Africa Zebra Kenya Safari

[mtnbus]

I remember this bus when Franz had it. super cool.

apparently it was sold off and traded for this SC

I like the color too

[58euro]

Thanks everyone!

I have spent the last week or so making all the interior panels for it using what was left of the originals as templates. A few of the panels were missing or completely broken but thankfully could see the outline of where they originally were so I was able to replicate them. I’m no carpenter and I know the wood grain isn’t all going the same direction but I’m happy with them. Have to pull them out and seal them still but wanted to get them all fit first.

When I got the bus it came with all of the interior it had but it’s all in extremely bad shape and unusable besides for templates. It did have the filing cabinet bed still mounted in it but I removed that and won’t be reusing it in the interior build. Same with the fridge that it had, it came with it but I also won’t be using that in the interior build.

Also I did football the nose which definitely helped some, still some dents but it’s much better and good enough for now. At least all the emblem sits flush now unlike before.

Here’s a few pics of the interior panels so far I still need to do the roof ones and then seal them.


Nose before

Nose after

[earlywesty]

Football trick made a big difference. Awesome bus

[Bulli Klinik]

Such a kooky Bus. Does the top pop up? Did those side windows originally come in that configuration or were they added?

When I got my first Bus back in 86-87, I painted the front emblem Zebra striped just like yours. Now thatI think about it, this Bus was likely to have been the inspiration. I left the Bus in Guam after shipping it there but I still have the emblem. It’s going on my current, 60 camper project along with a rear hatch given to me by your Buses prior owner, Richard. Small world…
_________________
PM me about quality metal-work on your vehicle.
Mike K
Bulli Klinik
Colorado Springs

[58euro]

Thanks Earlywesty I’m happy with how the nose came out.

@bulli klinik the bus was ordered as a kombi and then whoever the coachbuilder was they went ahead and closed in the window on the passenger and drivers side. Can tell that they did it and it wasn’t done at a later date because the inside of the windows are still in the same original paint that they painted the rest of the interior.

As for the hatches in the roof, the small one up front is hinged and rests on a small rubber stop on the roof of the bus while the large one over the cargo area looks like it had some sort of lift struts at some point but at the moment it just lifts off completely. I’ll work on building some struts to help lift it straight up though so that i can get a canvas built for it and it’ll be more usable.

[BarryL]

Did someone say already what had originally dented the nose?

[58euro]

[58euro]

I was planning on updating with the history I was able to find out before now but am really bad at posting on here. Sorry for how lengthy this is going to be.

So I was given some of the bus previous owners history but that didn’t go back too far unfortunately. I’ve heard mixed stories on where the bus was found and how, the one that I had believed up until now was that it was found in a backyard somewhere in Cali along the coast by some surfers but that was all hearsay. I was told that Blue Nelson had found the bus and owned it back in the day so first step was to try and reach out to him. I chatted with Blue over email and phone call a couple times and he informed me that the bus was never his but was his close friends bus that he did help work on it though. He gave me the email of Brer Marsh his buddy that was the one that owned the bus back in the day. I emailed Brer in November and didn’t hear back from him for awhile. As time passed I kept trying to trace down anyone else that may know its history as far back as I could. Then Mid January out of the blue I get a email back from Brer with 10 pictures and 1 sentence. After emailing back and forth I was able to get some more information about the bus from him that I had not known. He purchased the bus in the mid-80s from Richard Hart, these pictures are from when he picked it up from Richard so you can see many of Richards other awesome cars in the background. When he purchased it Richard must have believed it was an Ambulance because it came with an ambulance divider, ambulance frosted windows, as well as some other parts. In chatting with Brer he was under the impression that it was an ambulance as well and believed the original color to be white but he said he never stripped any of the paint, he did repaint it white with the black roof. Brer says there is no actual evidence or history that the bus was ever in Africa. He said that he found a newspaper hidden away in the bus that was from Bremen and dated 1962 about the death of Marilyn Monroe, after this he named the bus Marilyn. If it did in fact make its way on an expedition of some sort when I would imagine that it would have been finished by 1962 but again that’s just my speculation. At this point I know the buses history pretty well from Brer’s ownership in the 80s until now but I unfortunately don’t know anything from before that when Richard Hart owned it or prior to that. If anyone has a contact for Richard Hart please let me know I would love to get in touch with him as he may be the only one that knows more of its history. I’m sure someone has to remember something about the bus from when Richard got it though. Anyways here are the 10 pictures that I received from Brer from the day he purchased the bus in the 80s. If you look closely you can see places where the original green paint is poking through.

Here’s a picture I was able to find while searching through the gallery here on thesamba, this was the oldest picture I had previously of the bus. This one dates to 1993.

[58euro]

Just a small update as I’ve been building out the camper interior I took a short break to knock out this project. When I was crawling around under the bus I noticed that it had the remains of a side step that someone cut off for whatever reason. Assuming it was some step made by whoever did all the work I figured I’d whip up a quick step using the original brackets so that my kiddos will have a step into the bus. Wasn’t until I finished up building it that I realized these were the brackets for an ambulance step, guess I’ll be on the hunt for an ambulance step to put back but until then this step will do just fine.


Here’s what was left of the brackets.

Here’s what I came up with. Looks like it sticks pretty far out in the picture but it sticks out the same distance as the side mirror.

[Douglas Denlinger]

Fairly sure by now someone has probably told you Richard Hart is long deceased. I met him in the mid 80's at the early SOTO meets in Garden Grove, Intershows, etc.
_________________
Transporter Restorations
Upholstery Haus

Active 23 Window Samba Collector/Restorer,since 1986

[58euro]

[LJay]

Wow this bus is mega! Such a funky spec, the traceability of the history makes me jealous! You have made a great job and added to it’s story.

Sad about Richard, to be that much of a bus connoisseur back in the 80s had to have been rare!
_________________
1962 Turkis Westfalia so34.

My build thread.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=742279

[von_hansel]

[campingbox]

Such a cool bus.

I remember this bus in Scotts driveway when I bought my ‘56 camper. I think that was in 1998.

[58euro]

Thanks everyone, it’s been a fun bus to get to play with so far and I’m excited to see what i can end up doing with it. It’s pretty neat to own a bus that’s been known and in the hobby since the 80s as a bunch of people remember it from different times.

@von_hansel do you happen to recall his sons name? I’ll definitely do some digging and see what I can find but having his name would be a huge help.

[von_hansel]

[58euro]

[BarryL]

[von_hansel]

[58euro]

The ownership history is thankfully well known on this bus. Sorry if I spell any of the names wrong.

Richard Hart owned it up into the 80s when Brer Marsh purchased it. He is the one who painted it white with black roof and planned on adding a bunch of ambulance parts to it, he later sold it to Scott McWilliams. Scott is the one that did the zebra stripes on it. Scott sold it to John Howard which unfortunately is the one that did the sandblasting to the bus and then let it sit. Gene then purchased it from John but then sold it back to Scott who then let it sit for a few years with plans of fixing the rust. Scott sold it back to Gene who then sold it to Franz. Franz then sold it to Richard which is where I purchased the bus from.

Crazy how the bus bounced back a couple times to Scott and Gene. I wish that John never had it sandblasted but that’s just how it goes sometimes.