TheSamba.com :: View topic - Luc's 1958 15-window resurrection...

Tue Mar 05, 2013 4:50 pm

here goes.

This bus has been discussed a few times already here on TheSamba, even nearly 10 years ago. For a long time this was the earliest know bus with an M-code tag.

It's a very early 59 model, dated 16-10-1958, so with the higher located taillights.

As seen in the States :

A little bit of history we found out : Dan from VintageAutoWerks bought this bus back in the days from someone who was holding it for someone that owed this guy some money. Needless to say he bought it for cheap.

Dan then sold the bus to a guy named Justin that never actually picked up the bus and so Dan just used it to go camping.

On Ebay it was eventually sold to Dean, who flew in from Atlanta to pick up the bus and drive it home.

He ran the bus for a while and then last year it showed up -again- in the classifies of TheSamba :D

This is where we step in.

A friend of mine was looking for just this type of bus, and after some emailing with Dean, cash swapped hands, and the bus was heading to Europe.

The bus was in a reasonable condition, but knowing my buddy Luc, this wasn’t going to stay that way for a long time… :wink:

as arrived in Belgium

Removed the old floor and welded in some strong new supports :

Some more welding before finnishing off :

Firm renewed chassis :

New rockers going in :

New floor :

Adjusting some parts :

A lot more welding, grinding and detailling to follow.

to be continued...

Tue Mar 05, 2013 5:01 pm

I only remember it from the classifieds but nice to see it resurface. Very nice, keep it coming.
Brian

Tue Mar 05, 2013 5:19 pm

Sweet bus, will be watching this build

Tue Mar 05, 2013 5:31 pm

Happy to see the progress photos. Keep on posting them I know there's more.....

Tue Mar 05, 2013 7:39 pm

Nice!

See, the red floors aren't that bad. This is like the 4th new build using them.

Wed Mar 06, 2013 4:17 pm

Vintage Auto Werks1 wrote: Happy to see the progress photos. Keep on posting them I know there's more.....

there sure is.

How about the new rain gutters

funky green stuff

Wed Mar 06, 2013 4:19 pm

fixing the lower door parts

Rear booth

Wed Mar 06, 2013 4:25 pm

Safari's 8)

Time to flip over the bus

After countless hours of welding, sanding and blasting, time to protect the hard work!

Wed Mar 06, 2013 4:28 pm

Nice!
Can we see the rack you have it laid over on?
How did you flip it over?
Brian

Wed Mar 06, 2013 8:58 pm

Did this bus used to be in Vancouver BC in the mid 90s?

Wed Mar 06, 2013 8:59 pm

Nope it was not in BC it was from Illinois.

Thu Mar 07, 2013 10:29 am

WOW!! great work!!

Thu Mar 07, 2013 12:14 pm

thanks guys!

The bus is certainly not finished yet at this moment, but Luc has spend many many hours on her, and there's more pictures to come...

Shell is welded up, and ready for sanding and spotblasting

Thu Mar 07, 2013 12:19 pm

everything in the engine compartment was nicely welded-sanded-blasted so here comes the protective coating

same goes for the interior

Thu Mar 07, 2013 12:22 pm

Luc @ work :D

also painting the dash, funky green panel floor, safari mounting, etc

Thu Mar 07, 2013 9:23 pm

Really enjoy your build, very inspiring. Where are the rain gutters from?
Thanks, keep up the good work.
Jim

Fri Mar 08, 2013 1:30 am

aaah that's a secret :lol:

no seriously, Luc couldn't find decent rain gutters, so he had them made in decent metal in a local metal shop. Because of the 3-fold construction it was quite complex, but it worked out great.

Also the chassis support members are made out of thicker metal, even stronger then vw used for them. Most replica parts aren't that great, so he had them hand made.

OK, more pictures to come :D

Fri Mar 08, 2013 10:06 am

Vintagespeed wrote: aaah that's a secret :lol:

no seriously, Luc couldn't find decent rain gutters, so he had them made in decent metal in a local metal shop. Because of the 3-fold construction it was quite complex, but it worked out great.

Also the chassis support members are made out of thicker metal, even stronger then vw used for them. Most replica parts aren't that great, so he had them hand made.

OK, more pictures to come :D

Thanks Vintagespeed, I was afraid of that, they really do look great as does the rest of your work.
Jim

Fri Mar 08, 2013 5:34 pm

no work from me done here! it's Luc's bus. I just love to see those build threads on here, and I assume others here do too.

That's why I wanted to post these pictures, so you could enjoy them just like I do :D

ok so once all the baby blue paint was stripped and all the metal welded in, time to put her in a decent coat of primer...

and after this was sanded, comes the topcoat!

Fri Mar 08, 2013 5:38 pm

gotta love a new paintjob