The Armadillo. 1960 Double Cab.

[Sinklar]

I'm finally starting build thread for my latest purchase. I found out about this bus from a friend Jerermy, or bonecollector on here. This bus was found through a video Jeremy has posted on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsaYK9P6m68

One day he received a call from one of the executors of the estate of a man that just passed away in Missouri. The guy calling was the man's son, and he happened to run across the video and told Jeremy he had a title for a 1961 VW pickup and asked if he wanted to buy it. Of course Jeremy jumped at the chance to buy another one, but wanted to see pictures first. The old guy said he would send some pictures when he had a chance to visit the old farm. Luckily for me, this took a couple months and in that time Jeremy had other deals going on and couldn't swing this one so he passed it along to me knowing that my holy grail VW was an early DCab.

These were the pictures he sent.

From what I could see it was mostly complete, relativity rust free, and a good buy. I contacted the owner, made a deal mutually agreeable for the both of us, and sent a check overnight to lock the deal.
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Never argue with stupid people. They will sink you to their level and beat you with experience.

[Sinklar]

After I bought the bus I had to try and make quick arraignments to have it shipped to Idaho. I was leaving for a month long trip to Thailand in a couple of weeks and didn't want it sitting any longer that need be. The bus had been sitting in that barn since the mid-60s and had just been pulled out to take pictures. If it wasn't sitting in that barn I'm sure it would have been gone long ago and I didn't want to chance theft of the bus or parts. Luckily, I found a guy from Idaho that needed a load back home and he was willing to do it at a very good price for that reason.

He sent me pictures after he had it loaded which put me at ease.

As for the title of this thread, The Armadillo, the shipper called me as he was driving through Wyoming and asked if there was a USDA check station at the Idaho boarder. Me being confused at the question asked why. He said when he picked up the bus there was an armadillo living in the engine bay. Little did I know what I was getting into, because of the stow-away.
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Never argue with stupid people. They will sink you to their level and beat you with experience.

[Sinklar]

The shipper didn't make it to my house until nearly midnight due to horrible weather in Colorado, Wyoming, and Idaho. The next day this is what I awoke to. I'm not even sure how the armadillo even had room to live in the engine bay with all the crap packed into it. The engine bay and around the transmission were packed tight with this mess. I pulled out what I could that day before I had to go to work. I ended up filling up at 40 gallon garbage can and a large trash bag.

Here are a few pictures of when I was able to get a good first look in the daylight.

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Never argue with stupid people. They will sink you to their level and beat you with experience.

[Sinklar]

A little bit of the story on this bus as I was told from the owners son. He wasn't very old when his dad drove it. He said his dad bought the bus so they could drive back and fourth between Falcon, where they lived, and St. Louis. He wanted a truck to haul stuff and be able to fit the family in it too. He couldn't really remember when his dad bought it, but when I received the title he bought it in December of 1963 from Gary Vincel Motors in Clayton, MO. The PO listed on the title was the dealership. This tidbit will come into play in another post. Supposedly, not long after his dad bought the bus he had to have the motor rebuilt. He said after the motor was rebuilt his older brother was driving it on the farm and trying to show off by driving a up a hill. On his way up he hit a rock, the rear end bounced up in the air, and smacked a hole in the transmission. At this point the bus was parked and left to sit until his father passed away. The plate on the bus shows it was last registered in 1965 so I think I'm safe in assuming it's sat since around that time.
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Never argue with stupid people. They will sink you to their level and beat you with experience.

[Sinklar]

Two weekends ago I was able to finally start working on the truck. Jeremy loaded it up on his car dolly and brought it over to his shop.

We pulled the motor after digging out as much armadillo crap as we could and it still looked like this in the engine bay.

The engine itself is still pretty nasty. The years of armadillo urine and crap took a toll on the engine case. I'm going to have to replace the case on the motor because it ate almost all the way through.

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Never argue with stupid people. They will sink you to their level and beat you with experience.

[Sinklar]

Last post for the night.

These are not the best pictures to show, but both sides of the cab from the front doors back to the bed were repainted in its lifetime. There was no body damage that would have needed fixing so we were left to believe the dealership had to of painted over some kind of logos before they sold the bus.

After I pulled the motor and spent the day pressure washing the truck we did a bit of wet sanding on the cab sides to see if we could find some logos. All we ended up finding is that were the primer was still sticking to the paint, the dealer had sanded with some pretty course sand paper. Obviously, to remove some logos from the bus before painting. We were both pretty bummed as I will probably never fully know what was there before it was painted.

Based on the title it was owned by the dealership in 1963 and sold to the PO. I don't know how the title laws work in Missouri then, or now, but currently in Idaho a dealer doesn't have to re-title a used vehicle in their name. This leads me to believe it may have been a dealership vehicle for running parts and such. This is just a hunch. It seems to fit in my mind that this is the case. It has 17k on the odometer which I would gather to be 117k based on the motor rebuild and the story of it's history. If it was indeed parked in 1965 that would be a lot of miles for it's short life on the road back then. Another thing pointing me to believe it was a dealer vehicle is that 1963 saw the updated models and it would make sense the dealer would upgrade their vehicle. Again, all just a hunch.

I'm doubting I will be able to find anything about the early history of this bus, but if there are any old timers on here from the St. Louis area that might remember the Gary Vincel VW dealership, I'd like to hear from you. It would be very cool to trace it's roots back to that point to find out if it was a dealership vehicle or not.
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Never argue with stupid people. They will sink you to their level and beat you with experience.

[unclespanky]

Sweet find and a great story as well!!

[Saul Koll]

I love the armadillo! Looking forward to watching the restoration!
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"I wish you could smell the smell that's coming from the bus"...

[LittleThunder]

Looks like you have early seamed gates. Could you shoot a pic of the inside of the roof? Early 59's have a seamed roof also.

[cjsmitty]

[shiningstar76]

That is a great find. Thanks for posting all the photos. I enjoyed reading the story.
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KK4NTP
96 Tacoma
86 4Runner
My bus caught on fire and is now on the other coast with someone who gave me money for it.

[Sinklar]

[troylee]

Looks like a great bus, and has a cool story also. I always get excited reading the story's of the hunt. Good luck on the new project.

[scottvw]

If you are having an issue getting the armadillo urine smell to go away; Go to Petsmart and get a product called Nature's Miracle Urine Destroyer. I had a bad urine smell in my bus from mice. This stuff is truly a miracle in getting rid of that horrid odor.

Great find. Looking forward to seeing your work.

[NorCalWeekender]

[Z]

That armadillo was living like a king in there...a smelly, nasty king.

Great DC! Congratulations on it...looking forward to following your progress here.

[mandraks]

very nice, used to have one back in germany, love early dokas
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regards

Uli

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'53 3-Fold Oval, L35 Metallic Blue, looking for a narrow hatch panel

[cdennisg]

Excellent find Grudge! Looking forward to watching the build. I love reading the history, and am very curious if more will come to light.

BTW, where are you located in the Gem State?
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nothing

[Sinklar]

So the plan with this bus is to get it cleaned up and on the road. It will stay OG paint with a few spots blended in and stock height. This summer I will try to do the rocker repairs and blend in the paint. I have a 63 Notch that I'm in the middle of doing a full resto on so that one will take priority over the major repairs on the DCab. Plans could change between now and then though once I start driving it around. Maybe the notch will wait until I've done the rust repairs.

[Kchulick]

So did you get the Armadillo with the truck or not?
Was wondering if he made the trip and you got a new pet.
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