At 5:15 PM 8/10/96, Rusty VanBondo wrote:

> The only thing I can imagine is that the Westfalia (the sadists) special
> ordered wood with the grain running the "wrong way" to achieve the vertical
> grain while retaining the huge-mongus width. Even the fancy dancy 5'x5'
> Birch sheets won't help in this case. Besides I don't think Jim Davis is
> planning another trip to Phoenix very soon. I don't think I can talk him
> into dragging more fancy wood across the desert from LA.

Rusty et al.

I had a 59 European West-byGod-falia, WITH the semaphores, that I ALMOST
decided to restore.  As it turned out, the thing was too damned rusty for
me to bother with, so I sold it.  Wish I had another, cause that was a neat
layout, and I LOVE REAL wood!   I seem to remember, while I was a SOTO
member in those days, that Westfalia DID special order their own paneling,
because I couldn't figure out how to do it with off-the-shelf plywoods,
either from here or the Baltic.  I had considered taking a correspondingly
thinner "normal" plywood, edge-laminating it, then veneering it with oak.
That would be VERY expensive, and I never did get beyond thinking about it
over a case of beers before I sold the van.  Some day, perhaps...  I guess
it depends on how close to original one wants to get.  Also, that was
several years ago, and I wonder if others have found solutions since then
that look reasonable.

Good luck,
-Tim Parker
93 EV GL
60 Singlecab
29 Model A Ford.