TheSamba.com :: View topic - Wild westerners unite! AKA-is this rare or just ugly?

Thu Sep 18, 2008 10:53 am

itlives wrote: Wasn't there a post not too long ago about (at least the high-top colors) that color scheme .

I think someone said it was offered up to Spokane WA during the 1974 Worlds Fair.

Very limited colors- keep it as is ! :lol:

That would explain why I saw a few when I lived in Seattle.

In Surfer magazine, a regular feature is "Curious Gabe," and often part of the feature is a picture of such a green/blue/green Bus. Sometimes it's a Eurovan, but I think that one's Photochopped.

Thu Sep 18, 2008 12:23 pm

This is the scoobydoo bus, I got it a few weeks ago. I've got the 1700 running like a top and been driving it all over. Now that I'm confident it's mechanically sound I want to toss @200.00 worth of metal at it this winter and get the paint done. I'll look for that L code behind the drivers seat. The previous owner said the combo was pretty rare and less than 1000 were made?

Thu Sep 18, 2008 2:00 pm

In the city I moved from, there were two buses with this paint scheme. They were hard tops, not hitops or poptops. I'd see them from time to time, always going in the opposite direction. We never met. Too bad.

chazz79- I have the same as you, almost. Mine is a poptop, the only one I've ever seen. It was built two weeks after yours. My M-code:
32 211 427

736

964350 D32 027 162 508

215 7411 UA 2211 41

Since I've been on TS, I've tried to find an interpretation of the paint code. No joy, anywhere. You say yours has the lower, darker color on the interior? Interesting. Mine has the upper, lighter color inside, though we have the same code.

The nearest I've come on color charts is L62 H Yosemite or Bali yellow; L65K lime green on one page of a Auto Color Library chart, and L65K ravenna green on another.

For more on the colors and Safares, go to Safares....where are they? I think it's on page 2 or 3 just now. There's a reference there to the Expo 74 in Spokane. I think we'll have to go back to VW for the definitive answer on the paint. But apparently, a number of them went through the Safare Custom Camper works.

Thu Sep 18, 2008 3:00 pm

i'm gonna guess they are apfel grun (L64M) and ravenna grun (L65K) as seen here:

Both noted as 73 colors....

Thu Sep 18, 2008 4:35 pm

Thanks for the help, I think I've got something a little unique here so I'm definitely going to keep it this way. You're right about the bus being primarily the lighter green (my bus is so faded you really can't tell anymore) But it'll be as stock as I can make it. It's got a westy interior already and I'll put the Jelousy windows in but otherwise I think the paint makes a statement. It'd be awesome if someone knew the production numbers on this paint scheme.

Sat Sep 20, 2008 8:19 am

Another pic from another thread thanks to Old dog.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=319957

Sat Sep 20, 2008 8:27 am

This is kinda random, but that is the color of the "Sweet Pickles" bus. I can't find a pic online anywhere. Does anybody remember those children's books? In the commercial in the 70's, one of the Sweet Pickles characters drove a bus of that color.

Sat Sep 20, 2008 8:36 am

This is the closest I could find

There one with a real bus somewhere.

Sun Dec 21, 2008 4:16 pm

Has anyone found any more info on this paint scheme. I am about to buy a 73 bus with this same color combo looks to me like the blue stripe is not painted more like a decal. But we may try and keep the stock color if I can find some paint to use after I fix the rusty spots.

Sun Dec 21, 2008 4:28 pm

Back in the mid 70s there was an indoor plant servicing company located at the north end of Laguna Canyon Road in Laguna Beach. They had about 5 buses that they used for their business, all were painted in this scheme. They were about the only ones I ever saw painted like this. I used to think their business painted them this way.

Wed Jan 21, 2009 9:43 am

The paint scheme is apparently called the "Wild Westerner."

http://www.rossvw.com/vw/73bus.htm

Wed Jan 21, 2009 2:14 pm

I heard a while back that these buses were ordered by the city of spokane for a worlds fair or something crazy like that. One of my favorite color schemes for sure.

Wed Jan 21, 2009 2:50 pm

VWMIKE76 wrote: I heard a while back that these buses were ordered by the city of spokane for a worlds fair or something crazy like that. One of my favorite color schemes for sure.

I had posted this pic and offered up the possibility of the color combo having been part of the Expo 74 in Spokane. I got the info from a fellow VW nut, who got it from a longtime VW mechanic in the Spokane area. So far, there is no definite confirmation on this, but the search will continue.

Wed Jan 21, 2009 3:15 pm

That bus doesn't deserve to sit there like that. I would buy that in a minute unless a semi side swiped the passenger side.

Wed Jan 21, 2009 7:46 pm

Actually that bus is in pretty nice shape, I am just not interested in type 4 baywindows. I did get a nice 2/3 OG upholstery seat out of it that is 64 only. Not sure why it was in there, and the owner could not remember where it came from.

Thu Jan 22, 2009 8:35 pm

The Rossvw.com URL in ZakkFlash's post mentions that the PO spoke of a sticker listing for a "Wild Westerner appearance group" and that this was the name of the color combo. I don't think one can make that assumption* when VW has no history of naming color combos. Rather, I think this is something a sales mgr. conjured to sell buses. Probably a coyote tail for the antenna.

As I noted in my prior post here, many have tried to source the color code for this bus. No joy, anywhere. I think a query must be made to VW in Germany for a definitive answer, maybe.

* Psychology/social science factoid: Most of the assumptions people make are wrong.

Thu Jan 22, 2009 8:55 pm

The blue stripe is painted on for sure. I'm still looking for goo paint codes because I'll be buying supplies next month.

Sat Feb 14, 2009 12:20 am

OG Velvet wrote: This is kinda random, but that is the color of the "Sweet Pickles" bus. I can't find a pic online anywhere. Does anybody remember those children's books? In the commercial in the 70's, one of the Sweet Pickles characters drove a bus of that color.

i do remeber that. and the first time i saw one again "sweet Pickles" was the first thing i thought of.

i actually just bought one of those this weekend. unfortunatly, it has been repainted and has had an accident in the right front corner.
its an Automatic. i bought it for parts, but we'' see how it goes

Sat Feb 14, 2009 12:52 am

Not sure about the "Wild Westerner appearance group" being what the color is called, but a light puke green on top of dark puke green with an electric blue stripe '73 was my first car. It was given to me by my grandma in '88 who owned it since new and she thought she remembered the dealer telling her it was called a "California Colors Special" or something along those lines and they were only sold on the west coast...how true this is, who knows.

Sat Feb 14, 2009 9:37 am

norcalvw wrote:
i actually just bought one of those this weekend.

No colour code sticker on this one either?