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Fri Nov 21, 2008 2:43 pm

howzit every one. just thought i would share the story of the 68 double cab i recently acquired. it all started about 6 years ago. i had just gotten into the vw seen about a year earlier and really wanted a double or single cab. so i got word from my brother that a friend of his had a 68 double cab for sale. me and a buddy went to go take a look. It looked ok there was definitely body work that had bin dun but it was over all in good shape. i asked to hear it run but he couldn't get it started(dead battery). so i asked for a price. he said $6000.00, well that was that. i was a 17 yo kid and didn't have any ware near that kind of $$ and i didn't think it was worth the money. so my dream of owning a double cab was shot down before it even took off. ok fast forward through 6 years of splits, bays,bugs and bajas. it's now 2007 and my brother, same one that had the friend with the double cab is trying to buy a house that is getting repossessed by the bank for unpaid mortgage. turns out its the same house that the double cab was at. i go to check it out and guess what? the lonely old DC is sitting there covered and i mean covered in shit from 100lbs of fishing nets to over 200 books just pilled up around the bus. you could barley make out the shape of a DC. the deal was if the owner didn't get all the crap including the DC off the property in 6 mounths it was all
going to be my brothers.

Well 6 mounths went by and nothing happened. after a couple of long talks with the orignal owner and even some tears from him(he said he had some great memories in it) the bus was mine with title in hand and i even drove it home. using the e-brake for the only stopping power. after replacing the hole brake system. i am now starting on the body and to say this thing has some secrets is an understatement. so here she is i will post pics as i go so you guys can see the progression

Fri Nov 21, 2008 3:03 pm

so i started on the rust work yesterday. there was a part on the front of the bed on the left corner the looked like some one just took a blob of bondo and just slapped it on there so that had to go. i took the wire wheel to it and found some real serious shit. some one just spot welded metal right over rust. it was bad. so i took the grinder to it and was left pretty much left with nothing. take a look

so now its time to rebuild it.

so thats where i am right now. and im about to go put on my welding gloves and go get dirty.

Fri Nov 21, 2008 7:49 pm

Sweet D/Cab! Lucky :wink:

Thu Nov 27, 2008 11:41 am

Ok so there is were i am right now. i cut out all the rusted metal. welded in the inner support. then welded on the outer metal and folded it around the inner support. this was a pretty big job. when i started it i had no idea i would have to rebuild the hole rail but i am glad i did.

so my plan is to get all the welding done before i spread any body filler. this is the next mission. if you look at this place before i took the wire wheel to you could barley tell there was rust because of all the body filler. This is the kind of stuff that scares me. makes me think what else is hiding under this paint.

so let me know what you guys think. i know its not a 100% prefect pro job but i think with a some massaging and a little filler you wont be able to ever tell it was done

aloha Alex

Fri Nov 28, 2008 2:35 am

Due to all the extra sheet metal floor and body support pieces Doublecabs get rustier than prettymuch any other VWs. Top that off with the fact they have a history as abused and neglected work vehicles and you're going to find a lot of rust. Your Doublecab doesn't look too bad in terms of Doublecab Rust and you're doing a good job fixing it.

Fri Nov 28, 2008 10:23 am

thanx for the comment but looks can be deceiving. i swear if i were to get this thing sand blasted i don't think it would be worth a dollar. you can really tell that this thing went through some serious work back in the late 70s-early-80s when bondo was just coming out and could fix anything. so here is the next big project. if you look at the back of the cab where it meets the bed you can see some one cut out the first foot of bed and about 6in of the bottom of the cab and tack welded on a peace of sheet metal. It looks like shit and has got to go. any suggestions on how i can go about fixing it are welcome. i really just want it to go back to a stock look but it doesn't have to look 100% original. finding a donor DC is near impossible. i've bin trying.