Bit of background first
Bought my smiley (nov 94 build date so a fairly early smiley) from a government auction 5 years ago, only previous owner is irish prison service (cleaners van). So main dealer only service and repair it's whole life, low milage and absolutely zero filler. Sound good?
Well it wasn't
it hadn't been taxed for 5 years and looked like it had been used as a mobile store inside the prison. Every panel was dented and had surface rust, including the roof, broken lights, front bumper hanging down, rear bumper battered and missing end caps, half the dash missing, huge lump missing from the drivers seat. But did have nearly new tyres starter and clutch, government budgets eh? Not a pretty picture coming home on the A bar behind my iveco daily.Sounds awful but the underside was perfect
and is the main reason I chose this van. I live in ireland and the test is fairly strict about chassis repairs. I was looking for a lwb shr turbo diesel with 6 stud single axles and while I'd seen some nice looking vans the underside was always going to be trouble inside a year or so. Plan B, get a lwb shr with a good chassis and build the van I wanted
Anyway , quick tidy up, had most ot the bits needed in stock and in for a test standing me €500 and came out with a years ticket
. Sold the iveco and that paid for the transit, the test and a years tax 
A few upgrades over the years kept me happy, heavy duty steel tow bar/bumper, factory bulkhead to replace the half height timber one, grills for the rear windows, 6 stud axles and getting the mechanicals like new. Oh and air bags to assist the back end, just in case
Only started the welding last year with a full right rear pillar and the bottom half of the left
Both front sills and the drivers step followed
Still looked rough as a bears rear end but I was happy
Finally decided I had enough parts stockpiled and it was time to bite the bullet and do a full rebuild
