TheSamba.com :: View topic

Tue Oct 28, 2025 2:45 am

And a grateful friend at that for having a spare accelerator cable and could help him install it. Very nice story and beautiful area. The North East is underrated.

[quote="Burlyhammer"] LAGrunthaner wrote: Burlyhammer, where is that bridge?

Burlyhammer wrote: sgellis wrote: That bus is very cool. Congratulations.

I will be looking forward to watching this project. You will probably be on the road before me. Haha.

I have been following you current build. You will definitely be on the road before me. We need to go on a cruise once they're both on the road. Maybe we could recreate this from last time we hung out:

That bridge crosses the Sheepscot River on Route 1 in Wiscasset. We were on the way to visit my friend Nate after leaving a VW campout in Western Maine that Stan and his wife came down for. My son was driving our 15 window and I was in the 79 Bay we used to have.
2 years later coming back from another campout we were behind this Bay on the bridge when he broke his accelerator cable. We pushed him over the hump and coasted to the other side where we changed it out with a spare I had in my bus. You can see the bridge in the background. I made a new friend that day!

Wed Nov 05, 2025 4:00 am

Great to see your first thorough inspection pics of the bus after bringing it home safely, Dave.
It is also great to see that Mike managed to keep all the og. parts that came with it, thx a lot for that Mike !
The clean up of the door logos and also the investigation on the butcher shop in Skopje is phenomenal. another piece of the puzzle found.
Interesting name as well, which sounds very Greek in origin, and that's to be expected, from the history of the country.

I guess Jakob had it at least up to 80 on that crazy drive back from Macedonia to Austria....I am sure at one point you will get the full story from him.

Really looking forward to the build !

Wed Nov 05, 2025 8:11 am

I wished I’d known you were going through Erie, PA I would have got you guys dinner just to be able to see the bus! Definitely in good hands judging from your 15 window work. Wish I had your talents.

Wed Nov 05, 2025 9:18 am

I just had to research my guess..... and guess what.
I can't believe it. The meaning of the first name Atanas couldn't even be any better fitting this bus.

The Immortal.

goose bumps..... 8)

wikipedia wrote: Atanas is a name. Its most common use is a masculine given name in Bulgarian and Macedonian, derived from Greek Athanasios, "immortal". It can also be a surname.

ps Antanasovski is obviously a Slavik take on a family name tradition, meaning he was the son of Atanas, Sr.

pps the word in the middle must be SOPSTVENIK. it means owner, proprietor, possibly (my guess) even landlord.

Wed Nov 05, 2025 11:04 am

djfordmanjack wrote: Great to see your first thorough inspection pics of the bus after bringing it home safely, Dave.
It is also great to see that Mike managed to keep all the og. parts that came with it, thx a lot for that Mike !
The clean up of the door logos and also the investigation on the butcher shop in Skopje is phenomenal. another piece of the puzzle found.
Interesting name as well, which sounds very Greek in origin, and that's to be expected, from the history of the country.

I guess Jakob had it at least up to 80 on that crazy drive back from Macedonia to Austria....I am sure at one point you will get the full story from him.

Really looking forward to the build !

There was one thing that I did not see with the bus when I opened it up, so I got with Mike, and a few days later, this shows up! Thank you Mike!!!

I believe he said he got this from you and you sent it over when the bus shipped from Germany. I'm pretty excited to try my hand at banging on it to straighten it a bit!

The bus is put away for now, but I looked at the other door, and I can see logos on it. Maybe I can uncover the missing piece on it. That would be wicked cool!

I sent Jakob a message this morning with a few questions about the bus, but top speed was not one of them. (HAHA) If 80 is in KM then we have him topped.

I have been reading up to learn what I can about how to fix this bus, and have started ordering parts for it too. I've also been working on the projects ahead of it so I can get to it sooner than later.

Thanks for your help so far Guenter!

Wed Nov 05, 2025 11:07 am

pondoras box wrote: I wished I’d known you were going through Erie, PA I would have got you guys dinner just to be able to see the bus! Definitely in good hands judging from your 15 window work. Wish I had your talents.

When we went through Erie, it was still early morning dark. I would have gladly accepted a cup of coffee though!

Thanks Pondoras Box!

Wed Nov 05, 2025 11:09 am

djfordmanjack wrote: I just had to research my guess..... and guess what.
I can't believe it. The meaning of the first name Atanas couldn't even be any better fitting this bus.

The Immortal.

goose bumps..... 8)

wikipedia wrote: Atanas is a name. Its most common use is a masculine given name in Bulgarian and Macedonian, derived from Greek Athanasios, "immortal". It can also be a surname.

ps Antanasovski is obviously a Slavik take on a family name tradition, meaning he was the son of Atanas, Sr.

pps the word in the middle must be SOPSTVENIK. it means owner, proprietor, possibly (my guess) even landlord.

Awesome!

Mon Nov 10, 2025 10:39 am

Happy to send it out Dave and glad that it arrived safely! Guenther, there was no way I was going to pirate all of the OG parts that were with the bus, like so many do, unfortunately. They deserve to stay with the bus and I can't wait to see what comes of it.

Mon Nov 10, 2025 7:45 pm

I have a real nice back seat frame with nice padding if you need it.
Looks like you will have the oldest barndoor on the east cost.

Tue Nov 11, 2025 4:22 am

myklsmyth wrote: Happy to send it out Dave and glad that it arrived safely! Guenther, there was no way I was going to pirate all of the OG parts that were with the bus, like so many do, unfortunately. They deserve to stay with the bus and I can't wait to see what comes of it.

Having the parts with this bus is huge! With all the buses I've worked on prior to this one, if something was missing I could just order one or pull one off another project. I am quickly finding out that not only are these parts hard to find, if I do find them, they are way more expensive! I feel really lucky that this bus is as complete as it is.

Thanks Mike!

Tue Nov 11, 2025 4:26 am

[email protected] wrote: I have a real nice back seat frame with nice padding if you need it.
Looks like you will have the oldest barndoor on the east cost.

I may take you up on that! I know my padding is not well. I'm not sure, but I think the frame is decent.

If it's not the oldest, surely it's the crustiest!

Thanks Jim!

Tue Nov 11, 2025 4:55 am

What was the original color? The door with the logo looks like the original dove blue.

Tue Nov 11, 2025 5:05 am

edgood1 wrote: What was the original color? The door with the logo looks like the original dove blue.

Under all the coats lurks some Light Beige Brown Beige.

Tue Nov 11, 2025 5:42 am

Burlyhammer wrote: myklsmyth wrote: Happy to send it out Dave and glad that it arrived safely! Guenther, there was no way I was going to pirate all of the OG parts that were with the bus, like so many do, unfortunately. They deserve to stay with the bus and I can't wait to see what comes of it.

Having the parts with this bus is huge! With all the buses I've worked on prior to this one, if something was missing I could just order one or pull one off another project. I am quickly finding out that not only are these parts hard to find, if I do find them, they are way more expensive! I feel really lucky that this bus is as complete as it is.

Thanks Mike!
Boy, it looks nice and cozy in there! :D

Tue Nov 11, 2025 5:55 am

Burlyhammer wrote: edgood1 wrote: What was the original color? The door with the logo looks like the original dove blue.

Under all the coats lurks some Light Beige Brown Beige.
Oh man, that's the best barndoor color combination. This really is a dream bus!

Tue Nov 11, 2025 6:08 am

Boy, it looks nice and cozy in there! :D[/quote]

It wants to get out and walk around!

Tue Nov 11, 2025 6:08 am

edgood1 wrote: Burlyhammer wrote: edgood1 wrote: What was the original color? The door with the logo looks like the original dove blue.

Under all the coats lurks some Light Beige Brown Beige.
Oh man, that's the best barndoor color combination. This really is a dream bus!

Agreed X2!

Tue Nov 11, 2025 6:17 am

I started looking for metal for the bus and was lucky to talk to Manny AKA BlastmasterMannyFresh AKA Swapmeet Specialist. He's got a sweet 54 Ambulance and had some metal left over. We made a deal, and I headed to Long Island, NY VIA the Cross Sound Ferry from New London, CT to Orient Point, NY. It's been a while since I've been on a ferry. What a trip!

Thanks Manny!

Sat Nov 15, 2025 8:16 am

My son got me a license plate for my birthday. It makes the engine lid look enormous. I wonder if they made frames for this size plate?

I ordered some metal from DKB in CA

Even though I'm not going to start working on the bus until we get some other projects finished, I figured I would pick at the drivers door since it's sitting in the shop. I figured it would be easier to carry without the window frame. I have discovered new areas where crustiness lurks. It's hard to believe how much loose rust this frame held on to. Every single time I repositioned it a new pile of rust appeared.

So far I haven't destroyed anything. I've been letting the hardware soak in penetrating oil. Some of it has come loose, and some not so much. I stopped before I damaged the piano hinge frame. The two bottom screws that hold the glass frame together were rusted away, but the two top screws are holding on. Next time...
The glass looks good!

Mon Nov 17, 2025 10:28 am

I don't want you to be distracted from the other projects...BUT I will still encourage this kind of work because it's awesome to see it taking some small steps forward. I will also concur. There are times where the bus never moved in my garage, but I would periodically have to sweep up dirt (and rust) :) that fell out on its own. You're an East Coast guy though. I know that you're not scared. :lol: