Today in Bus hunting history...

[crukab]

Once agian, "them Maine Guys don't Fuckabout" Lots of good Extractions from the Great State of Maine.... And now 4 Mangos.

Just a bit of a hill

_________________
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

[ryans65]

I've said it before, y'all Mainers are crazy.

[obus]

Now THAT is an extraction! Mango on!
_________________
July 1959 Mango Standard Bus aka Obus L346 L347 https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=256592&highlight=
June 1973 Pumpkin Orange Thing aka Othing L30H
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=711775&highlight=
1960 Paprika Red Karmann Ghia Convertible aka Schatze L452 built 5/20/60
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...highlight=
66 21 window bus built 8/31/65 https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=777273

[BarryL]

Had your mosquitoes gone away? I feel tired just observing.

[karl h]

i love it!
_________________
61 panel: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=465022
68 ghia vert
arctic alice (63 on irs): http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php/topic,27456.0.html
86 Caravelle
04 new beetle vert

[zimblewinder]

beautiful scenery. I bet you're sorted for wall papers now.
_________________
58Euro 23 343208 The Ultimate Zimblewinder Machine.
59 mango standard
Wanted- splash pan supports, og pressed bumper coach bolts, ivory blaupunkt knobs (early), armrest alloy strips, NOS door mechanism

[bally]

Epic abstraction, epic report! Thank you for sharing!

Dave

[LAGrunthaner]

Awesome, Maine guys are just awesome
_________________
American Red Cross Safe And Well:
https://www.redcross.org/about-us/news-and-events/...bsite.html
Maui Roadsters
www.mauiroadsters.com
http://www.oacdp.org

[Culito]

Fantastic!
_________________
Copyright CJ Industries, Inc.
'64 standard w/2.0L type 4
'62 bug

[mtnbus]

A maine zing !

you guys are nuts........but I wouldve went along with ya ! nice work

[cdennisg]

[boulderz]

Love it, nice work fellas! I see a steady stream of burlyhammer rescue threads for years!

[OG Velvet]

That is just awesome. That bus is going to be a lot of work though!
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'67 13 Window
'77 Westy
'69 Sunroof Beetle
'65 Honda Dream

[cotegary]

My son Christian and I have been rescuing VW’s for about 4 years. We have allot of project cars including a ‘55 Chevy, ‘51 Chevy 5-window truck, a few Beetles (‘57 Oval, ‘60 numbers matching, ‘60 ragtop, ‘62 ragtop) some buses (‘58 PGSG, ‘60 Mango, ‘64 Sundial, ‘66 panel, ‘66 13-window DeLuxe, ‘67 Doublecab, ‘70 panel, ‘72 tintop Westy) a dunebuggy and even a ‘70 Karmann Ghia.

My son put an ISO on FB Marketplace and surprisingly he got some leads. We got a ‘60 ragtop Beetle and a ‘66 split panel as well as a possible lead on a “bus with allota windows”. The fellow got in touch with my son and said his cousin had a bus with “All them windows”. So I called the number he’d given for his cousin and left a message. Fast forward 18 months to when I finally got a call back. When the fella started talking to me I had no idea who he was. After I clued in we talked for awhile. He said he thought the bus was a ‘60 and it did have a bunch of windows. So that’s how it went, back and forth for 2 years. Nothing but vague promises, smoke and mirrors. Every couple of months I would call him, and he would promise photos. I almost deleted his contact info I was so frustrated. I said to my son “This guy is a flake, I don’t even care any more!” He replied “Well, I thought it would be fun to go one on, last, epic road trip with you...” How do you say no to your 17 year-old son when he says that?!?

We never got anything, until early September. The owner sent two photos, and immediately I realized it wasn’t a ‘60. I forwarded the photos to my son, who promptly lost his mind. It was a Wednesday, needless to say I told him we were going to make the 18 hour trip on Friday. When we got out to the property (in the middle of no where, 30 minutes from the nearest town of Smithers, BC) it was dusk. The owner had to go out so we went for a walk in the woods to find the bus. It was buried, way back which is probably why it wasn’t already gone. Lots of hasty checking to see if we could identify what year it was. The first clue was the 6-legged middle seat, which lead us to check for the tube transaxle carrier. The 21- serial number confirmed it was a Wolfsburg bus. Unbelievably even though we were in the middle of no where we had cell service. I texted a few pictures to my buddy Keith, the bus guru. One of the pictures was of a weird spring-loaded step on the bus (which he explained was an “ambulance step”). We headed back to town to our hotel, with plans to meet early the next day. I don’t think I slept more than 20 minutes that night.

Bright and early we headed back to the bus to start the extraction. We met Wayne, the owner. He was a grizzled old dude. He said he bought the bus at an auction for the transaxle. He wanted it to make a dunebuggy, a project he never got to, luckily. After we negotiated the price (he knew he had something valuable... it wasn’t $500) we headed back with all our extraction tools. Christian and I have rescued quite a few Beetles and busses over the years. Our motto is “Take everything, all of the time”. It’s served us well. We used our trusty drum puller, but only had to free 3 wheels. It seems almost every drum on every car is locked up. Our drum puller has paid for itself many times over. While we were working we noticed one of the wheels didn’t match. We had 3-2/55 Lemmerz crows foot wheels and one, white 3/55 wheel. Wayne, the owner said “Yeah, I think I saw that wheel awhile ago” and took off. He was gone a good 30 minutes, before he came back... with the wheel AND the original crank lever. He had it on his scrap metal pile, on his trailer. My son, Christian, was doing some “Carcheology” and found the missing bubble taillight under the front seat, in the toolbox.

Wayne hooked onto the bus with his tractor and pulled it out of the bush. It was honestly the easiest extraction we’ve ever done, it felt like cheating. We’ve had to cut down half a forest to rescue buses or work in the snow in freezing temperatures installing transaxles. We were loaded and ready to go by 2:00 pm. I had booked another night at the hotel just to be safe. Wayne showed us around the rest of his place. He had old Chevelles, early Chev trucks, early buses... like real buses, and even an old ‘60s Mercedes.

Rather than leave the bus in the hotel parking lot we left it at the ranch with plans to pick it up in the morning. We left Smithers at 5 am, drove the 30 minutes to the ranch, hooked up the trailer, then went back the way we came. 18 hours doorstep to doorstep. Christian and I always celebrate a successful rescue the same way, a meal of A&W Grandpa burgers with bacon and cheese, onion rings and frosty cold root beer.

[cdennisg]

fantastic find and a great story to go with it. Well done!
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nothing

[House]

Wow, awesome!
Crazy find. Crazy horns!

[RockStock]

Fantastic

What are your plans for it?
Have you cleaned it up yet?
What state are the floors in?
Does it have the kick panels?

Would like to see more detail pictures.
_________________
-StockRocks-

[Riff Raff]

I think my jaw dropped when you texted me the VIN from the middle of terra incognita and I looked it up.

I think your jaw dropped when you found out it was a late 55 build!!

Good save brother!
_________________
The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance, but the illusion of knowledge
- Daniel Boorstin

[hitest]

Nice! Will it be a memory maker or just a money maker?
_________________

[Braukuche]

Looks complete too, what a score!
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Go Reds! Smash state!

Retirement is here!
1956 Ghia
1959 SO-23 Westfalia
1960 double cab
1960 Baja Bug
1963 stretched double cab
1962 Golde sunroof Ghia
1963 356 B coupe
1963 Notchback
1967 21 window less rusty now