TheSamba.com :: View topic

Wed Jan 15, 2014 3:02 pm

Here is the short story of my 1970 Volkswagen Bus rebirthing. Were coming on 3 years together and I'm trying to pull up all the pictures I can find.

This was how our connection began. One day after years of lurking through the classifieds here on the samba, a bus popped up withing driving distance and within my (college student) price range.

So I made the trip up to Tulsa, OK from northeast Texas and drove him all the way home.

Well, I had him for about a week before i learned the hard way, that you have to be gentle with them. I was cruising on the interstate i 105 deigree weather, going a little to fast for the heat. And what do you know, he started shooting smoke out of the back. It turns out I had melted a hole right through the notoriosly hot #3 cylinder.

So I grabbed a copy of John Muirs book and got to rebuilding. And hey! $100 for a set of cylinders and pistons! you can't beat the price of maintenance on these things.

After a couple of weeks, he was soon road ready again. So I and my good friend who was in for a few weeks from germany gave his a road trip over to dallas. (because dallas has chipotle)

Which is when the clutch started to slip :? But no big deal, the problem was a little obvious.

Then I decided that I could do some cosmetic justice. Here is where the huge restoration begins.

of course start with the eye sore that exists constantly when i'm driving.

After a few days on the sewing machine

Then for a couple of years, the bus had to come to a stand still as school and work stole all of my time.

However, this previous winter gave me a small time window to do all of the extensive bodywork and get him painted.

So I started with stripping him down all the way. and of course found all kinds of quick bondo work (holes filled with bondo) which of course will never last. I even found a 9mm wide bullet hole in the drivers side door. Who on this planet would shoot a bus??

oh and soda blasters arent just for body work 8)

here was my greatest dread. I've been seeing this all over the forums and was really hoping it wouldnt happen to me. But i took the time and fixed it the right way.

this is how you unwrap a bus

always working late into the night

After I got the body all streightened out, I took it too the shop of one of my dads good friends. Since my little shop would have been all but impossible to paint in.

and finally, after about 500 hours work

I will continue to update when I come across more photos.

A lot of credit has to go to this community. The Samba has an answer for everything.

Thanks everyone and gute Fahrt!

Wed Jan 15, 2014 5:35 pm

It's beautiful. Well, it's as beautiful as a bus can be :wink:. I'm proud of you.

Wed Jan 15, 2014 5:45 pm

That is so amazing, don't know how you do it. Beautiful!

Wed Jan 15, 2014 5:50 pm

Thanks for the show. Looking very good. I can't wait to find out what is under my windshield seal. David

Wed Jan 15, 2014 5:56 pm

Thu Jan 16, 2014 12:03 am

Nice work, gotta love a Tulsa Bus, went to school there many moons ago with my Bus. I remember a junk yard there with lots of old Busses and Splitties out on the west end of the city, maybe across the river?

Thu Jan 16, 2014 10:13 am

Very nice work and a great set of photos showing the progress!

Thu Jan 16, 2014 11:26 am

Nice work bro.

Sun Dec 21, 2014 7:35 am

When I saw that in the bus photography thread it looked like my first bus that I haven't seen in years. Same colors and tint. Very nice.

Sun Dec 21, 2014 8:34 am

Great bus! I also had to replace the windshield sill. So far, the biggest pain in rear jobs were reinstalling the glass with new seals and rebuilding the jalousie windows. Thanks for sharing your photos. I really like your colors.

Sun Dec 21, 2014 8:51 am

Nice bus dude, great work and the colours look great too :)