I Saw A Lovely Very Early VW Bus At The Petersen

[RockStock]

Cool article discussing the Barndoor design on The Autopian

See here:
https://www.theautopian.com/i-saw-a-lovely-very-ea...to-matter/

Don’t miss the 2 pages of good theories & interesting comments at the end of the article.
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[Lind]

There is so much to love about buses. I love how the design went from a barndoor panel with no rear window or hatch to a sliding door 21 window inside 18 years. both share the same envelope and are recognizable as the same vehicle, but are so different, and there are so many models and uses in between. From a collector's standpoint, it never gets old. There is just so much there.
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Wanted:
Idaho VW license plate frames or other dealership items.
VWoA literature and early dealership or distributor literature/pictures/information
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[EverettB]

Interesting comments and it seems like a lot of people were thinking the reason for the Barndoor decklid was either production simplicity at the time (Sort of makes sense) or they didn't think about having a rear upper hatch (Unlikely?)
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[Who.Me?]

^^^^

Love the last comment...

[j.pickens]

Here's an archival Peterson's museum photo of another fine Barndoor bus.

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[Zwitter]

That 52 barndoor deluxe is the infamous "Hornbecker" bus. Once owned by former mega collector Mike Hornbecker.
Sadly the history of that doesn't credit the late Washington state collector Steve Wood who originally found the bus in a Oklahoma dealership basement.
The barndoor pickup off-road truck was built in the early 1970's by Dave Beeson's Auto center in Bellflower Calif. A friend worked there and was ' tasked' with cutting the perfect front dogleg's off to clear the tires.

[LAGrunthaner]

I would like to know more about Steve Wood and how found the bus.

It would also be cool to see some updates on the Baja Barndoor, j.pickens

[Lind]

[Who.Me?]

[LAGrunthaner]

Cool article. I couldn't find any info here regarding the “The Milan” hotel shuttle Bus which Brendan mentions in the article until I found this nice interview with the owner Gene Langan driving it. The headline is stunning, and I love his great sense of humor in the end regarding how pissed off the drivers behind him are because the bus goes slow.



Link

[Malokin Martin]

You couldn’t find any info because we’re not part of the inner circle

[Douglas Denlinger]

Once upon a time, many years ago a 52 deluxe surfaced in the local Phoenix newspaper classifieds, when that was the source for selling a used vehicle.
The owner of that vehicle claimed as he drove his 52 to the Panama canal, he stopped in the very same service station where the Woods/ Horny bus was stored. Service guys went right past him, opened the engine compartment, walked right by him for a second time. A short time later they emerged, this time acknowledging him, claiming the bus they had was older!!
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[RockStock]

Which 52 Deluxe was that?

The comment that got me in that article was the one saying what a crap design the Transporter was…when it was basically the original MPV

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Couple of other BD-related articles on that Autopian website

Aerodynamics
https://www.theautopian.com/ill-never-get-tired-of...n-the-bus/

Rail BD
https://www.theautopian.com/germany-used-to-make-t...gen-buses/

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-StockRocks-