TheSamba.com :: View topic - So-45 Westy dormobile

Thu Apr 10, 2008 9:25 am

http://www.maxzingg.ch/vw/

Nice bus, anyone seen this one in person before?

Thu Apr 10, 2008 9:26 am

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=595132

Thu Apr 10, 2008 9:28 am

€29000 would get you a peek!

Looks like a mismatched camper kit.

Thu Apr 10, 2008 11:20 am

Same power hook up in back as the SO 44 I had.

Thu Apr 10, 2008 11:22 am

kombisutra wrote: Same power hook up in back as the SO 44 I had.

Euro spec. Too bad that bus is gone i loiked that one a lot.

Thu Apr 10, 2008 11:24 am

crofty wrote: kombisutra wrote: Same power hook up in back as the SO 44 I had.

Euro spec. Too bad that bus is gone i loiked that one a lot.

Me too.

Thu Apr 10, 2008 3:11 pm

to me it looks like refurbished SO-42...
I really like it!

Thu Apr 10, 2008 3:30 pm

xavi_242 wrote: to me it looks like refurbished SO-42...
I really like it!
No, it's an SO-45, one of a handful I know about.
Similar to an SO-42, but there are some significant differences:

It has pearwood veneer on the inside and outside of the cabinets.
No laminate on the cabinets.
The spicerack is rectangular, not L shaped
No door on the fold-out bed.

It has the only SO-45 icebox I've seen, it has a cubby in the side kind of under where the table flaps hangs down.

The bus has had some changes made to it, including:
I wouldn't expect louvered windows, but 4 solids and 2 pop-outs.
I'd expect the rear interior to be painted white.

Here is one that used to be in E WA, but went to Canada IIRC.
(The icebox is NOT westfalia):

same bus as above, but older pic w/o icebox:

here is one with original rear cushion upholstery, also non-og icebox:

VW info:

Thu Apr 10, 2008 5:58 pm

Clara wrote: xavi_242 wrote: to me it looks like refurbished SO-42...
I really like it!
No, it's an SO-45, one of a handful I know about.
Similar to an SO-42, but there are some significant differences:

It has pearwood veneer on the inside and outside of the cabinets.
No laminate on the cabinets.
The spicerack is rectangular, not L shaped
No door on the fold-out bed.

Here is one that used to be in E WA, but went to Canada IIRC.
(The icebox is NOT westfalia):

same bus as above, but older pic w/o icebox:

]

Clara-
where did that bus come from? I think thats the bus that was in wenatchee that I almost got 12 years ago for $600. Then the owner dumped some $ into it instead of sellign it and sat it in his driveway for another 5 years- then *poof* it disappeared. There COULDNT have been 2 in eastern wash. No way. The one I knew of I believe came from france, as the owners manual was in french and it had a couple stickers that were french'ish.
Shit. I now live 3 houses up from where it sat for years...that has to be it.
Did you ever see it? The one I saw WAS a walkthu BUT it had a crazy stove/fridge setup and a table that swiveled up either forward or backwards- righ next to the fridge. It could flip forward between the dirver and passenger. It was weird. And All original.

Thu Apr 10, 2008 6:40 pm

I like that model a lot. I could have bought one real nice and real original two years ago for 15K and I wish I would have. The pearwood is cool too.

Thu Apr 10, 2008 7:03 pm

Nice! I have always admired the Dormy top.

Clara, loved the pics you posted.

Thu Apr 10, 2008 7:05 pm

Bub wrote: Clara wrote: xavi_242 wrote: to me it looks like refurbished SO-42...
I really like it!
No, it's an SO-45, one of a handful I know about.
Similar to an SO-42, but there are some significant differences:

It has pearwood veneer on the inside and outside of the cabinets.
No laminate on the cabinets.
The spicerack is rectangular, not L shaped
No door on the fold-out bed.

Here is one that used to be in E WA, but went to Canada IIRC.
(The icebox is NOT westfalia):

same bus as above, but older pic w/o icebox:

]

Clara-
where did that bus come from? I think thats the bus that was in wenatchee that I almost got 12 years ago for $600. Then the owner dumped some $ into it instead of sellign it and sat it in his driveway for another 5 years- then *poof* it disappeared. There COULDNT have been 2 in eastern wash. No way. The one I knew of I believe came from france, as the owners manual was in french and it had a couple stickers that were french'ish.
Shit. I now live 3 houses up from where it sat for years...that has to be it.
Did you ever see it? The one I saw WAS a walkthu BUT it had a crazy stove/fridge setup and a table that swiveled up either forward or backwards- righ next to the fridge. It could flip forward between the dirver and passenger. It was weird. And All original.

The first one used to be in E WA, it belonged to a guy for years, who eventually decided his small children would trash it, he sold it to a guy in E Canada I believe. It had no icebox , but later had a OTW icebox installed. That's the one with black bumpers, the rear facing seat, and the big side table which is wood veneer, not laminate.

The second one in the pics has an SO-44 inspired kitchen unit behind the front seats, even though it's a w/t. It also has a SO-44 side seat and table, and a rear corner cupboard from an bench seat SO-42. It hit the whine thread when it was for sale a couple years ago, and people didn't think it was a westy. That's the one with the og plaid back cushion in an above pic, and parked next to my & Greg's '56 westy at a local show. The back half of the SO-45 kit is intact, the swinging table, rear facing seat, and icebox were gone.
There's a tag on it from a dealership in Germany. No owners manual.
Should have snapped it up for $600. But hey, that was all it was worth back then, no doubt.

Thu Apr 10, 2008 7:27 pm

Okay- the one near me wasn't the black bumper one, as the one I saw did NOT have a wall-mounted folding table. It was a walk thru with the odd folding table setup, a stove, fridge and all.
I remember sitting in it and thinking it was awesome because the whole interior lacked the veneer of every other westy I saw.
Instead of the folding, wall-mounted table it had another cushion/seat at that spot and a table that swiveled/ mounted (like a vanagon table) in that spot.
It was all 100% original. It was probably this one- the stove top I See matches perfectly, that odd flip-up table would sat verticle just left of the stove in that cabinet- though I certainly dont remember that upholstery job.

Thu Apr 10, 2008 8:57 pm

Clara, dont you and Greg talk?

:lol:

Fri Apr 11, 2008 6:45 am

derv wrote: Clara, dont you and Greg talk?

:lol:
ya, we do. why?

Wed Jul 02, 2008 9:57 pm

Clara wrote: xavi_242 wrote: to me it looks like refurbished SO-42...
I really like it!
No, it's an SO-45, one of a handful I know about.
Similar to an SO-42, but there are some significant differences:

It has pearwood veneer on the inside and outside of the cabinets.
No laminate on the cabinets.
The spicerack is rectangular, not L shaped
No door on the fold-out bed.

It has the only SO-45 icebox I've seen, it has a cubby in the side kind of under where the table flaps hangs down.

The bus has had some changes made to it, including:
I wouldn't expect louvered windows, but 4 solids and 2 pop-outs.
I'd expect the rear interior to be painted white.

Here is one that used to be in E WA, but went to Canada IIRC.
(The icebox is NOT westfalia):

same bus as above, but older pic w/o icebox:

Hi, the one displayed here is mine, and I still have it.

here are fresh pitures:

I have installed a maple wood floor and made the icebox removable.
It seems that the icebox I have is not the original one, but it is in real wood made as the rest of the kit.

I have tried to gather more info than the broche displayed in the post above, but impossible to find something. The SO45 kit was the last year model kit built for the split window before the production switch for the bay window. I do not know how much kit have been made, but not that much for sure.
Should you need additional info on my kit, please let me know, I would be very please to give you answers.

Regards,
Jerome

Wed Jul 02, 2008 11:10 pm

I love dorm-mobile tops way more than regular pop-tops.

Is it too much of a sacrilege to cut one into a bus that already has a remarkably nice headliner?

When I get mine back from the shop I'm going to have to sit in it with the "IDing your camper" thread open to figure out what I got.

Wed Jul 02, 2008 11:21 pm

The.Walrus wrote: I love dorm-mobile tops way more than regular pop-tops.

Is it too much of a sacrilege to cut one into a bus that already has a remarkably nice headliner?

When I get mine back from the shop I'm going to have to sit in it with the "IDing your camper" thread open to figure out what I got.

I just scored a Dormobile top for my 63, and the only reason I considered cutting the roof, is because the roof has already been hacked, some kind of Moon plexiglass window was added, along with a CB antenna that has rusted away and created a nice hole in the roof.

I wouldn't do it to a nice, clean and uncut roof.

My .02

Thu Jul 03, 2008 12:28 am

iveedubbin wrote: The.Walrus wrote: I love dorm-mobile tops way more than regular pop-tops.

Is it too much of a sacrilege to cut one into a bus that already has a remarkably nice headliner?

When I get mine back from the shop I'm going to have to sit in it with the "IDing your camper" thread open to figure out what I got.

I just score a Dormobile top for my 63, and the only reason I considered cutting the roof, is because the roof has already been hacked, some kind of Moon plexiglass window was added, along with a CB antenna that has rusted away and created a nice hole in the roof.

I wouldn't do it to a nice, clean and uncut roof.

My .02
Well...it's dimply...

Yeah, I probably wouldn't have the nerve to do it anyway...

sniffle...

I guess it really just means that I'm going to have to have a small fleet of splitties, one for each set of wants...there are worse fates...

Thu Jul 03, 2008 6:39 am

The.Walrus wrote: Yeah, I probably wouldn't have the nerve to do it anyway...

sniffle...

Indeed! It takes quite a LOT to bring yourself to do that! :shock:

I scored on an early poptop when I had my previous bus and one of the issues that kept me from hacking into it was the headliner issue, though eventually that bus ended being cut up. :?

My walkthrough was a hardtop and though it was totally stripped when I got it, I had finished the wood headliner on it when Dormy top showed up about a year later. Always wanting a Dormo-top, the deal was too good to pass up! My bus already having plenty of "issues" that render it non-og, I have no qualms about hacking a thing or two on it! :P