1961 Standard Campingbox found in Coastal Canada

[vwboop]

On March 3rd 2013 we had a car club wrench session, and during the course of our day our club pres.. randomly showed us a picture of a bus that he had taken on the coast of BC approximately four years earlier and asked us what we thought.

It was a picture of a bus that certainly didn't look like anything special... appeared to be a two tone bus with a Riviera pop top hacked in and looked to be in fairly rough shape. He then brought up a second picture of the bus that I took considerably more interest in.

In the second picture sitting behind the bus was a late Standard Campingbox cabinet (late reffering to the late 1959 - 1961 kits...believed to be available until the SO-22 mosaics came on the scene) which we had been looking for for our 59 Campingbox that we had picked up a couple of years earlier.

Our club pres. vaguely remembered where he had taken the picture and we quickly turned to Bus hunting on Google Earth. Once we located the bus in Sattelite pictures we turned to Google streetview and were barely able to read a phone number on a fence for the storage company.

When we contacted the storage company it seemed as though we had possibly met a dead end. The Storage company agreed to pass on our phone number to the owner but we didn't hear anything back from the owner. A couple weeks passed and knowing this needed to be pursued we decided a trip to where the bus was stored was in order. We had the idea that if we paid a few months storage for the owner perhaps that would get their attention. We also brought up coffee gift cards for the staff at the storage yard for the help they had been thus far. About another week passed and finally we recieved a call from the owner of the bus. She said that she had offers to buy the bus over the years that she had just ignored but she said that this for whatever reason felt different this time. We spoke infrequently over the next couple of weeks and were able to negotiate a price that we were both happy with.
So it turns out it is a Tourist delivery (UX code) bus that was picked up in Germany and used for business for a couple of years. I believe it was ordered as a Kombi and brought to Westfalia as the previous owner stated there was a catalog where the owner had circled what they wanted which included accessories such as the chandelier, tent, whichever parts of the camper they wanted, and had even purchased a suction cup spotlight (the previous owner is looking for some of these items). Also it has a black steering wheel, black knobs, and primered hubcaps, and simply Grau for a paint code (which makes me think - Kombi). Given the year of the bus and color of the plaid underneath the covers I believe it would have been brought to Westfalia right after purchase. From the history the owner provided it was brought to the US in 1963 (there is a sticker on the inside of the gas door from 1963 from Unimart which we figure may have been a California inspection. She bought the bus in approximately 1996 from an early member of the Strictly Vintage II's club (who was the third owner of the bus).

The sawtooth rubber matting in the back and on the inside firewall was optional for Campingboxes (it is installed smooth side out in this bus which is different from our 59). It doesn't look as though the bus ever had the rear rollback cabinet as there are no holes for the rubber buffers that would have kept it from coming forward. One interesting feature for this bus is that it has never had the wood bulkhead panel installed (the other busses we've seen in literature or otherwise have either had the wood bulkhead panels or standard microbus interior panels. The rear (or front profile) of the Campingbox unit is trimmed to fit tight against the bulkhead and there are small cutouts for the bulkhead ribs, and larger cutouts at the top for a capped bulkhead. This bus also has clamshell lights mounted opposite each other behind the rear side windows (not seen on either of the other Campingbox busses).

As far as we have been able to verify it is one of three late Standard Campingbox busses known (none of which have m-codes and each are different models - 22(?), 231,& 233). There have also been three late Campingbox kits found loose (The one in Germany is unconfirmed wether it was in an original bus).
The late Standard Campingbox units are distinguishable by their pressed end silver handle on the side, the box is taller than earlier versions, there are three drawers across the front, the box and table surfaces are white laminate like the SO-23 kits had, and the cabinet knobs are metal but similiar in shape to the triangularish flipseat knobs.

The bus has obviously seen better days and the main Campingbox unit was stored out in the weather for roughly five years, but great for a template and original hardware. We're pretty happy with it

The bus has had a Riviera (?) pop-top installed at some point in it's life. It looks as though they may have brought it to Riviera as most of the wood panels were changed out as well. Just glad they didn't touch the windows

More pics in the gallery here http://s1100.photobucket.com/user/vwboop1/slideshow/1961%20Standard%20Campingbox

More info about Standard Campingbox busses here:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=479038
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"Love and good roads"

[srfndoc]

What a find and great work getting it!
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RPM=(MPH*336* (R&P*4th*1.26))/Tire Diameter in inches

[steveo_32]

Is this why u wanted to borrow my metal detector?
Hahaha awsome find

[jeffff]

Cool story...nice find.

[vwboop]

[Braukuche]

[vwboop]

[BarryL]

[vwboop]

[Aaron]

Congratulations!
Heading South this weekend?
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[vwboop]

[earlywesty]

Nice score Chris and a cool story.

[Mr. Bungle]

amazing story, adventure and score chris...so great that this bus was rescued!

but...i dont know who this "club pres" is that you keep talking about...everyone knows that the Zündfolge Car Club family is all about equal opportunity!
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Silas

Zundfolge Car Club

Stock Motor Challenge website

[70slooker]

[Mr. Bungle]

[vwboop]

Set the tent up today and finally figured out what the extra material in the tent bag was for. It looks homemade, but well made. Somebody sewed up a piece to close off under the cargo doors and wheel wells. The way it's made (with the flap with clips) it looks like at one time there may have been a folding step?? It is set up on our other bus (just because it was accessible).

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"Love and good roads"

[earlywesty]

Cool addition, love that tent colour.

[kombisutra]

That bus is very lucky YOU found it vs anyone less conscientious. Super cool piece of history.

[zuggbug]

Killer hunting skills. Congrats
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SOUTHERN INTEGRITY AIRCOOLERS
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56 westy

[Z]

Holy cow...love this bus. I hope you document it here - looks like its in great shape!