My early 1961 sealing wax red single cab field find

[Cal-Neva speed shop]

Hey guys! What an awesome weekend. I am so thrilled to have pursued a lead from a good friend of mine which lead to a great field find of an old original sealing wax red 1961 single cab. Well, A good friend of mine told me about an old Volkswagen truck that had been sitting in a field by their cabin in California. I asked him if he could get some pictures of the truck next time he was at his cabin in California. Well he snapped a few that next weekend and sure enough it was an original split window single cab. Just sitting in the bushes! I was excited because most leads end up being rust buckets or some 70's bay window. No thanks! But sure enough it was an early split window single cab. I have been searching for a single cab to put into my collection but I have been watching the prices of them climb higher and higher over the past year. I didn't want to spend $10k+ for a decent single cab. So when this lead from our friend came by us, we dad and I had to pursue it. Our friend didn't know if the owner would sell the truck but he was going to get us the owners phone number in a few days, this was at the beginning of the week. Well I get a call from my friend on Friday afternoon and he told me that the lady who owned the single cab just happened to of called him that day and told him that she wanted to sell the Vw. My friends family and her had been friends for awhile but my friends dad passed away and she knew that he had always wanted to buy the Vw from her. My friend was the first person she called when she decided to sell the truck. Well, he let her know that he was not interested but a friend of his was, (me). She told my friend to have me call her to discuss about the truck. Well, I gave her a call Friday night and wanted to get right out to her house to make a deal on the truck. We set up a time to meet at 10 in the morning on Saturday. I couldn't sleep all night on Friday because I couldn't stop thinking about the bus. Well we got out there on Saturday morning and saw the bus sitting in a field with a few cars and trailers. I have never found any busses like this before and knew I need to take a bunch of pictures of it before we touched it or moved it. The lady who owned the bus was very sentimental over it. She had owned it for a good majority of her life but she never drove it anymore and she needed the money. She drove it to the dump and used it to haul trash most of the time. She let us know that she had the transmission and engine rebuilt. I didn't really believe her since it looked like the truck hadn't be driven in years. She told us the bus starts right up and you can drive it home! I still didn't believe her but she told me to hook the battery up and she fired right up after a few cranks of the engine. I was elated it ran and sounded really well. I wasn't going to drive it home as I had a hour drive and a Vw that I had no history about any of the mechanics of it. So we loaded her on the trailer and went home. I am still super excited to have finally found a really nice original early single cab. It was a little meant to be. I'm going to get her all back to stock and original. Just a simple preservation! The truck is super solid with no rust through anywhere. The original paint is in great shape. The dual treasure chest is beautiful and still retains all of its original grey paint. So, I buffed it out today, adjusted the brakes, and turned up the engine. I worked on it all day and it's really turning out to be a great bus. The original seat was recovered at some point. I am going to order an original style seat cover for it tomorrow. I plan on keeping her the way she sits. No repaint, no restore, and no lowering! Just fixing some of the issues like the seat cover, wrong size tires, white ash tray, no radio delete plate, relocating the rear gate latches, straightening the rear bumper and a few other things. I wanted to start a thread about the truck and the progress I make with it in the next few weeks while I finish it and get it road worthy.

The road driving out there.

[/URL]
The first sighting of the single cab.
[URL=http://s1194.photobucket.com/user/renohamel/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMAG0128.jpg.html]

[/URL]

Original headliner

All loaded up and ready to drive home!

Got it home.

Cleaned it up today. Still have more work to do.

Nice and straight nose.

Interior cleaned up.

Nice dash!

_________________
1962 double cab
1963 double cab
1961 single cab
1956 low light Ghia
1957 oval
1958 bug
1967 bug
1956 oval
1969 Ghia

[Wheelie Pete]

Nice bus! And it did buff out! Congrats on the score!!

[BlastMasterMannyFresh]

Congratulations. What a great find.

[donald.lemay]

My turn
All i get is there's bus just like yours, only to be a bay all rusted out. I would take a sweet bay but shhhhh
_________________
66 13 window deluxe
2085cc
9to1compression
ported polished heads 40x36 valves
010 distributor
VS 42mm exhaust
40 IDF carbs

[brotherbob]

Great score on a great lil' SC! I have a sweet spot for trucks.
BB
_________________
In wine there is wisdom , in beer there is freedom , in water there is bacteria !

[crukab]

WOW, what a great find, any idea on the true milage ?? Very cool that the Woman knew it would start up-- and it did !! I have "Dual Chester" envy. I wonder how many people spotted it & tried to buy it over the years.

It reminds me of this Earlie Singlecab:

This low miles '60 was in Long Island, on CL, I spotted it, but didn't have the $$$, and I was working on my '66 Sc, but I posted it in the "Good Deals" thread, and a SMART young man named Lance snagged it after seeing my post, I did not know this until last year @ Trailbash when I saw the truck.

Thanks for NOT lowering the Truck, it looks GREAT !!
_________________
Tom

My Pops:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=604100&highlight=
I know you will always be with me, rest in peace with no more pain. 8/13/14.....

In the yard right now:
'51 Dodge 5 window truck
'65 Bug
'66 Singlecab
'82 Rabbit Truck Diesel from CALI
'86 Doublecab W/T
'91 Vanagon carat/wolfsbrg.Tiico
'88 Dodge Ram pickup
'11 Jetta Wagon

[zuggbug]

_________________
SOUTHERN INTEGRITY AIRCOOLERS
58 15 window
56 westy

[deadkombi]

You're so lucky. They don't get much better than that.

[Stocknazi]

Did you buy any lottery tickets yet?

awesome bus
_________________
WANTED:
58 Westfalia cabinet knobs (3 needed), roof rack, and (7) privy tent poles (silver painted).

"When the people are afraid of the government, that's tyranny. But when the government is afraid of the people, that's liberty."
"Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God."

Thomas Jefferson

[Riff Raff]

^^ Dude already won the lottery and didn't even have to buy a ticket.

Sheesh!

Let me count the cool:
Bullet SC, SWR, rock solid, complete, unfucked with, dual chester, acquired from a little old lady who still loved it and let it go for a reasonable price

Hunted by a guy who doesn't need to be "coached" to just buff it and drive it.

This is straight out of a Walt Disney film!
_________________
The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance, but the illusion of knowledge
- Daniel Boorstin

[Jung Restoration]

Great story and awesome truck!

I guess this proves that old lady OG buses are still out there.
_________________
Wanted : January '57 Palm Green Sand Green Bus Parts - Middle and Rear Seat Frames - flat back. I have original seat covers but would consider covered frames.
-------------------------------------------------------
Jung Restoration - Jung is my last name and restoration is what I do for work. I restore antique windows and doors here in the Northeast. Check out my site www.antiquewindowrestoration.com

[EverettB]

Awesome score!

This guy on this site had an ash tray for sale on eBay a little while ago, I never saw it sell:
TheResurrectionProject
_________________
How to Post Photos
Everett Barnes - [email protected] | My wanted ads
"Water is the only drink for a wise man" | "Communication prevents complaints"
Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[Big Bill]

WOW!

[BulliBill]

Spectacular find and story!!! You are one lucky guy!

You are on the right track IMHO. Keep her bone stock, polish out and protect the original factory paint, avoid any touch up unless necessary, and then only if your painter can color-match and blend the repair. Order up a "Matt Miller" made upholstery kit for your bench seat (humpback?). A SWR ashtray and radio delete plate should eventually pop-up somewhere. I would definitely tear apart and go through your working but unknown quality/condition brake system right away. Also, brand new rubber brake hoses, and all new braided fuel lines with clamps and safety-wire the hose clamps on those brass fittings to the fuel pump and carburetor. Buy and carry a fire extinguisher or two just in case! Cheap insurance for such a beautiful old VW!!!

I have an awesome old original paint SWR 1959 Double-Door panel that cleaned up nicely like yours, one of my favorite old Buses! They should park together someday...

Then "drive the shit" out of that old work truck. Go visit the old woman again soon with the SC and take her for another ride!!! Let her drive! That'll make her glad she sold it to you.

Bill
_________________
I'm looking for these license plate frames for my fleet:
Coeur D'Alene - Lake Shore Volkswagen
Mission VW - San Fernando
Thornton VW - Stockton

Thanks for any help!

[kafer60]

[quote="crukab"]WOW, what a great find, any idea on the true milage ?? Very cool that the Woman knew it would start up-- and it did !! I have "Dual Chester" envy. I wonder how many people spotted it & tried to buy it over the years.

It reminds me of this Earlie Singlecab:

This low miles '60 was in Long Island, on CL, I spotted it, but didn't have the $$$, and I was working on my '66 Sc, but I posted it in the "Good Deals" thread, and a SMART young man named Lance snagged it after seeing my post, I did not know this until last year @ Trailbash when I saw the truck.

That's a 61 and it looks familiar do you know where in Va it came from?
_________________
Can't polish a turd!
"Midman- Seems to have worked well for Ted Bundy."
"seems like the right front tire is flat at the bottom, rest looks pretty good"
"The hardest part about business, is minding your own"

[BarryL]

That is like a fairytale come true: even the sparkle at the end when the butterfly winks.

[Z]

Wow...insanely jealous here, but congrats anyway. That's so nice! Good job on the work so far. Keep us posted.

[hoagy86]

Very nice! Lucky SCORE!! congrats

[turkis-deluxe]

Congrats on the find!! Looks like a super nice and solid truck. Reminds me of when i found mine. If you have any questions about what may be original or not feel free to PM me.

Here's mine.

[RHD Notch]

Congrats...What a find. This goes to the top of my "find of the year" list...damn.
_________________