My 1969 deluxe build...daily driver

[67sash]

So this build actually starts with the restoration of this 1967 bug my son and I did together. He did a lot (roughly 80%) of the work himself as I guided him though the rough patches. Was a lot of fun for sure and eventually hooked me into the world of air-cooled VW's.

I had built and restored things here and there, my latest project was this custom award-winning chopper. The issue with the chopper is I had to ride alone and in Oregon warmest days I was at football practice and left to ride during the wet season. I realized I was ready for a new adventure and put the bike up for sale.

I sold the chopper to a guy in Spokane, WA and took in on partial trade a BAJA. Now I knew I didnt want a BAJA but this BAJA came with a freshly built 1776 with a long list of goodies and the credit I gave the guy was less than half of what it cost to build if just 40 miles prior. I met and chatted with the guy who built the motor plus received a itemized list of what it was built with. Did my due diligence and took the deal. I decided that I would pull the motor and try and get another $1500 out of the BAJA since it looked like a nice one.

I ended up selling the BAJA quickly for the price I wanted and had a good amount of cash on hand to start my new adventure with a bus. At first I thought I needed a splitty, but the ore I researched I realized that I would just be getting my foot in the door into that world with very little left to do a restoration. So I opted for focusing on the Early Bay's mainly because where you can get one price wise and how they seem to be rising in value. So I started my hunt via this website and craigslist, full on attack.....looking multiple time daily with no concern of location (other than inside the US). I hit overload with so many on the market. I decided I would just rest for a weekend and pick my search back up the following week. During all this time I was smack dab in the middle of a high school football state championship run. I had been these particular kids for 10 years and this was the pinnacle of our goals. As it turned out we won and brought the first state championship to our community in 36 years! Something I am very proud of!!

That following Monday morning I woke up and grabbed my cell phone to do my usual early morning Craigslist scan to see if any new buses came on the market. Well, one did come up that morning. A 1969 Deluxe with a hippie paint job that spent the last 15 years in Warm Springs, Oregon. That last part is what peaked my interest. In Oregon rust is normal and non-rust or potential of a non-rusted 1969 Deluxe sounded like it was worth looking at. So I called, first person to call and I went and looked at it an hour later. Its roughly 8am and I am out looking at this horrendously ugly bus that not only was hippified, but someone (the seller) had Rhino-lined the complete nose, wheels, front bumper and roof of this bus. A alert went off immediately, but I continued my investigation on this bus. I found out not only was it a hippie bus, but a native american hippie bus from the reservation......

It was loaded with peace signs made from wire, candles stuck to the Westfalia closet, pukka shells and Indian shell necklaces everywhere. It had leopard skin carpet and a smell that reminded me of my parents basement when i was real young I pulled the carpet back, and the unusual brown factory mat (I thought they only came in black) and just as I had suspected.....NO RUST. I continued my search for it and could not locate anything but a small amount of surface rust in front of the front passenger seat. LOTS of body damage, but very little rust. The last check, and the most common place for rust, the battery tray was in need of replacement as well. So I took inventory of what it had, what I could think it was missing and decided to make an offer. I figured body work is easy, rust is a bitch. He accepted my offer and I drove the bus home. Brakes barely worked, it smoked like crazy, zero lights.....but hey, I drove it 25 miles home on the freeway and it cruised right along at 55 no problems!!!! I spent the rest of the morning cleaning all the "funky" hippie crap out of the bus and then went to gear turn in. After my football responsibilities I noticed I had a phone message on my cell. I listened to it and it was a kid who heard I was in the market for an Early Bay and that his uncle had one that he wanted off his property as it was taken up space in his barn. BARN??? As in, not out in the weather. so I called and come to find out it was only about 25 miles in the other direction. I was on my way! lol. After, looking at it I asked the man how much he wanted for it and how I was going to get it out of his barn. He reached in his pocket, pulled out a key and jumped in. Started the bus up and pulled it out, I could not believe it. It was rusted and needed much more work than the hippie bus I bought earlier in the day. But it was my weakness, green....I made a offer and drove it home as my son drove my truck home!!! My wife was going to kill me, but I know had 2 1969 Deluxes. 1 transporter and one that I cant figure out if it was a tin-top or someone added the Westfalia Zbed and closet.

This was all about 5 weeks ago, I will continue to catch you up....thankfully I have figured out this picture posting stuff. Look forward to documenting this build and hearing what you all have to say.

[Jack_O_Trades]

Nice find and two in one day. I am partial to the green deluxe as it is he exact model/color scheme that I am in the middle of restoring.

Good luck to you and let's see some more photos!

[wcfvw69]

Nice finds! I love the green one as well. I'm a purist and love bus's in stock, original condition with their original paint as well.

Keep updating this thread and add more pics!
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Decades of VW and VW parts restoration experience.
The Samba member since 2004.

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[dasdachshund]

Hummmm....must be in Hermeston. Nice Busses. And nice job on the football championship. Good luck on the rebuild, too.

-dasdachshund

[Bala]

Nice finds! That green deluxe doesn't look too bad from here. Hidden rot somewhere?
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1976 Westy

1966 Beetle

[SixStringMadMan]

Congrats!
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1978 Kombi
http://www.vw-mplate.com/mplate-10020.htm

[67sash]

So the next day after getting the green bus I decided I should do the same and clean it out...remove the seats, mats, panels and such to truly see that I had compared to the hippie bus. WOW, more rust than I originally thought...but like you all said. It was the exact color scheme I wanted and I got if for an unbelievable price. Hey literally I was into these two buses less than $3k and I drove them both home and still had that brand new 1776 sitting in my garage from the BAJA.

This last pic really shows the condition of the the original paint in what I would say is about 80% of the entire bus.

[67sash]

I suppose I should show all the same love for the hippie bus at this time so you can really appreciate the two of these things.

here was the major damage plus the BONDO art work

and here it is with all that BONDO knocked off of the metal.

Both buses came with very cool stickers!

And this picture gives you a feel of the awesomeness of the artwork....don't forget that ridiculous RHINO-lined nose and root.....which still had me concerned what it was hiding.

[67sash]

So at this point in the game, just prior to Christmas I had it in my head that I was going to keep the green transporter and fix the hippie bus and sell it. Fixing the body work and removing the Zbed and closet since I wanted those things for weekend trips with the wife. I was driving the green one around as it had a very good running 1600dp with dual Kardons....little timing and it drove like a top!! I could tell by driving it thought the tranny was old and tired. Never popped out of gear or anything, but it was/is reaching its end. The hippie bus has a 1600sp with a burnt out #1, BUT has what appears to be a freshly rebuilt 3 rib tranny in it. I drove the hippie bus to Salem and then back up to Silverton to where I was going to have the body work done. Original Restorations. I couldn't believe how well it drove and how solid overall it felt. The green bus motor was the highlight of it and that was about it. Steering is all over the place and so forth....but still going into New Years I was going to keep the green bus.

By the way, on both these buses everything works!!! I am so amazed at that. Flashers, blinkers, lights, brakes, ignition, battery, rear defrost, everything....overall am happy with my initial purchases into this adventure.

[67sash]

So, the hippie van was down at Original Restorations in Silverton, Oregon to get the rear quarter panel fixed, the battery tray replaced, a dent in the passenger side dog leg, AND straighten the nose. First I though I had to strip the RHINO-lining off the nose and decided I would do all the damaged areas as well to relief some of the manual labor hours on this trip.

JC and Angel got to work and did a fabulous job on the body work.

I also made my first mistake in ordering, as you can see in this picture I ordered the right side panel instead of the left side. Shipped it back and got the right one.

At this point in the game after many discussion with JC I started to think that maybe I should keep this bus. With the work just finished this bus was 97% straight and zero rust....or that is what I thought. JC did mention to me that some PO had done something VERY stupid and stuffed the back of the nose with fiberglass insulation.

And as you can imagine had the beginning of what could have been a rust nightmare to the backside of my new straight nose. I would have caught that if I would have stripped this bus down to nothing like the green one...and wish I would have. But overall it was a toss up now to which bus I was going to keep. The major disadvantage to this hippie bus was the obvious need for a complete paint job where as the green one I could simply restore that original elm green.

[67sash]

I will post some pictures tomorrow of how the body work on the hippie bus turned out from Original Restorations. This basically catches us up to current time. The green bus is down at Original Restoration getting its cargo floor patched, front cab floor patched, new battery tray installed, and a new suprise that has officially put me over the edge with the idea of keeping the green bus. A hint:

I will share more pic of the work done to the green bus soon. However, at this point the green bus will be going up for sale. I will have fixed if not all rust issues on this bus...a MAJORITY of them and done so properly without damaging the integrity of this 46 year old bus. While the hippie bus has been home I have removed all the seats, Westfalia cabinet, Zbed, panels, mats, all windows and that insulation from behind the nose. I have also removed the dash as I am going to strip it and fill the side slots to have a traditional looking European dash. I have discovered a bit of cab floor that will need to be patched and a few dents that I need to repair so that this bus will be 100% straight and rust free.

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I will get some more pics with the front seats out, the dash removed, and the found rust in the cab. I have already sole the 1600sp in this bus, along with a 1967 bug tranny to a buddy for his 65 bug progject. The 1600dp in the green bus is going to be transplanted to my son's 67 bug and his 1500sp will be put in the green bus for sale. More to come for sure!

[67sash]

I have made a few purchases since waiting on the green bus metal work. I purchased the complete suspension system from Vintage V-Dubs out of southern Californian and a new sandblaster.

[67sash]

I am about ready to leave for the afternoon down to Silverton to check on the work to the green bus. Pictures I have received so far show the passenger cab floor replaced, a issue with cargo flooring I purchased on the video and the picture showing the solution. lastly, I decided to pull the windshield and the picture of what I discovered. More pictures to come later today for sure.

Cant figure out how to copy the video url from G+ so I am going to just share the picture.

And last but not least...the uglyness

So today I am delivering the Klassicfab window seal and the Wolfsberg West battery tray. I still need to locate a drivers side cab floor...but might have to break down and spend the Klassicfab money to get it. The hippie van is going to need a passenger cab floor section as well but hoping to find a deal.

[19BUG70]

I vote to keep the green one....keep us posted

Fyi - I bought my bus from JC
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1970 Bug (sold 12/2014)
1972 Riviera Camper
1961 Bug (sold)
1966 Fastback TL

[67sash]

Cool!!! JC is a great guy and helping me restore these buses....then sell the green one. Most probably at first glance choose the green transporter. However, the hippie bus is a MUCH more solid bus. I guess the transporter will be to when I am done with it, but I am keeping the hippie bus. Today I finished uninstalling the cab of the bus, except the gas pedal....for some reason I cant get the pin out of the bottom. Soaked in with WD40 and will try again tomorrow. Here is what it looks like as of this evening.

To do all this I had to take the pan off the bottom, man was it full of spider webs and such!!!

Tomorrow's game plan is to strip the headliner and material so that I have everything out and almost ready for media blasting. Once media blasted then JC and Angel at Original Restorations is going to do a full paint job, inside and out. Currently I am leaning towards a Elm Green below the belt line and black above it. I saw this combo at a junk yard and REALLY like it. Especially since the Deluxe trim will pop against the colors....but I am being pull to some of the older VW colors such as Beryl Green, a lot of the greys, and of course the original Savannah Beige. I am thinking of replacing the Drag link, rebuilding the steering box even thought they are not broken I just want everything replaced or rebuild as 90% of the rest of under this bus will be brand new. This weekend I will start to figure out what I can strip from under the bus and still have a roller. I know I want the tranny and fuel tank and lines out of the bus prior to media blasting.

Again, since everyone is liking the green bus it will be going up for sale. I have spent thousands to ensure the body work is not only done but done correctly with quality materials. I will only be priming these areas to allow the future owner the decision on saving the original paint or doing a complete respray.

[1967250s]

For not being sure of where you were going, you're getting a lot done. Excellent work. I vote original Savannah beige, so classic, and I love the Elm green. BTW, a black roof will make the Bus an oven in summer, though being in OR it may not be much of a problem. My Elm Green Deluxe actually began its' life in Coos Bay!
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'72 Elm Green Deluxe

[67sash]

The black RHINO-lined roof is going to be stripped. That entire bus will be painted....just not sure yet what color combo. Really leaning towards this, but of course with new paint!

[VWDog]

[67sash]

One has to remember here in Oregon....HOT it like 78. Looking into a spray expanding foam insulation sound deaden-er that will help dramatically with this to. Found a company not too far away who is chomping at the bit to do it. They say they have done multiple RV's and have been waiting for someone to bring them a van. I corrected them and told them I wasn't bringing them a van, rather a bus. I just cant stand the RHINO-lining, that is why it is coming off. Still deciding if I should pull the headliner or work around it....thing id probably a solid 8 out of 10 condition wise.

[67sash]

A few updates on the green bus. the corner piece and battery tray have been welded in just have the usual body work to do now.

A peek at the cargo floor patch with original vw cargo floors and brand new bench bracket plates from Buttys Bits.

And the fitment of the Klassicfab windshield sill replacement panel.