TheSamba.com :: View topic

Fri Sep 04, 2015 5:19 am

Hi

This is going to be a long shot, I know, but I've been trying to trace the history of my single cab, but can only get as far as the previous owner.

The truck is a 56 (57 MY) dove blue single cab. Last owner in the US was Dave from Peninsula Automotive in Campbell California. He had it for several years and thinks he bought it from a local woman (he gave me a name) whose father owned it from new. Based on that, I'm reasonably certain it was local to Campbell all its working life, prior to being shipped to Belgium by Bob at BBT, from whom I bought it.

I've tried an internet search for matching names in Campbell and found only one, who I wrote to last month, but have heard nothing back (so I'm guessing they are either not the right person, or have moved away, or don't want to help).

Some pictures below, (some are mine, some I borrowed from the interweb) in case anyone thinks they recognise it and might be able to give me some leads.

The truck was given a cosmetic refurb/restoration at some point (bondo and paint on the outside) and the bed and treasure chest were sprayed with black bed-liner. Cuts in the rear panels show that hit had later oval lights for a while and they look to have been replaced during the resto with the post-57 lights that it has now. A picture on Streetview image from 2011 suggests that it had a window-mounted passenger side mirror at the time rather than a hinge-mounted one.

Prior to the resto it had some lower nose damage and a crease on the left flank ahead of the rear wheel arch. Since the resto, it's had a whack in the backside (bent engine lid).

The last US registration number was 68884S (don't know if the registration stays with a vehicle all its life or changes with the owner in California?)

I know it's a real long shot, but I live in hope that someone might recognise it from the pictures or the description and can give me some leads?....

(credit Peninsula Automotive from their Facebook photo streams)

This one shows the rear end damage...
(Credit BBT - sales photo)

The old side damage was where the crack in the bondo is on this picture and runs back as far as the front of the rear wheel bucket...
(Credit BBT - sales photo)

(as it sits today)

Thanks

Andy

Fri Sep 04, 2015 7:51 am

I can't see why this would be hard, it shouldn't take more than a few hours before someone that knows that bus speaks up. 8)

Sun Sep 06, 2015 1:36 pm

Glad to see this truck pop up somewhere. I was wondering where it went.

Wed Sep 09, 2015 5:50 am

hoss wrote: Glad to see this truck pop up somewhere. I was wondering where it went.

Sorry missed this post. Any ideas about its history prior to Peninsula Automotive?

I'm also interested in any pictures while it was with them. Have found a few on the internet, but it's interesting to see what changes happened when etc.

Thanks

Andy

Sun Oct 18, 2015 7:39 pm

Is the name Dave from Peninsula Automotive gave you Lois Grace?? She had a SC that was her Dads that looked alot like yours.

Sun Oct 18, 2015 11:22 pm

Big Bill wrote: Is the name Dave from Peninsula Automotive gave you Lois Grace?? She had a SC that was her Dads that looked alot like yours.

Hi Big Bill

I've sent you a PM.

Thanks

Andy

Tue Oct 04, 2016 12:32 pm

Think I've managed to fill in a couple of blanks on the history of my truck.

I'd tried Googling the name that Dave at Peninsula Automotive gave me a few times and had a likely address that I wrote to, but got no reply.

I Googled the address last weekend and remembered that Streetview has a timeline slider that allows you to look at older images.

The title that I got with the truck (sale from Dave to Bob at BBT) was dated October 2008. Streetview had images for October 2007 and April 2008, so I had a look and...

So I had a closer look...

And in later images it was gone.

Shiny blue bullet-indicator truck with black bedliner outside the likely address before the date on Dave's title document. Looks like a match and looks to confirm what Dave had said about how he came by the truck.

Dave also said that the woman who sold him the truck said it had been her father's from new. Some further Google searches suggested a likely name. Still don't know for sure what he might have used it for, but what info I found online makes me think it was a personal vehicle, rather than used for a business, which might explain how it survived so intact.

Maybe oneday I'll find out some more.

Tue Oct 04, 2016 2:23 pm

Hello,
According to the Redfin real estate site, the house at that address hasn't sold since 1996, so it's likely that whoever lives there now either knows about your bus or is renting from someone who does. I google searched on the address and came up with some phone numbers. Have you tried just calling them?

Good luck with your search!

-Greg

Tue Oct 04, 2016 6:36 pm

It is simply stupendous that you got that far, even.

Fri Oct 14, 2016 6:16 am

BarryL wrote: It is simply stupendous that you got that far, even.

Thanks, I'm still plugging away.

My truck turned 60 on Saturday (8th Oct), so I decided to have a go at calling the lady who I'm sure owned the truck in 2007 and 2008 like Greg suggested. I'd not wanted to intrude as I wrote to that address last November and assumed the lack of response meant they had either gone away or didn't want to know.

After trying a couple of times and having it just ring out, I got a standard voicemail and left a message and my email address. No response yet, but I'm still checking every email alert on the off-chance. Not holding out much hope though.

This lunchtime, I tried a paid VIN Search through InstaVIN (a NMVTIS search). I wasn't sure if it take my payment or allow me to do a search as I'm not a US citizen, but they took my payment and it threw back two interesting results.

According to the search it was on the DMVs' books in Washington on 02/08/10 and in Ohio on 05/17/90. The Washington record says that it was a classic car and mileage exempt. The Ohio record says that the odometer reading is not the actual reading. No other info.

Washington only keep records for six years, so I'm kicking myself for not trying this earlier. I'm going to email them anyhow in case they purge records at the end of each year, rather than on the fly. Not sure what the situation is with Ohio though (can any Ohioans reading this confirm?).

The searches I've done to date suggest that the lady I tried calling lived in Seattle Washington at some point, but the above dates don't make sense. The streetview images show the truck in Cambell CA in 2007 and 2008 and the title that I have says it was sold to the last US owner in Campbell in October 2008.

I haven't found any connection to Ohio through names associated with the above though.

Not sure how much faith to put in the VIN Search.

Edit to the above - The Ohio DMV record was accessible online. It says it's for a 1966 Frolic travel trailor. So that's another dead end :(

Mon Jan 01, 2018 3:32 am

Edited to tidy up, as Everett has kindly added the Gallery links into the original post.

Mon Jan 01, 2018 8:07 am

A 57 truck has a VIN something like 267 548
If a travel trailer has the same VIN, maybe it could come up on the search.

If it was in Seattle in 2010, try contacting the Cascade Kombis, as the owner might be a member.

You can call the WA state DMV on the phone. They will tell you if the vehicle is in the system, but won't tell you much about it. But it could clear up confusion about if the was in WA, like if the vehicle listed with the VIN was actually for a VW truck, rather than some other make & model

WA does have a program where you can register the vehicle as a classic car. After it is registered as a classic, you do not have to pay tags again. I have not paid for tags on my 53 since the nineties. Think we registered the 56 westy as a classic before 2009.
I would hope they don't purge the records of the classic cars. :shock:

Mon Jan 01, 2018 10:09 am

Clara wrote: A 57 truck has a VIN something like 267 548
If a travel trailer has the same VIN, maybe it could come up on the search.

If it was in Seattle in 2010, try contacting the Cascade Kombis, as the owner might be a member.

You can call the WA state DMV on the phone. They will tell you if the vehicle is in the system, but won't tell you much about it. But it could clear up confusion about if the was in WA, like if the vehicle listed with the VIN was actually for a VW truck, rather than some other make & model

WA does have a program where you can register the vehicle as a classic car. After it is registered as a classic, you do not have to pay tags again. I have not paid for tags on my 53 since the nineties. Think we registered the 56 westy as a classic before 2009.
I would hope they don't purge the records of the classic cars. :shock:
Thanks Clara. The Washington result must have been a travel trailer with a matching VIN. Since I made that post I've found photos of the truck online that confirm it must have been with the last US owner in California in 2010.

I emailed Washington DMV before I'd confirmed that and their reply confirmed that they purge records automatically. I'm not surprised though - retaining information for longer than necessary for their original purpose causes Data Protection issues and the ongoing liabilities can be onerous. I deal with information security at work. If they purge records automatically, they can't be made to spend time searching for them to support legal cases etc.

Mon Apr 06, 2020 10:45 am

Big Bill wrote: Is the name Dave from Peninsula Automotive gave you Lois Grace?? She had a SC that was her Dads that looked alot like yours.

That's exactly whom I was thinking of, Lois Grace, a super nice lady, at one time she was a fixture in the Golden Gate Chapter of the VW Club of America (The club that puts on the famous Kelly Park meet, San Jose CA). I met her back in the late 1980's I think, when I was somewhat active in the club.

If I recall the story correctly, it was in the family forever, her and her dad restored it together, I think? she named the truck Norman, Harold, or some name like that. If you walked up to chat, she'd give you the entire story.

I'd reach out to past club presidents Rick Spaun, Jon Peters, or real acive members back then Camencita Vallaro and Denise Flick, big Larry, or Speedwell Ray. Likely other long-time members from the club remember, Lois and her story are hard to forget.

Mon Apr 06, 2020 11:37 am

as I recall lois posted about her bus extensively in Old Bus Review (NEATO) might try searching old copies

Mon Apr 06, 2020 11:41 am

Back in the 90ies I met an elderly man with a truck just like yours at the Foothill College electronics flea market and some time (years) later at an electronics surplus place close to Moffet Field. He was a very nice fellow and we had nice talks when we met. Could have very well been the previous owner of you truck.

Mon Apr 06, 2020 11:41 am

Thanks both. I made contact with Lois in 2015. She still has (or at least had) her truck then.

Mon Apr 06, 2020 11:42 am

Just pulled out my July/August (1990!!) copy of OBR and Lois Grace's 1959 Single Cab "Vernon". Article says she was based out of San Jose, CA

Mon Apr 06, 2020 11:54 am

mdege wrote: Back in the 90ies I met an elderly man with a truck just like yours at the Foothill College electronics flea market and some time (years) later at an electronics surplus place. He was a very nice fellow and we had nice talks when we met. Could have very well been the previous owner of you truck.

It could have been. Starting with the info I was given by Dave at Peninsula automotive and adding information that I could get from online phonebooks, I was able to work out who I think the original owner was, assuming the story Dave was told was correct.

I think he was called Fred J Kuster and that he had been a teacher, although I think much younger kids.

I found old addresses in Campbell, Valley Springs, Los Gatos covering at least a few decades and his name came up in connection with some charity work in that area.

I tried writing to the most recent address, as well as his daughter's address that Dave gave me, but got no responses.

Sat Dec 19, 2020 12:48 pm

Thought this pickup looked familiar. I took some pics of it on Highway 17 in San Jose in April of 2011.

Probably not helpful now, but I thought you'd be interested...