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Fri Jan 04, 2019 12:53 pm

I hoping to track down my grandfather's old split window kombi style VW Bus. In 1965 he had the bus shipped to Miami from Germany where he then traveled across the US with my Grandmother. I dont have very much information about the bus but I do have some old photographs as well as the chassis/serial number. It was the "231" model with a Chassis No. "5100817". I'm hoping someone can help me locate the bus (if it still exists). It had the "pop top" option. From what I could tell the bus was sold to a young couple in the mid 60's after the conclusion of the trip.

If you know anything about the whereabouts of this bus, please let me know.

Thank you for your time.

Fri Jan 04, 2019 1:12 pm

welcome to thesamba.com

that bus has is what is called a dormobile top. some buses with dormobile tops also had dormobile camper interiors. Other has westfalia interiors. Chances are not good that the bus is still with us , but many people held on to campers..
the bus was sold to the couple where? in California?

any other pictures? he sure seems to like the bus in the pic :-)

Fri Jan 04, 2019 1:24 pm

Welcome to thesamba.com!!!

Being a Dormobile camper it is a rather uncommon type here in the USA. So if it does still exist, chances are better to find it. Being that the hay stack will be smaller, as compared to say a normal Kombi.

Any chance you know if it had the Dormobile or Westfalia interior?

Fri Jan 04, 2019 1:36 pm

WESTY bumper bracket on the front bumper you won't get one of those with a Dormobile interior, also looks like early so42/44 curtains.

With the owner and bus coming from Germany its very very unlikely to be a British Dormobile conversion.

Fri Jan 04, 2019 2:05 pm

It does not look like it is currently registered in the USA
https://www.vinaudit.com/vin-search?vin=235100817

Fri Jan 04, 2019 2:39 pm

Lind, you might type in a few of your own VIN numbers there and see
if they come up. I have not had good luck with old VINs with less than 17 #'s.

Fri Jan 04, 2019 3:23 pm

House wrote: Lind, you might type in a few of your own VIN numbers there and see
if they come up. I have not had good luck with old VINs with less than 17 #'s.

That's my experience as well; The Toaster (our '67) does not come up using that site.

Fri Jan 04, 2019 4:57 pm

Very cool bus!

Looks like a dormobile pop top with a westy kit.

VIN 235 100 817 was buildt February 1965
looks like they had gone to the pointy rear bumper :)

I had an 1965 SO-42 Dormy, in the same colors. but it was not your grandpas bus, though that would have been sweet.

some pics of dormobile:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_search.php...t_dir=DESC

more pics: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_search.php...t_dir=DESC

any more pics of the bus?

Fri Jan 04, 2019 5:57 pm

House wrote: Lind, you might type in a few of your own VIN numbers there and see
if they come up. I have not had good luck with old VINs with less than 17 #'s. It worked for a few of my 6-digit vin numbers that are currently registered.

I just ran ten more of mine, including one that has not been registered in ten years. It found records for all except for one, and that one is currently registered. I am just checking to see if it returns records, I am not actually paying to see the records of cars that are registered to me.

Fri Jan 04, 2019 10:04 pm

Neat bus. Do you have any photos which show the interior?

Sat Jan 05, 2019 3:40 am

Lind wrote: I am just checking to see if it returns records, I am not actually paying to see the records of cars that are registered to me.

I did that with my Single Cab, so I paid for the results. They were no good.
It returned a few relatively recent records from Washington and Ohio with dates where the last California title proved it was actually registered in California.
One of the records also said it was for a travel trailer.

Sat Jan 05, 2019 4:19 am

I'm going to estimate odds of finding an old vehicle of this vintage at 1:500,000

Sat Jan 05, 2019 11:13 am

Who.Me? wrote: Lind wrote: I am just checking to see if it returns records, I am not actually paying to see the records of cars that are registered to me. I did that with my Single Cab, so I paid for the results. They were no good.
It returned a few relatively recent records from Washington and Ohio with dates where the last California title proved it was actually registered in California.
One of the records also said it was for a travel trailer. So were all the records bad/mismatched, or just some of them?

Sat Jan 05, 2019 2:23 pm

Lind wrote: So were all the records bad/mismatched, or just some of them?

None of the records were correct.

I was hoping the Washington record would turn out to be correct as I think one of the previous owners lived there for a while, but the registration date overlapped the period shown on the California title. It couldn't be registered in two different states at the same time.

Sat Jan 05, 2019 2:34 pm

Many trailers and aux vehicles use simple Numbering schemes that duplicate older VW vins. You may be tracking someone's Sullair compressor

Sat Jan 05, 2019 3:39 pm

Lind wrote: House wrote: Lind, you might type in a few of your own VIN numbers there and see
if they come up. I have not had good luck with old VINs with less than 17 #'s. It worked for a few of my 6-digit vin numbers that are currently registered.

I just ran ten more of mine, including one that has not been registered in ten years. It found records for all except for one, and that one is currently registered. I am just checking to see if it returns records, I am not actually paying to see the records of cars that are registered to me.

I wonder if it likes ID better than CA?
I just ran seven current VIN’s and all seven said no record...
Weird.

Sat Jan 05, 2019 6:16 pm

I'm in California with all vehicles registered here. Ran '65 and '67 VW busses...zilch. Ran '53 Packard and '66 Ford truck...nada. Ran inherited mom's '96 Windstar...bingbangbadaboom winnerwinnerwinner...yawn.

Best of luck with Grandpa's Bus search. Stranger things have come true on TheSamba.

Sat Jan 05, 2019 6:36 pm

Who.Me? wrote: Lind wrote: So were all the records bad/mismatched, or just some of them? None of the records were correct.

I was hoping the Washington record would turn out to be correct as I think one of the previous owners lived there for a while, but the registration date overlapped the period shown on the California title. It couldn't be registered in two different states at the same time. It can be registered in two states at one time. In the USA, title and registration are different things, and they are issued by individual states, all of which have different rules. So if you still have valid registration and sell the car to a different state, the first state will have no idea that you don't still have the car unless you tell them, and most people don't. I bought a car once that had a title, and a previous owner tracked me down and gave me another title from a different state, so I had two different states titles for one car. Register it with one and shred the other.

Mon Jan 07, 2019 9:45 am

Thanks for the help everyone! I found one picture of the interior, but I don't know much about them so I'm not sure if it's the westfalia interior. I believe the bus was sold in or near Florida.

Mon Jan 07, 2019 9:53 am

Looks like an SO44.

http://www.kingoftheroad.net/VW/SO44_1.html

grampsvw wrote:

Thanks for the help everyone! I found one picture of the interior, but I don't know much about them so I'm not sure if it's the westfalia interior. I believe the bus was sold in or near Florida.