Thanks Lind for my new OG SWR paint decklid!

[BulliBill]

I've been enjoying the hell out of this original SWR paint Double-Door Panel since I put it back on the road (after over 30 years of storage in Texas barns) back in 2000. An awesome old girl! She originally came with a Bastard motor, but is running a stock 1961 40hp engine now, purrs like a kitten!

Our buddy Lind has visited before and had seen this Panel Bus up close. It's taken me a few years doing a section at a time every once in a while to polish out the oxidation on the original SWR factory paint. But the decklid was the one place that had lots of mild surface rust, where the SWR paint had flaked off in lots of spots. I imagine that for a while the decklid was removed and sat flat in the sun for a few years and took a beating from the sun and weather.

My long-term plan was to one day remove the decklid and have my painter sand it back to bare metal, straighten any little dingles, seal and prime it, and then along with the roof, shoot both in color-matched-to-the-sides SWR paint.

Fast forward to 2015...

Then as I arrived fashionably late to the Red Barn swap meet during the April 2015 Kelley Park weekend, Lind came running up to me. With a sense of urgency, he wisked me away to a swap vendor and friend of his named Chad and showed me something hidden away inside Chads Split-Bus. Now I arrived late on purpose, as I had no plans to shop or buy anything, and when you arrive late, usually all the cool stuff you might want is already gone! But there in the Splitty was a very nice condition, correct era, original paint SWR engine decklid that Lind had convinced his buddy to not display or sell until I arrived. Lind remembered my Panel and it's dingy decklid, and had decided that this was a match made in heaven. He even showed Chad photos on his phone of my Bus and my decklid, and thankfully Chad stored it out of sight until Lind could put us together. I was a little shell-shocked, it wasn't cheap, and when Lind sensed that I might be balking, he said something to the effect that "if you can't afford it now, I'll even buy it for you and you can pay me back later. This decklid HAS to go on your DD Panel!"

Long story short, his buddy Chad gave me a better deal and I came to my senses and made a Saturday afternoon run to the ATM machine and on Sunday at the Kelley Park Meet I paid cash for this awesome old OG Paint decklid and packed it up for the plane-ride back home to St. Louis. Thank you so much Lind for thinking of the "match" and helping to make it happen! And thanks again to Chad for the sale, and for hanging on to it until I got there!

Fast forward again to this week...

So I finally got around to swapping out the decklids. Side-by-side there is no comparison in the looks department. I spent an evening polishing up both sides of the "new"decklid, touching up some little bare spots underneath the license plate area with SWR, and then transferred the light, latch, cover and hinges to the new decklid.

Here is a side-by-side comparison shot of the two lids...

The new decklid looks so nice that now I've got to go back and rub out the rest of the surrounding SWR paint on the body to get it to shine a little more like the new decklid if at all possible. Even if it doesn't quite match, the new one looks a hell of a lot better than the original lid, and now I have a SWR spare!

So thank you to Lind's vendor buddy Chad, and thanks especially to Lind for putting the two of us together. My Panels' ass looks a hell of lot better now! You were so right Lind, and now that decklid "IS" on my DD Panel!

Bill Bowman
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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!

[scottvw]

Looks awesome......great story too.

[Big Bill]

Beautiful.

[mastorna]

Wow, that is in unreal condition. It's almost too good of paint. In any case, you might get to recoup your investment if you sell your existing decklid.
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1959 Type II Mango SO-23
1962 Type II Kombi Light Gray
1963 Type II Standard Sunroof SWR\BG
1963 Type II Deluxe MG\PW

[EverettB]

Wow, that is an incredible upgrade.
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[Loren]

Lind rocks! I have dealt with him on a few transactions and he has always gone above and beyond the call of duty. That new decklid looks fantastic!

[Lind]

Bill, I am always glad to help. I knew when I saw the lid that it would be going onto your panel. it was just a matter of letting you know that was what was happening...

the seller is my friend, Chad. he goes by the user ID "shortbus". big props to him for both holding onto it when there was much interest in it, and also giving a fair price considering its amazing condition.

I get a sick pleasure out of original paint buses and matching them with their proper original paint parts. I switched all three doors on the right side of my '61 mouse grey bus twice because I found better matches.
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Wanted:
Idaho VW license plate frames or other dealership items.
VWoA literature and early dealership or distributor literature/pictures/information
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[volksaddict]

Lind's a good guy, in it for the bus

['64cal lookdub]

Congrats!

[hitest]

This is one of my new favorite threads and involves two of my best pals.
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[rjonas]

She's a beauty Bill! What a difference that deck lid makes. You should leave it in the sun for 2-3 years and it'll all match...or 6-months in AZ
This is the first split bus I have ever driven...after a night of Missouri Micros debachery...Bill said "you wanna drive?" Thanks for my first splitty drive nearly 15 years ago...I've been infected ever since.
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1979 Type-2 Westfalia “Sandy”
1973 Type-181 Thing "Velma"
1956 Type-1 Beetle Patina Project “Rosie”

www.azbusclub.org

[BulliBill]