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Mon Dec 16, 2013 8:34 pm

okay so time to start another build.

after finishing up the 65 high roof http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6855439#6855439 <-- shameless plug
it was time to start another build. unlike the high roof where it was started with no intentions to ever be documented this one will be, heavily

so heres the candidate a 1954 right hand drive left hand cargo door kombi.

stay tuned... :twisted:

Mon Dec 16, 2013 9:40 pm

Tuned in - though from the title I was'nt aware there was a bus attached to those cargo doors! :D

Tue Dec 17, 2013 7:38 am

burwin wrote: Tuned in - though from the title I was'nt aware there was a bus attached to those cargo doors! :D

no cargo doors in the picture.... and cargo doors are neither lhd nor rhd?!

shucks, i guess they will just have to restore the bus, and get some cargo doors for it... :)

Tue Dec 17, 2013 8:21 am

so a little side note

this bus
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=563510

was supposed to have been shipped to Florida, then built and then shipped to Europe for the Ben Pon Barndoor Gathering in Amersfoort in Holland in April. Well it got stuck in customs and never made it out of Columbia. So this 1954 got moved up the line to start its metal work since it was already in the states and here in Florida.

okay so now you all know. back to the build.

Tue Dec 17, 2013 8:40 am

here are some picture of when this bus was found and moved.

this bus came out of New Zealand, it is part of a 3 bus stash that was found about 3 or 4 years ago, the chassis no. is 20-086871, it was last used by a church in NZ............

\\\

a little fun fact since this bus was sold in New Zealand it meant that a certain percentage of it parts had to be made in NZ. (any one else that knows the exact number can chime in) things such as the glass, headlamps, paint (a darker shade of blue) etc had to be made there in order for the bus to be sold there. silly rule if you ask me but it's what makes the bus unique.

Tue Dec 17, 2013 8:44 am

here it is getting picked up, literally, from the shippers once it got into the states

Tue Dec 17, 2013 8:47 am

BODY SHOTS!!!!

*note the sweet roof line skylight very rare m-code :roll:

Tue Dec 17, 2013 8:49 am

Tue Dec 17, 2013 9:39 am

very cool, what is the plan for the build? full like new resto? fix all the underneath and blend in the rest? slam it? (hope not). kombi with seats? camper? some sort of "custom"?

Tue Dec 17, 2013 1:31 pm

Jason vw wrote: here are some picture of when this bus was found and moved.

this bus came out of New Zealand, it is part of a 3 bus stash that was found about 3 or 4 years ago, the chassis no. is 20-086871, it was last used by a church in NZ............

\\\

a little fun fact since this bus was sold in New Zealand it meant that a certain percentage of it parts had to be made in NZ. (any one else that knows the exact number can chime in) things such as the glass, headlamps, paint (a darker shade of blue) etc had to be made there in order for the bus to be sold there. silly rule if you ask me but it's what makes the bus unique.

Congrats on the bus, I'll be following for sure.

Interested to hear more about parts having to be made in NZ ? Mine is a NZ bus, by all accounts 1 of the 1st 5 to ever be shipped down under from Wolfsburg, spent all it's life in NZ until it was exported to Aus ( not by me ) where it will stay with me. Any idea when these changes took place ..? Mine has what I believe to be the OG glass ( all correct Sekurit ) can't say about headlights as mine were missing but I have since found a correct set here in Aus from a 54 ( date letters on buckets are correct as is the glass )

I'm very interested to know about the history of the buses that came down under to NZ and then later Australia.
Best
Ian

Tue Dec 17, 2013 6:19 pm

here is the reason for the title of this thread

this sign was shipped with the bus from New Zealand. thought it was kinda cool. so we kept it.

Tue Dec 17, 2013 6:56 pm

the body is pretty rough.

basically it has to come off the frame and since the roof line is held on by 3 spots that are about 3 inches long the roof has to come off.

Tue Dec 17, 2013 7:03 pm

here are some more shots of how bad the roof line was.
I'm surprised that the roof stayed on from NZ to Florida

frame rot

Tue Dec 17, 2013 7:13 pm

here are some pictures of the frame rot. this is why the body has to come off.

and one really cool angle of the RHD barn door pedal assembly

Tue Dec 17, 2013 7:31 pm

so the first step was to build a frame inside the body to give it support for the haircut it was about to happen to it.

Tue Dec 17, 2013 7:33 pm

What a heap! Can't wait to see more work in progress pics. Keep us posted!

Tue Dec 17, 2013 7:43 pm

Tue Dec 17, 2013 8:04 pm

before i post the pictures of the top coming off i checked my old phone and found a couple more pictures. Czech them out

Tue Dec 17, 2013 8:13 pm

Tue Dec 17, 2013 8:16 pm