES

A. Indentation

Earlier photo of an older Westy with a yellow stripe in the indentation at top headlight level, and blue bottom.

http://www.o307.de/2013/03/james-cook-312d-zu-verkaufen/

Alternatives would include:

Chrome strip there.

Red stripe with lower black.bedliner. (Red makes a more sinister look, adjacent to silver paint and black bedliner bottom).

Blue stripe with lower.black bedliner. (Blue seems friendlier.)

B. Bottom Fiberglass

The bottom of fiberglass top has two surfaces. Make one of those surfaces a stripe.

In photo of the the three Westies (middle one being a NCV3 version), the Westy at the rear had a light gray color stripe above the fiberglass bottom indentation.

https://sprinter-source.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46674

C. Fiberglass Top Window Indentation

The upper windows start an indentation for the.fiberglass top. Highlight the section by adding a stripe to the indentation to break up mass.

PINSTRIPES

Pinstripes might be more subtle. The indentation at the top of the headlight has a smaller thinner groove at.the bottom of the indentation. A pinstripe might work well there.
 

OldWest

2004 T1N Westfalia
Extra upper vent windows:

TNeuer replaced.one of his upper vent windows with a fixed window.

https://sprinter-source.com/forum/showpost.php?p=527861&postcount=8

Behind that window, add 2-4 more blacked out fake windows as an homage to.the old VW campers with 21/23 windows.

That'd break up the mass and look like you had more windows on top. Use vinyl graphic or black paint for the glass and could even add plastic or rubber body trim to emulate the window frames.

Note: Don't know if TNeuer was able to find a replacement operable window yet for that upper vent window. A Vancouver, Washingtonn, company makes custom RV windows which might fit.

http://www.motionwindows.com/
 

OldWest

2004 T1N Westfalia
Blackout Tape Alternatives.

1. Early Westies

Early Westies had a matte blackout tape (a) between tbe driver side awning window and the black shroud around water fill, (b) between the black fake louvered shrouds of the rear doors, and (c) between the sliding door window and the rear most window.

This made for an uninterrupted mass of black for the windows.

Note that the newer NCV3 Sprinters do this same effect with their flush bonded windows.

2. Variation on Sides and Rears--Extensions

The blackout tape could be extended on the sheetmetal. For example, the blackout tape could cover the front leading edge of the sliding door, and the rear window could be blacked out to the vertical line of the taillights, etc.

3. Variation Black Surround Glass Windows Band

The blackout tape could go all around the van so the windows are NOT separated by any silver sheetmetal (or maybe all the way around except for the front doors or "B" pillars).

The tricky part is that the front door windows do not line up with the other windows AND the Sprinter.has a sculpted curve at the front.

4. Variation --Blackout Face Mask

Blackout (a) the "A" pillars (between windshield and front doors), (b) the front frame portion of the front doors to bottom of mirrors, (c) the top of the front door frames (BUT only to the edge of the rear part of front windows glass, so front door frames are still silver at rear of doors), and (d) the top part of hood where black air intake is (lines don't quite match up).

By NOT blacking out rear part of front doors, one preserves the sculpted swoop in the sheetmetal.

The rear of front doors, the "B" pillars, and the rear corners would remain silver paint.

Other blackout variations blackout part of the sculpted swoop rather than working with the swoop.
 
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Camp

Sprinter Westfalia
OldWest,

I stumbled across an NCV3 Sprinter with the B-pillars painted gloss black a while back. The manufacturer of this particular camper (DOMO ReiseVan) painted the NCV3 trim gray, making it fairly close to how a Westy would look.

http://www.reisevan.de/tl_files/domo/inhalte/Modelle/Fotogalerie/DOMO 520/_MG_3146-aklein.jpg

http://www.reisevan.de/tl_files/domo/slider-startseite/DOMO 520 facelift.jpg

The black strip for the "all glass" look would have to go on top of the front windows with the T1N. I never liked this look when I photoshopped it on the Westy, but seeing an actual photo of a Sprinter with black B-pillars changed my mind.
 

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