In a message dated 00-02-16 11:17:38 EST, you write:

<<  please have a look see and maybe help a
 > novice get started on restoring his dream barge.  >>

This is why I always hate to see someone who buys a Split/Bay/Vanagon thats a
basket case for a few hundred bucks ( and I hope you didn't pay much for this
one) with grandiose ideas of restoring it. You are doomed to failure. This is
an enormous task, and if its your only transportation, next to impossible.
Putting bondo on this would only make a slight and very temporary improvment
in appearance, and, as others have said, it may be downright unsafe. My
advice to all those wannabusers: save your money until you can afford a
decent one. You will only end up throwing away money on a project vehicle
like this one. You'll lose interest, money, and time and will most likely end
up having the whole mess towed away to the boneyard. It would take a
professional to restore this, and quite honestly, I doubt any professional
would would see any value in doing so. Sorry to be so brutally honest, but I
think I speak the truth.       Jeff S.  (Now doing the second restoration on
a '76 Westfalia- first one done with bondo)