"BulliBill's" 1959 Double-Cab restoration...

[BulliBill]

Thanks guys! I've still got a few things that I've not completed on the DC, maybe I'll get to them this Spring? I'm closing in on deciding when I might "retire" from my 43 years of employment with both TWA and now American Airlines as a flight attendant. Then I will have lots more time to putz around the garage to mess with everything (or mess-up everything).

I need to crawl underneath this old DC and finish up the install and sewing up of the Neil Pickett produced heater tube insulation kit. The heater system is tight and blows nice hot air "as-is" currently, so I imagine that it will be even warmer once the insulation kit is finally fully installed.

My current 6 volt starter is not turning the engine over fast enough to dependably start the engine, so I'm gonna crawl under there once things warm up a little more and swap out a few starters until one of them does the job more dependably. Thank (insert your favorite Deity here) that I can insert the one-year-only longer 1959 crank start handle and usually get her fired up. Gotta get that done...

I have just barely acceptable (on the low side) fuel delivery pressure and so I have taken a spare 36 hp fuel pump Bakelite block and carefully removed a millimeter or so of material to help improve fuel pressure. Once I get that modified block installed I'll test fuel delivery again and tweek it to perfection with gaskets if needed. Right now, climbing up a grade with the gas pedal pushed most of the way down, I start to eventually get a little "bucking" from the motor and I imagine that the fuel in the carburetor bowl isn't getting refilled fast enough. The bucking immediately stops if I ease off the pedal (demand for fuel). We'll see if that altered intermediate Bakelite block will help matters.

I need to re-adjust the brakes and clutch adjustments as things have clearly settled in after 2,000 miles since the restoration.

There are probably a few other small items, but she is pretty much finished otherwise. Anyway, thanks for the kudos!

Bill Bowman
_________________
I'm looking for these license plate frames for my fleet:
Coeur D'Alene - Lake Shore Volkswagen
Mission VW - San Fernando
Thornton VW - Stockton

Thanks for any help!

[BarryL]

[wcfvw69]

[BulliBill]

We had a local VW only show in town last Saturday and I couldn't get the DC started to move it out of the way to take my intended old VW, my original paint 1955 Deluxe Sunroof Beetle to the show. In a hurry, I simply switched gears and hopped into my '67 Westfalia with is no slouch either and we enjoyed the show.

But today, on first "hand-crank" attempt, the '59 DC started right up, so hell! I took her out for a spin on the nearby freeway crossing over the swollen and flooding Missouri River just west of St. Louis, MO.

Then on the way home we made a quick stop in a local park for a shot or two. It was an overcast day, so her paint job couldn't really show off like it might on a bright, sunny day.

An uneventful and fun time together... I have GOT to start swapping in a few of the other used 6 volt starters I have lying about here until I find one that spins quicker...

Bill Bowman
_________________
I'm looking for these license plate frames for my fleet:
Coeur D'Alene - Lake Shore Volkswagen
Mission VW - San Fernando
Thornton VW - Stockton

Thanks for any help!

[aa390392]

Brother Bill that is a beauty
Me so envious.
Cheers Thomas
_________________
.
getting grumpy & less tolerant!


55 ragtop
56 delux sedan
56 Kabriolet

[BulliBill]

Hi Tom,

You're retired now, drop by anytime and we'll go for a nice, long drive! Enjoy retirement! I'm coming up on it pretty quick too! Then I'll start the full resto on my '57 Kabriolett...

Bill
_________________
I'm looking for these license plate frames for my fleet:
Coeur D'Alene - Lake Shore Volkswagen
Mission VW - San Fernando
Thornton VW - Stockton

Thanks for any help!

[BarryL]

How are you surviving the flood? Here's hoping you are on higher ground.

[BulliBill]

Hey, thanks for thinking of us here in the St. Charles/St. Louis region. The area took quite a hit in terms of storm after storm after storm, all lined up in a row rolling right over our region last night and dropping about 11 inches of rain in less than 7 or 8 hours overnight. The deluge of rain broke all previous records for rainfall in a day, the previous record being a hair over 7 inches. Lots of low-lying spots, underpasses, and depressions in the earth got completely flooded, and a lot of people really got caught by surprise with basement flooding and cars underwater and even one death. We are so grateful to live on relatively high ground, and that all around our home has great drainage and although I witnessed an awful lot of water coming down at a nice even pace, it seemed to drain away and we thankfully have suffered no issues. My Double Cab as well as six other vintage Volkswagens were tucked away inside my basement drive-out seven car garage, and thankfully everything is hunky-dory at the "BilliBill" compound. Thanks again for thinking of us and inquiring, I'm delighted to report that personally we are doing just fine.

We have an all Volkswagen show, one of the few we get in a year happening this Saturday and the weather forecast is looking fine so regional VW folks are getting excited and ready to attend.

I haven't had the Double Cab out in quite a while as it is buried behind another vehicle in the garage. I really need to spend some time doing a few little things to it and get it out running around again. Again, thanks for your concerns!

Bill
_________________
I'm looking for these license plate frames for my fleet:
Coeur D'Alene - Lake Shore Volkswagen
Mission VW - San Fernando
Thornton VW - Stockton

Thanks for any help!

[matthew henricks]

Glad you are OK. That is lots of rain.

Since you bring it up can we see what a 7 car, underground garage looks like please?
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1964 Original Owner build Thread. https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=702135&highlight=

Ambulance Fan's. https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=627707&highlight=

Parts i am looking for:
64 bug nice used front/rear Black LHD floor mat.

[ezcamper]

It's a sweet garage... you would never know it was there from the street. I was supposed be in STL in 2 weeks but the meeting just got cancelled due to covid levels in the area. US Military rule... not mine.
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I make HWE style roof racks, Jim-Dandy racks, SO-33 metal parts, Dormobile racks, HWE style ladders, engine crank start handles, Westy rack tags, Binz tags, Sundial badges, State of California tags, steering lock electrical covers and single / double cab gate latch friction blocks.

instagram is http://instagram.com/bullidriversteelworks

[BulliBill]

[BulliBill]

Hi Matthew,

I don't have many photos that are good enough to nicely show how our walk-out basement/drive-out seven car garage is. The garage takes up about 1/2 of the lower basement level. The garage is about 30'wide and about 40' deep. A view from the backyard, a double and a single door wide and 40'deep.

eight foot wide workbench way back inside the garage.

installing back-lighted 8' 4" outer diameter dealership "Lollipop" sign to the garage ceiling.

the seventh car, a future 1957 Oval Kabriolett project, stored sideways under a parts shelf...

That'll probably give you an idea of how our seven-car garage looks. A lotta old engines and transaxles stored on shelves, under the workbench and even in the aisles. During either hot Summer or chilly Winter weather, with the garage door kept closed and being mostly underground, it stays pretty temperate in there year round...

Bill
_________________
I'm looking for these license plate frames for my fleet:
Coeur D'Alene - Lake Shore Volkswagen
Mission VW - San Fernando
Thornton VW - Stockton

Thanks for any help!

[lambrettatastic]

Wow what a thread…reading through all these old build threads on wet Andy windy nights in England…the joys of working away!
Hope that DC is still running fine.

[AlteWagen]

WOW! Just seeing your sticker brought me back to 1993 just like that.

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Grapes of Wrath $200 Engine Rebuild
Official Dual Carb Thread
Cylinder Head Quick Reference Sheet

[BulliBill]

Yep! My garage is a time machine!

I think that the folks at "In N Out" changed their bumpers sticker shortly after I got (and altered) my bumper sticker so that more couldn't do it too. They still are my favorite fast-food burger joint, with no locations here yet in the State of Missouri, so whenever we're out West I hit 'em up up religiously for a "Double-Double, grill the onions please"!

Shit! Just talking about 'em, now I'm hungry!

By the way, under all those parts is a nice condition shell/chassis of a 1957 Oval era Beetle Kabriolett that I bought and stored away three decades ago! I've been buying lots of nice goodies and restoration parts for it for the last 30 years. We're just starting up on it's restoration now!

Bill
_________________
I'm looking for these license plate frames for my fleet:
Coeur D'Alene - Lake Shore Volkswagen
Mission VW - San Fernando
Thornton VW - Stockton

Thanks for any help!

[AlteWagen]

[BarryL]

Does anyone know how BulliBill fared the EF4 tornado?

[BulliBill]

Hi Barry and all!

"BulliBill" is still here. Thanks for your concern!

That storms' north to south line of thunderheads was coming eastward into the western suburbs of St. Louis about 4pm last Friday, with lots of forecast warnings of possible pop-up tornados, but more likely heavy wind/rain/hail. I had my basement level 7 car garage stuffed with our old VW fleet, and my daily driver Jetta (which just came back from paintless dent repair last week from a May 2024 hail storm) on the driveway covered first with a bumper-to-bumper layer thick H.F. shipping blankets and my Jetta form-fitting quilted cover over that. My Vanagon Westy was also outside with her quilted form-fitting cover on it. The Vansgon was all packed and ready to go camping at a small VW campout event that very afternoon, but with the storm advancing on us, we elected to wait till it passed over us and then if all was well we would head out behind the storm front toward a late arrival at a southern Illinois State Park for the campout wekend.

Sure enough the storm moved eastward over us for about 25 minutes, dropping mostly rain, wind and for a minute or two pea-sized hail, so gratefully no damage here! We waited a few minutes and with sunny skies again we took off in the Vanagon Camper GL. We enjoyed a lovely 3 hour cruise to the camping event totally ignorant that the storm that had just passed over our suburbs fairly peacefully and then dropped two tornados (one an "F3") to the ground about 8 miles east of us which then tore a path of destruction for over 20 miles eastwards through St. Louis City damaging about 5,000 homes/building and killing at least 5 people and injuring almost 40 others. We were blissfully unaware of the greater damage done until we arrived at our campsite around 9pm that night. So sad, and those parts of the city will take quite a while to repair and recover. We were lucky, and we're very grateful...

Thanks for thinking of, and checking in on us "BarryL"!!!

Bill Bowman
_________________
I'm looking for these license plate frames for my fleet:
Coeur D'Alene - Lake Shore Volkswagen
Mission VW - San Fernando
Thornton VW - Stockton

Thanks for any help!

[BarryL]

[BulliBill]

Hi Barry,

Man, I wish I could explain the process thoroughly, but I dropped off the Jetta at the Body shop and picked it up a week and a half later. I didn't get to go back into the shop to watch the process. I'm sure there are probaby lots of how-to PDR (Paintless Dent Repair) videos on Youtube, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=paintless+dent+repair+for+beginners

Hail storm damage causes most of the work for PDR folks. They can't efficiently pull every kind of dent, especially dents in outer skin metal that has another layer of metal underneath like strong "A", "B", "C" pillars. PDR work generally comes into play where the dent doesn't have any paint/clear coat damage and the technician can remove interior headliners, interior door and wall panels, etc to get to the backside of the dents to carefully massage the dents back out without damaging the paint. They can pull dents in some cases from the outside only with tools using specialized tools with temporary hot glues to pull. A good PDR tech can do amazing things to restore the metal and original paint surfaces to smooth again...

This is the second time over two decades that I've had my daily driver cars damaged by hail storms repaired to like new condition by talented PDR technicians, and I'm delighted with the results. I hope that helps!

Bill Bowman
_________________
I'm looking for these license plate frames for my fleet:
Coeur D'Alene - Lake Shore Volkswagen
Mission VW - San Fernando
Thornton VW - Stockton

Thanks for any help!