The Smile Bus - '61 SWR

['64cal lookdub]

I've had a few requests to start a thread on my bus, so I figured I would post up. I finally purchased this thing about a month ago but I'll go ahead and fill in the history.

This goes back to when I was barely 16yrs old. I was leaving my buddy's house one day and while cruising down the road I glanced over to a side street and saw a beautiful BG/SWR '63 15 window Deluxe sitting in this dude's driveway. It was a "holy shit" moment to me because I had never really seen many Splits around my parts, let alone a nice OG paint Deluxe bus like this. Anyways I pulled over and talked to the owner a bit while admiring his bus. He had pulled it out of a barn a year prior and was finishing up things to get it rolling again. After a while, he mentioned he ran across a bullet nose panel outside of town and told me I should look into it. He told me the directions but they were pretty hazy at the time. I ended up tracking him down weeks later at his job and he took the time to draw me a map of the location. I felt like Indiana Jones or something, setting out to hunt down this obscure unicorn of a vehicle in my eyes. As a friend and I found ourselves rubbernecking, we finally ran across it. She was a photographer and happened to have her camera with her. These are the pictures we took the day I found it, I believe late September of 2006.

I headed back a few days later to inquire about it, I had some cash stashed away and figured I would try my luck. I was pretty young at the time and nervous about how it might go down. I pulled up and walked up to the house and knocked. This HUGE dude answered and after I told him I was curious about the bus he told me “He’s out back by the pond” (the owner). I started to trek back towards the pond behind the property, but as I started to get closer I noticed he was holding a rifle. I thought this is getting sketchy, luckily it turned out he was shooting gophers. I asked him about it and he told me “it belonged to his girlfriend…it’s in bad shape…I don’t think I will ever do anything to it…no drive to…but no it’s not for sale right now.” I just told him thanks for his time and headed out.

The years rolled by and I would always cruise past it every so often wondering if I could ever buy it. I probably drove past it a hundred times over the years, but I never stopped. And it never moved, not even an inch. Recently I was planning on going back and trying again, but I’ve been deep in a Model A Hot Rod build and was focusing on that. About a month ago I was browsing the local classifieds and noticed an ad for some old scooters. Not really sure why I looked at it, but after further inspection it was the bus owner. I remembered his name and knew the address. I figured NOW was the time to ask again before someone else ran across it. I felt like I should be the next care taker. I gave him a ring and setup a time like I wanted to look at his scooters. It was wild how this happened since I was planning on contacting him again. How much bigger of an open window could there have been? As we were walking towards his scooters I told him what was up and who I was. He didn’t remember me or anything but he wasn’t opposed to selling the bus this time. I checked it out and gave him an offer and he took it. I paid him on the spot, took the title and drove away with my mind blown.

['64cal lookdub]

I came back a few days later to get it ready to transport. I knew the wheels were all frozen, he even mentioned this back in ’06. I brought about $30 worth of PB Blaster/Deep Creep and various tools. I started soaking and pounding the drums over and over until I finally had most of them free. I bought a nice drum puller after the drivers side front drum just wouldn’t budge. I ended up pulling the guts out of the front brakes. It was a blast really; I didn’t ever think I would be working on this bus while destroying his driveway with penetrating fluid and grease.

He’s a super nice guy, the best part of exchanging ownership of old cars to me are the stories. He would light up and smile when he talked about his girlfriend’s family and their adventures.
The Bus was originally bought new for a local pharmacy. They painted the teeth and it has some faint eyelashes painted above the headlights. Shortly after that his girlfriend’s parents purchased it and it was taken to Juarez Mexico to have the camper kit installed. It was driven all over and the original engine blew up around San Francisco. I guess they sourced a ’63 fresh air 40hp from a Beetle and used that to keep going. The apron and rear bumper was torched to clear the pea shooters and some wire supports the oil bath air cleaner since the triangle is missing.

['64cal lookdub]

After I moved it I started to clean it up and check things out. Super rust free, it has a few spots on the rockers. 81k on the clock, original spare, tool kit, jack.

[obus]

Nice that you were able to get it after all the years passed.
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July 1959 Mango Standard Bus aka Obus L346 L347 https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=256592&highlight=
June 1973 Pumpkin Orange Thing aka Othing L30H
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=711775&highlight=
1960 Paprika Red Karmann Ghia Convertible aka Schatze L452 built 5/20/60
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...highlight=
66 21 window bus built 8/31/65 https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=777273

[G-wood Todd]

It was destined to be your bus after all these years. It looks like it should be easy to get back on the road. It'll look sweet all buffed out. Have fun.

[hoagy86]

That's a sweet looking bus congrats! Love swr

[OvalTeenAZ]

Great story about a great bus!
I love how you know the history on the engine swap.

Keep enjoying this bus like the previous owners and try not to sell out and let it go overseas if you ever sell it

['64cal lookdub]

It still needs another good round of cleaning but I repainted the wheels and threw some new 205/75/15 tires on it. I've been prepping it to see if it will fire up. I changed the oil, plugs, wires, fuel pump, etc. I also ordered everything I need to rebuild the brakes. I've been heavily influenced by Brian's (Kombisutra) outlook on keeping the bus together. I plan on rebuilding the wheel cylinders and master with some honing and new kits. Check out his drive out and extraction threads, awesome stuff! This bus should be a pretty easy project to make road worthy again. I plan to hit the paint with some TR-3 to bring it back. It still has some nice shine on both sides if you look at it at the right angle. The paint was a lot nicer 8yrs ago as seen in the pics. It's a shame, the sun and weather thinned it out a lot more on the driver side. You can make out the faint logos of the pharmacy on the drivers side, probably doesn't show up in the pictures.

['64cal lookdub]

When I was messing around in the engine compartment a few days ago I noticed this old unopened oil can tucked away on the drivers side sitting in the battery tray that isn't under the battery.

I also noticed the rear coupler split in half at some point in it's life.

[RPGreg2600]

Congrats man.

The smile stays, right?

[dmuis]

Nice bus!

Looks like someone retrofitted a humpback seat, though it was close. This bus is 2555 VIN's and 7 days before humpback production according to Progressive refinements. The earlier backrest stop brackets are there.

[RHD Notch]

Congrats...Great looking bus! Well played. Patience and perseverance do payoff.
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[Fredrok]

Great story and really cool find. Thanks for taking the time to share with us!

[mtnbus]

what a great bus ! I like everything about this one !
so sweet. good luck with it

[bus guy]

Love this bus, super dry and complete.

[BarryL]

Mega decent bus. The spare tire looks like an original style pizza-cutter with original air.

[KombiMadness]

Your great story and history on this bus - The Smile Bus, brought a smile to my face!!!

Yes, I hope the smile stays, too......
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My brother & I on the roof of Dad's Splitty circa 1967 - I'm the half pint with the skinny legs!

['64cal lookdub]

Thanks! I think it will be a lot of fun. I do plan to leave the smile on the nose.

[Eric&Barb]

Wow nice!!

Make sure there is no household fiberglass or foam rubber insulation in the walls and ceiling. Big rust causers.
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In Stereo, Where Available!

[notchboy]

May good JuJu be upon you. This looks to of been a 62 Seattle World's Fair attendee?

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