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Wed Sep 21, 2011 10:51 am

Hi everyone,

I am currently looking for pics, magazines and general information about the first lowered buses. Does anyone know who started lowering splits and when?
I am currently trying to get a historical license plate for my van in Germany. The TÜV-guys are pretty tough and want me to proof there have been lowered vans in the 60s already.

Can anyone help? And I'm not talking about Photoshop :lol:

Cheers,
Jan

Wed Sep 21, 2011 11:00 am

I'd guess that trend started in the 70's after the Cal Look bugs started getting popular.

Wed Sep 21, 2011 11:12 am

My guess is this is going to be pretty difficult to prove.

You'll have to have photos of someone pulling out torsions ?

Wed Sep 21, 2011 11:23 am

kanniff wrote: My guess is this is going to be pretty difficult to prove.

You'll have to have photos of someone pulling out torsions ?

Anything could help. Pictures of lowered vans somewhere in the street, magazine features, catalogue pages of adjustable beams or anything. I googled a bit and only found drag splits that were everything but lowered...

Wed Sep 21, 2011 11:25 am

wasnt there a lowered barndoor campingbox bus from way back? the one that had the chrome bumpers i think

Wed Sep 21, 2011 11:39 am

Jake Martinez wrote: wasnt there a lowered barndoor campingbox bus from way back? the one that had the chrome bumpers i think

Was there? Never heard of it! But pics like that I'm looking for. Ideally with a proof of age e.g. from a magazine.

There is a great German website for only that one purpose: helping people to proof that modifying VWs was already 'en vogue' in the 60s and 70s. Unfortunately they are mainly covering bugs...:

http://www.kaeferfriseure.de

Sorry, in German only :roll:

Wed Sep 21, 2011 12:28 pm

it had a porsche running gear also i think

Wed Sep 21, 2011 1:07 pm

1971 Hot VW Cover.

1991 Cover.

Wed Sep 21, 2011 1:10 pm

I don't think that shorty is lowered.

Look through the Cal Look book. I remember seeing old pics of buses given the Cal Look.

Wed Sep 21, 2011 4:32 pm

I've been going to VW shows here in So. Cal. since the '70s. The first lowered bus I ever saw was actually a Bay window at OCIR back in '78 or '79. Most customizers were still cutting out the wheel wells for wider tires then. I didn't see a lowered split bus until the early '80s. If you go back to old Hot VWs issues you will see it follows a similar timeline.

Wed Sep 21, 2011 5:23 pm

this one was done back in the 50's

Wed Sep 21, 2011 5:34 pm

yea thats the one!

Thu Sep 22, 2011 9:03 am

UZI wrote: this one was done back in the 50's

Cool!!

Does anyone know the story on this bus?

Thu Sep 22, 2011 9:36 am

blue jay wrote: UZI wrote: this one was done back in the 50's

Cool!!

Does anyone know the story on this bus?

Do a search for Brooks Stevens...

Thu Sep 22, 2011 9:52 am

UZI wrote: this one was done back in the 50's

I knew that Dude was a vampire.

Thu Sep 22, 2011 10:25 am

ToolBox wrote: blue jay wrote: UZI wrote: this one was done back in the 50's

Cool!!

Does anyone know the story on this bus?

Do a search for Brooks Stevens...

There is an aerial pic of the above bus in an old museum brouchure on this page, incorrectly identified as a Jeep Van. It is parked outside the museum building:
http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2009/11/11/lost...wisconsin/

Thu Sep 22, 2011 12:24 pm

crofty wrote: I don't think that shorty is lowered.

Look through the Cal Look book. I remember seeing old pics of buses given the Cal Look.

Doesn't matter, at least the pic shows there've been modified vans in that period already. As I said, everything helps :)

"The" Cal look book? I guess there a several ones around. Which one do you mean? Cheers!

Thu Sep 22, 2011 12:27 pm

Clara wrote: ToolBox wrote: blue jay wrote: UZI wrote: this one was done back in the 50's

Cool!!

Does anyone know the story on this bus?

Do a search for Brooks Stevens...

There is an aerial pic of the above bus in an old museum brouchure on this page, incorrectly identified as a Jeep Van. It is parked outside the museum building:
http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2009/11/11/lost...wisconsin/

Cool! Where is it today? The owner might have done a little history research already!

Cheers everyone, keep'em coming! :lol:

Thu Sep 22, 2011 5:52 pm

slammed shady wrote:

Cool! Where is it today? The owner might have done a little history research already!

same place as where the vampire picture was taken. behind the cheddar curtain

Fri Sep 23, 2011 9:39 am

UZI wrote: slammed shady wrote:

Cool! Where is it today? The owner might have done a little history research already!

same place as where the vampire picture was taken. behind the cheddar curtain

That picture was taken in the Brooke Stevens museum, which is not where the bus is located today.

Also as far as I know that bus was lowered in the 70'ies, not in the '50'ies.