Pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!

Who says that Disneyland is the happiest place on earth. When it comes to VW's, this place hands down is the best place - Wolfsberg West in California. It is THE place for VW enthusiasts for all restoration parts.

Took the opportunity to stock up on much need parts while I visited LA. Removed the original rubber from the entire bus as this had hardened over time and was cracked and split. Have replaced most of the external rubber apart from a few rear light seals which I forgot to pick up when in the States. Switched out a few chrome bits that are pitted and dull like the aerial, headlight surrounds and a new set of fried egg blinkers. Will source a new emblem when I look at buying some additional parts..... it is amazing as you start to dig around just how much comes up that needs to be replaced. Years of dirt and grime hide a lot of problems.

Also decided to replace all the pop out window frames and will also add pop outs to the two fixed side windows. I know this is straying from the path of restoring to stock but I have seen a few bus with pop outs all around and safaris and I kinda like the look.

First decent look

Un-packed the van and it came with a few parts to treat the motor with a tune up - had points, distributor cap, spark plugs, leads, vacuum hose and replacements fuel lines, gaskets etc. As well as these have a few other bits and pieces that should come in handy to maybe trade with other VW owners - spare steering wheel, steering box, headlights and a few vw beetle parts - one mans junk is another mans treasure as they say.

The bus was missing the rear seat and managed to track down via theSamba.com a guy who had one. He sent me photos which showed nicely covered seat in original covering and we settled on a price. Just a little pissed off, actually a lot, that when I finally got the bus in New Zealand, the seat that he sent was completely bare of any cover, padding ...... just a rusty frame. This guy trades lots of early bus parts on theSamba.com - thanks a lot for your honesty chump.

Looks like most of the floor supporting structures (both sides rockers, inner rocker panels, every outrigger and jack point) will need to be replaced. Just as well I had ordered the replacement parts from the photos the shippers provided - I beams, Top Hat section, U support, cross member supports, long side panel wheel arches, both rear corners as well as dogs legs, complete front floor (previous owner just did a rough as guts patch job) and have all lower nose cone panel and inner support panel behind front bumper  - so virtually replacing the entire lower chassis structure with fresh, clean, new metal.

Some of the repairs are definitely suspect so it is best to do things right from beginning and remove much of the bondo the had been lathered on to hide the repair sins. Once done it should definitely be able to stand up to the magnet test.

Well there is a fair bit of work to do here but I plan to do most of it myself because that is the Kiwi way. I figure what is the worst thing that can happen?..... will have a go and if it is not right then I will take it to the pro's to fix up. No biggie - how else am I going to learn this stuff and besides that is part of the fun owning a Volkswagen.

I also shouted myself a Westfalia 3 bow roof rack. The bus has gotta look good doesn't it? just a little something to top it off.

Bus Details

Ok so I have done my best to find out what the plate tags on the bus mean. So here goes - as best as I can tell this tag shows the bus was originally manufactured in Germany..... obvious really!. Plate numbers  are:

Type: 24 (Sondermodell - special model 8 - 9 seater or commonly known in the USA as Deluxe) 

Heizg. Typ 2/255 Prütz S 45 - This is a Type 2 (Microbus) and the numbers 255 Prütz S 45 relate to the petrol heater number. 
Faargest - Nr: - 24 (Deluxe) 7 (year of manufacture i.e. 1967) 145449(chassis number)
Zul Gesamtgew. kg - 2070 (all up weight)
Baujahr - this is left blank but simply means year of production. Not sure why this is blank but I guess that the year of production is shown elsewhere on the two plates located in the cab section of the vehicle.
Zul Achslast vorn kg - 950 (front weight)
Hinten kg - 1150 (rear weight)

Had a look, checked out the web site VintageBus.Com to verify credentials. The plate really tells the story of the bus from it's manufacture in Germany to the delivery specs. From the chassis number, I now know that the chassis was produced in July 1967 (1967 model). The tag plate in the cab gives me the following detail:

06 7 - 06 July 

425 - seat belts and mounting points

025 - lap belt anchors

114 - 6 pop out side windows

130 - without sunroof and roof windows

UN - USA New York (export code)

241 - Deluxe Microbus, Cargo Doors Right, Left Hand Drive

2121872 - 2 (Special Laquer), 12 (Sea Blue) 18 (Cumulous White) 72 (Aero Papyrus White)

7145449 - Year (1967) and Chassis Number which matches the main tag plate on the air vent.