TheSamba.com :: View topic

Mon Aug 05, 2013 6:37 am

Hello,

I've been waiting a long time to introduce my NOV '54 Kombi, Barnadette ;), to all of you. It's taken a huge amount of time, effort and cost, from an army of people that I simply cannot thank enough.

Barndoors were never native to my part of the world, so this has been a pretty monumental find.

In '54 a farmer went to his local general vehicle dealer and specified that he required a vehicle with which to ferry water around his farm. He didn't want any bells or whistles and didn't want to spend a lot of money. A while later the farmer drove his new Kombi home to the farm, down some atrocious roads.

It served its purpose well until '75, at which point it developed an engine problem. Not being the mechanical type, he pulled the engine and shipped many hundreds of miles away to an engine specialist. After some months, a heated phone call ensued, during which the farmer told the specialist where to stuff the engine. The Kombi was sidelined with no future plans.

Some years later the farmer passed away from old age and his Grandson took over the farm, ignoring the bus until the mid 2000s when he decided to turn the bus into makeshift living quarters for some of his workers. He hung a tractor tyre over the nose, pushed it half a mile to its new home and methodically stripped it, storing the components all over his farm.

I was alerted to its presence by a friend of mine a few years ago and set about co-ordinating the very complicated rescue, which could fill a small book on its own. In February of this year, it left the farm, on a trailer, for the first time since arriving, new, in '54! :o

One owner, one driver, one property, for just short of sixty years.

In it's life on the farm, it racked up just 20,909 miles.

The Grandson relayed the story to me and some luck and some PI work resulted in us discovering that the engine was still in the very same spot at the engine specialist, untouched since '75! The specialist had passed from old age, but his son, active in the workshop since childhood, knew exactly which engine we were talking about and after another very complicated and costly affair, I now have the original engine.

It does not look like this Kombi was ever fitted with rear seats. There are no holes to be found.

It is the only, and thus the oldest, barndoor Kombi around these parts.

This bus represents one of my dreams; owning a barndoor. I consider myself very fortunate to be able to own something like this in the 'wrong' part of the world. The downside of this is that information and parts are non-existant here, which will make this restoration long, hard and costly. I will be bugging you chaps for ages...my apologies in advance. :D

It is a mammoth undertaking for me, but I am dead keen to get going, as finances allow, and cannot wait to drive it. I am still figuring out the original colour/s. It will be restored to stock, minus the rear seats, as ordered.

A missing trailing arm means that I have had to take what I could find in terms of spares. I am busy closing a deal to import a complete front suspension. A gargantuan stroke of luck helped me source a front bumper and an English '54 workshop manual (unfortunately minus the back cover).

Mon Aug 05, 2013 6:55 am

Cool bus and awesome story. Your wizard powers need to be put to work. :wink: looking forward to your build.

Mon Aug 05, 2013 7:44 am

Barndoor Mafia wrote: Cool bus and awesome story. Your wizard powers need to be put to workout. :wink: looking for to your build.

Thanks. They most definitely are being put to good use.

Now, about this mysterious Barndoor Mafia... ;) :lol:

Mon Aug 05, 2013 8:51 am

Nice save...Congrats! Looking forward to seeing it put back together.

Mon Aug 05, 2013 11:12 am

Congrats Nic, been waiting a loooong while to see these pics :wink:

All the best with the restoration - indeed a mammoth task ahead !

Mon Aug 05, 2013 11:28 am

Thanks RHD Notch.

roachmon wrote: Congrats Nic, been waiting a loooong while to see these pics :wink:

All the best with the restoration - indeed a mammoth task ahead !

roachmon? Paul? :lol:

Thanks.

Sadly, my beloved bus is currently several hundred miles away from me, but I shall take plenty more photos the next time I visit.

Luckily I don't need to find toooo many parts for her. I have a rough plan of how it will be restored and who shall be helping with it too.

If I cannot find the original colour for it, it will go, some say boringly, Dove Blue. :D I'm told that the green colour is the result of some type of rust agent. The beige, I'm not sure. The speedo pod, and only the speedo pod, show signs of Dove Blue, which is odd. It doesn't look to have been replaced and there is no crash damage evidence anywhere.

Mon Aug 05, 2013 12:03 pm

Great story man! Congrats...

What is the color in the engine bay?

What about the cab side of the front nose?

It is possible that it was ordered in factory primer thus making the color on it now it's "first paint" this does not explain away the dove blue on the dash though.

Good luck

Mon Aug 05, 2013 12:09 pm

EA57RHD wrote: Great story man! Congrats...

What is the color in the engine bay?

What about the cab side of the front nose?

It is possible that it was ordered in factory primer thus making the color on it now it's "first paint" this does not explain away the dove blue on the dash though.

Good luck

Thank you. :)

Engine bay...

The only place that shows up a definitive colour, to me, is the speedo pod: Dove Blue.

I hadn't considered the primer delivery option, but considering the frugal nature of the buyer, it is entirely possible. Thanks!

Mon Aug 05, 2013 12:24 pm

It appears that it very well could have been delivered in factory primer.

My 53 was delivered in primer and the berth cert will certainly confirm yours.

are there any remnants of good paint in the cab area besides the pod?

What about the seat base or the seat base storage area? perhaps under the front emblem. These areas should reveal something.

Mon Aug 05, 2013 12:30 pm

EA57RHD wrote: It appears that it very well could have been delivered in factory primer.

My 53 was delivered in primer and the berth cert will certainly confirm yours.

are there any remnants of good paint in the cab area besides the pod?

What about the seat base or the seat base storage area? perhaps under the front emblem. These areas should reveal something.

I do want to order a birth certificate, but I am currently between jobs, so that is a luxury right now.

My bus, sadly, lives quite far from me at the moment, so it's going to be some time until I can check it out. Apart from surface rust, I have only found the pod blue, so far.

...it does give one carte blanche with the colours, which is great. I've been looking at photos of barney Kombis in DB and dang, they look super sexy. :lol:

Mon Aug 05, 2013 12:51 pm

Unless it was ordered in primer, most if not all Barndoor Kombis were dove blue.

I am not aware of ever seeing a 54 Kombi in another color from the factory.

BTW where are you located?

Mon Aug 05, 2013 12:54 pm

EA57RHD wrote: Unless it was ordered in primer, most if not all Barndoor Kombis were dove blue.

I am not aware of ever seeing a 54 Kombi in another color from the factory.

BTW where are you located?

Oh, OK. Good to know.

I figured it must be one of these:

L 21 pearl grey
L 28 grey
L 31 dove blue
L 62 ivory

...as shown in the Technical section of this website.

I'm in South Africa.

Mon Aug 05, 2013 1:13 pm

you are very lucky to own, what seems to be a super solid, first hand kombi ! congrats. and forget about restoring to whatever paint, she looks great as is ! terrific bus !

Mon Aug 05, 2013 1:21 pm

djfordmanjack wrote: you are very lucky to own, what seems to be a super solid, first hand kombi ! congrats. and forget about restoring to whatever paint, she looks great as is ! terrific bus !

I'm well aware of my good fortune. :) Thank you.

The photos are a little deceptive, but compared to some of the projects I've seen on here, I count myself lucky.

The nose needs a lot of work. The floors are pretty wasted. There are plenty of smaller dings and repair jobs.

I am not able to do a lot of the bigger jobs myself, but I am a perfectionist and want to do it right, where financially possible, so it will take some time.

Mon Aug 05, 2013 1:26 pm

The L62 Ivory was used on the ambulance conversion.

another thing to consider is the region in which you live. Fiji, Australia, I believe New Zealand and South Africa had CKD deliveries and typically painted them in colors specific to the region. As part of the CKD program other components such as the glass and trim work were sourced locally as well.

looking through my Transporter specification guide it appears that CKD deliveries to South Africa started in 1951 with the Beetle. The first CKD Transporter was not till 1955.

Mon Aug 05, 2013 1:31 pm

EA57RHD wrote: The L62 Ivory was used on the ambulance conversion.

another thing to consider is the region in which you live. Fiji, Australia, I believe New Zealand and South Africa had CKD deliveries and typically painted them in colors specific to the region. As part of the CKD program other components such as the glass and trim work were local as well.

looking through my Transporter specification guide it appears that CKD deliveries in South Africa started in 1951 with the Beetle. The first CKD Transporter was not till 1955.

That makes sense. I have a later ambulance and should've connected the dots. :lol: Thanks.

I'll take special note of the glass markings the next time I visit my bus.

Your guide is correct, bar me thinking that the first buses here were '56s. I do not know of any "Wolfsburg" buses here either. Barndoors were not native to this part of the world, making this one all the more remarkable.

Mon Aug 05, 2013 1:48 pm

Very cool story, quite amazing to find the engine after all these years 8)

Mon Aug 05, 2013 1:55 pm

ian macdowall wrote: Very cool story, quite amazing to find the engine after all these years 8)

Thanks, Ian.

Yeah, I'm stoked about that. The numbers match up, but it'll be a while before I can order a birth certificate to truly confirm it.

I also need to find a boatload of parts for it.

I've been bugging the chap for photos and any remaining parts that he may have, but he's a seriously unsociable character, so who knows if it'll happen.

Even if it's just one photo, to show the original registration number, because I have the cast numbers and letters, but no idea in which order they go. :lol:

Mon Aug 05, 2013 2:44 pm

What a great find, looks like a really good start you have there !

Another RHD bus saved as well, will follow this with interest.

Well done

Ian

Mon Aug 05, 2013 9:14 pm

Very cool story, Congrats and looking forward to the updates