Of course the first thing to do was to drive this 181K mile van around for awhile and dig through the 2" thick pile of receipts to see if it really was a good van!
Digging through the pile of receipts (and making a spread sheet out of them) shows that this van was actually very well taken care of mechanically. All we really need to do is catch it up on a few items like timing belt/pulleys/waterpump/ fix AC, Trans service, etc.
Most of the real issues are just cosmetic.
After totally gutting the van, I loaded up a KTM and drove the van off to the body shop to have all the rust properly repaired, dents removed and fresh paint put on it.
New vinyl flooring went in, the front seat bases were painted with the van to match. The white VW grill logo is a teaser on what is next.
Fortunately, I have been able to track down, or had, all good interior parts to replace the broken or worn bits.
New 3 window top bring installed.
A little message from the artist on my door step.
She also came over and spent a few hours painting on the floor of the Eurovan with her grand daughter. A mural that would ultimately get covered up by the vinyl flooring, but a fun activity and little secret between grandma and grand daughter.