TheSamba.com :: View topic

Sun Jan 18, 2015 4:06 am

Hi all. Here's my 1960 single cab I plan on fixing up. It has lived most of its life as a farming work horse on a sheep farm. Before that I was told it was a milk delivery truck. The cage on the back was used to transport sheep around. It was last used in 1983 and was drivin into the shed and parked up due to an engine fault were it sat until I stumbled across it in my day to day job traveling to farms as a tractor mechanic. As an avid vw fan you can imagine the excitement as I drove past the shed to see a single cab sitting there. I asked the farmer if he was interested in selling it to which he said no. He invited me in for afternoon tea and told me some of its history. I left pretty happy to have found a single cab even though he was not interested in selling it. I returned a couple of times in the next year where he told me about some issues his tractors were having so I offered to fix these problems for him. On the second day of working for him he came over to see how it was going and tells me he's going to give me the single cab for doing the work for him on one condition, if I am to ever sell it I have to offer it to him first to which I of course agreed. I got his tractors fixed and returned a couple of weeks later too pick up the single cab. I got it home and water blasted the rather interesting brown paint off to revel an original torquise colour. :D This is my first time restoring a vehicle and doing panel work any help would be much appreciated. I am building a rotisserie to help keep motivation high. Here's some pictures to start us off. Ryan

Sun Jan 18, 2015 5:40 am

Nice, Great story.

Sun Jan 18, 2015 5:46 am

That's sweet! Fire it up man!

Sun Jan 18, 2015 5:58 am

Semaphore single cab, cool.

Nice story as well. Congrats on the find.

Sun Jan 18, 2015 6:22 am

You said this this was the first time restoring a vehicle and that you were building a rotisserie?

The bus doesn't appear to have too much rust from the pictures you posted. If I were in your shoes, I would do a thorough cleaning, get the bus running and driving first, find some single cab gates, get them painted to match and have them hand logo'd with your tractor repair business name, and run the bus as is.

It's your bus and you can do what you want, but I'd rather see pictures of it servicing tractors at the original owners barn than on a rotisserie or even fully restored.

Sun Jan 18, 2015 7:08 am

Very Cool !! RHD Semaphore Singlecab, great score. I found my '66 in a old ladys barn, I had to wait her out for 9 years until she was ready to sell.
Get that Truck running & stopping, do the body work during the winter.

Sun Jan 18, 2015 7:24 am

Awesome find! The interior is done just clean the dashboard! The door panels are beautiful how they are. Even the seat looks really cool in it's recovering. Looks like leather, and helps tell a story about the farmer. Perhaps he tanned the hide from one of his livestock and his wife or mother stitched up a new seat cover. Is there more original Paint or did the water blast through to the primer? If not I think I'd preserve what you have and repainted the bumpers. It's all yours, so do what you'd like, just have fun! Semaphores....Boing!!

Sun Jan 18, 2015 7:33 am

Stunning, and even more so when it is done.

Sun Jan 18, 2015 8:38 am

I agree with the other post fix what needs fixen and drive it with the history of the truck as is "its only old once" nice find great save

Sun Jan 18, 2015 9:41 am

On my screen that thing looks great in all the right places. It's a gem just needing polished.

Sun Jan 18, 2015 9:48 am

Congratulations on the find...i say getting it running and drive it for while. You may find you love it as is.

Sun Jan 18, 2015 10:13 am

Sowrdfish wrote: Hi all. Here's my 1960 single cab I plan on fixing up. It has lived most of its life as a farming work horse on a sheep farm. .......

Sweet RHD! Looks like a great project.

Could I bother you for a pic of the fuse box area, like this:

Sun Jan 18, 2015 11:13 am

Wow, looks to be very unmolested. Very cool. All it needs it logoed gates! :D

Sun Jan 18, 2015 12:38 pm

Nice find sowrdfish. I'm sure you know already but incase you don't, those seat covers are original and correct for an NZ assembled splitty, as are the black cab door frames, painted white hubcaps and the baby blue paint etc etc.

Just so the US posters know unlike the USA we have very strict regulations around complying old vehicles to get them back on the road legally, things like any structural rust has be repaired by a ticketed welder and all repairs checked by auto engineer. We cant just get them running and back on the road unfortunatly :?

Looks as though you are of to great start with a pretty solid base, and a garage/workshop, look forward to seeing another single cab on the roads here...

Sun Jan 18, 2015 12:45 pm

I have a strong opinion about building a rotisserie...

But I also think it would be a good idea for you do get it running and drive it at least a bit, especially if you are not very familiar with VW buses.
Kurt

Sun Jan 18, 2015 1:17 pm

otahuhu wrote: Just so the US posters know unlike the USA we have very strict regulations around complying old vehicles to get them back on the road legally, things like any structural rust has be repaired by a ticketed welder and all repairs checked by auto engineer. We cant just get them running and back on the road unfortunatly :?
That's actually a really wise sounding law, there's certainly some rolling turds around here that just shouldn't be on the road as is.

But outwardly from here it doesn't look all that rotten, if there is a few small areas that need attention deal with them and leave the rest original (as long as the inspector is satisfied). Rotisserie jobs are great but project creep often takes over and before you know it the truck is completly dismantled down to the last nut and bolt and 10 years later it's still not done. For little spots drain all the fluids and have some strong buddies help you push it over on it's side onto a layer of tires with plywood ontop.

Beautiful truck with a great story, it'd be a shame to see one with character like that all shiny and new and afraid to get dirty, clean and tidy in good mechanical condition but still wearing it's work clothes (including the calluses and scars) is far cooler IMO.

Sun Jan 18, 2015 5:54 pm

Awesome, thanks for sharing.

I thought that was cool how the P.O. said no to selling ...and then invited you in for tea! That's the first I've heard of something like that happening.

Sun Jan 18, 2015 7:32 pm

Clara wrote: Sowrdfish wrote:

Looks like you are also working on a Vespa, I can spot a primed handlebar.

Could I bother you for a pic of the fuse box area, like this:

Mon Jan 19, 2015 11:20 am

I would really like to roll this single cab like it is but unfortunately like otahuhu says our laws are very strict requiring vehicles that are on the road to be checkd out by a registered mechanic every 6 months to make sure of its roadworthy condition. Also a lot of hoops to jump throug to get them back on the road. Being a farm truck it spent most it's life driving round in mudd so the bottom 6 inches are fairly rotten. All that will be fixed is what needs to be fixed to get me going. The original paint was primerd over and then painted the brown coulor so will just remove the old primer and try and preserve the history it has seen. I intend on using this like the Clydesdale it was hopefully becoming my daily driver. I guessed this was a CKD kit single gab but did not no all those nz features it got so thanks.

Clara I'm away from home for the week so will not be able to get your photo until next week but il get right on it when back.

Mon Jan 19, 2015 11:44 am

What is the lever to right of the steering wheel? Looks like a dipstick of some nature?