Today in Bus hunting history...

[abuspilot]

White plastic fuse holder for the side wall lights, it's just above the voltage regulator.

[vw7266]

nuff said...check the bd forum for the details

[gatorwyatt]

[dieselnut]

This thread has been kind of dead lately, I'll see if I can liven things up a bit.

Here are a couple of buses that came my way based on a tip from a local watercooled guy. The blue bus is original paint, an early '67, and suffering from terminal frame rot (among a LOT of other things.) Came packed to the gills w/ parts from an old German repair shop from south central Iowa. Oh yea, both buses were quasi-local for a change, which was cool.

The SWR/BG is a '64 IIRC. Interestingly, it came w/ the better part of an so-22 interior, but no m-code for it unfortunately. It too came loaded to the gill's w/ other vw parts, some good, most not. Killer rear popout on the passenger side on this one, also some nice SIGLA glass.... This bus had been rolled in the past. Both buses will get parted out due to condition, in all likelihood, as time avails...

This window will look good on the '67 deluxe I just pulled out of another junkyard... (both these buses were junkyard buses by the way, the owner was on a crushing binge but couldn't pull the trigger on these two and a few other vehicles, including a '57 chevy...)

Interesting roadside attraction on the way home w/ the '67.

Props to whoever took the time to paint it up!

Lastly, the rust on the bottom of the '67....

[stephenmullens]

pics?

[dieselnut]

Pics now added for your viewing pleasure Stephen. (Nice to see you out of the whining thread btw.... *wink* *wink* * nudge* *nudge*)

This is an interesting bus. It's a '67, made it late June of '67. It came out of a junkyard out west. I told a few folks on here about it over the years, but no one (including myself) ever seemed to be able to talk it out of the j/y owner's hands. I've stopped there yearly, for the past 4 years, w/ no luck in prior years. Well, this year's stop was different. I kept on him after I got home, and finally got him to sell it to me. I probably paid too much, but this thing is just too solid to let die. I love the fade...

Check out the '67 battery tray for example...

Yea, I guess there is some surface rust there....lol. Oh well, I'm sure the guys who drug parts out of this thing over the years were just as stoked as I am, but my oh my, the times they are a changin'.... Bottom feeder score! <g>

Had to go to the ER about two hours after loading this thing, fell off the passenger side fender and really messed up my left shin. I'm used to stepping off the deck, and was tired and forgot where I was momentarily.... My full weight came down as the middle of my shin met up w/ edge of the fender as I fell back.... *ouch* Probably would have been better off w/ a broken bone, but I don't think you can break a tibula w/ anything short of a baseball bat. Sure messed up a lot of skin though, damned thing is still sensitive whenever I touch it ~2 months later....lol. Now I'm whining.....lol....better hit submit.

[dieselnut]

OK, I might as well go on full-fledged post-whore status w/ one more....

I bought this '65 flipseat dormobile earlier this year, didn't have any room on the trailer for it at the time so I had to wait about a half year or so to return and get it. Luckily, for me, this junkyard owner wasn't a shithead and didn't sell it out from under me. Probably helped that it was impossible to get to, easily, and he didn't have the equipment to extract it. He sold it to me cheap, based on the premise that I was on my own getting it out. And yes, it was a total PITA doing so....

I had to spend about 3 hours removing briar and other vines from the fence, before I could effectively roll it back. Here is a before and after shot.

Rolling the fence back didn't take long, but it was cumbersome. Here are a couple of shots of it is most of the way to where it needed to go.

Then I had four cars to move. A bug, which rolled freely, came out first. There was about a 4 foot high hill right behind the fence, fortunately nothing decide to roll over on me. Pulled them out w/ my pickup.

Next out was a couple of jettas, both had at least one frozen drum. Kind of a PITA, but 4WD saved the day. Here's a pic after they were pulled up the hill and left right outside the fenceline.

Lastly, all four wheels on the dormobile were froze up. The pickup got a good workout on this one. Fortunately, it slid out straight. Used up the better part of 10 hours by this point by the time I got it pulled up out of the yard where it had sat for ??? years.... It was dark by this time.

Went back the next day and got stuff pushed back in, and put the fence back up. Took another 6 hours or so, quite a bit longer than I'd originally planned for. Spent the rest of the day pulling parts. Left the fence better than when I found it. (It had pulled back about a foot, needed the comealong attached to the truck bumper to get it pulled back taut.)

Fortunately, it was raining the third day, the mud made sliding the bus up on the trailer w/ a come-along feasible. I question if I could have done it w/o the rain/mud. If you've ever used a come-along on a wooden trailer deck, even w/ one frozen wheel, you know what I mean. One of the wheels came loose in the process, which helped a bit. This took an hour or two, spent the rest of the day pulling parts again.

Got hassled a bit by the cops as I was strapping things down, in the dark, in the car wash next door. I guess that's the price of doing business in some places, lol.

I'm stoked to finally have it home, too many unethical fockers out there more than willing to jump on your shit when it's not locked down. I have a complete interior for this bus, still missing a few of the HTF extra bits however (light and chair, mainly), but it's mostly there. This bus will require restoration, but I think it's rare enough, and certainly cool enough, to warrant one.

There were a few other rescues this summer, but I'll save them for another day.

Thanks to VWJosh for the tip on this place and this bus in particular.

[60vwnewengland]

sweet score, it's definitely worth the time you took pulling it out of there. i wish i had a dormi!! good luck!
_________________
77 Westy - Cape Cod Sage
LLAP

[crukab]

Diesel, you need to get one of these pullers, makes the job a lot easier.

_________________
Tom

My Pops:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=604100&highlight=
I know you will always be with me, rest in peace with no more pain. 8/13/14.....

In the yard right now:
'51 Dodge 5 window truck
'65 Bug
'66 Singlecab
'82 Rabbit Truck Diesel from CALI
'86 Doublecab W/T
'91 Vanagon carat/wolfsbrg.Tiico
'88 Dodge Ram pickup
'11 Jetta Wagon

[exotic plants]

Very nice story dieslenut, and the pictures were great.

[d-rick]

I checked out that Dormy back in like '97 or so when we where hiking in the nearby Nat'l forest/ as I grew up not far from there. The guy didn't want to sell it then. But he did let us check out the place.Should have seen it before he crushed a shitload of VW's. So I was back downsouth visiting the folks last Dec. and my dad and I took a trip up there to see what was left and the guy told me some midwesterner had come by and bought a few of the vws but was coming back to get them. I am glad that the dormy will be back on the road. did you get that nice velvet green standard also?
_________________
1959 mango-trailerbus
1962 single cab *1/2
1966 13 window
1967 panel/camper
1968 cig-panel *1/2
1968 passenger bus *1/2
1969 beetle
1969 dormobile
1978 sage green Westy
1990 DoKa
2002 Golf TDI

[dieselnut]

Yea, a drum puller would have (and still would be!) GOLDEN! Hopefully SCVW puts one of those out after the door hinge tool.

Actually, I bought the '67 westy that he had out front, sight unseen - and picked it up the previous trip. The VG standard is still in there, and it's even sitting next to the fence! (in the back) It does look pretty decent, although I think the lower nose will be wasted from being buried in clay/mud. Missing too many parts and it's really too far for me to go, but it would be a good project for someone quasi-local. I scavenged the forward cargo door for the dormy, as the dormy is OG paint underneath one layer of crappy respray, and is PW over VG. (At least the lower matches - the standard is BW over VG IIRC.)

He told me he crushed 421 vehicles around 15 years ago, it must have been quite the place prior. He got $30 each per vehicle, and thought there must have been about 20 splits in that group. He said it made him sick, but he needed to clear the land off to sell dirt, improving the value of the land if it's level I guess. Beautiful country! I've received messages from others who knew about this bus, there were a lot of folks who knew about this place. Would love to see pics from back in the heyday!

Evidently he had another flipseat back in the day, but it's no longer there. I did retrieve parts of it that were stored in a baywindow, ironically. I retrieved about half of an so-33 interior from another baywindow (both on the previous trip), and a couple of 356 wheels from another baywindow while we're on that theme. If you were also into watercooled stuff, the place was/is pretty much a goldmine. I spent 6 days pulling parts this past trip.

The owner is a heckuva nice guy. I really had to pester him to get him to sell the dormy though, I don't think he thought it could be extracted w/o a tow truck or skid loader, neither of which he has. The local place wanted $600 for a big forklift, I said "no thanks". I think both he and his mechanic (both of which are retirement age+) thought I was half nuts, they're probably right. The owner's older brother died while I was down there, I think he liked having someone around to visit with during a bad week.

I told him I'd put an ad up for him on the samba sometime this fall, along w/ the vortex. Since the 4 remaining splits are picked over HARD, those of you following this thread won't stand to lose out on anything if word hits the streets. It will still mainly be locals and quasi-locals getting stuff anyway I'd guess.

Good times! I always feel like a kid in a candstore when I'm cut loose in a junkyard....

[abuspilot]

[scvw]

[cris torlasco]

That was fun to read John, thanks. Makes me want to get out there, but busy with projects at home right now. I need to make at least one hunting trip before the snow hits. Picking up a barn find 56 oval next week. I know what you mean about being cut loose in a junkyard, we do enjoy something that for most people would be a nightmare...Remember to make some time between bus hunts to stop by and pick up your interior panel set.
Cris

[Weatherly]

No matter how rusty this bus is and no matter what is in it's way, there is simply no excuse for not pulling this bus out of the woods in it's entirety. If there is a barn in the way of the bus, then remove a portion of the wall and winch it through the building if necessary. Whatever work it takes should be done.

I've removed buses from places that seemed impossible to remove. If I can do it alone, then anyone else with any sense can too. Parting it out and scrapping the body seems like an option for the lazy.
_________________
"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake."

[bugboy63]

[d-rick]

Isn't there a section of the body cut out on that dorm? I think rear right? I asked about buying the standard and he said it was sold(to you I guess?) I think it would be worth saving. Did you hit the other vw junk yard down the road a bit? That guy is super nice also
_________________
1959 mango-trailerbus
1962 single cab *1/2
1966 13 window
1967 panel/camper
1968 cig-panel *1/2
1968 passenger bus *1/2
1969 beetle
1969 dormobile
1978 sage green Westy
1990 DoKa
2002 Golf TDI

[dieselnut]

[stephenmullens]