Quality of Brazilian Bus ?

[Longboardluv]

okay yeah I'm on the TX DMV Site and it looks like i'd have go go the bonded title route. thanks!

[EmpiGT]

You'll have to do something besides a bonded title to get it cleared thru the port. A bonded will work after it's in your possession. You still need documents to clear customs and ports.

[LAGrunthaner]

Any updates, are US titles obtained? If so how long does it take to get all the paperwork? The floodgate opening of these 15 window Brazilian busses and fairly affordable prices are starting to look good.
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[charles henson]

some of the models available back in the day..

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71 deluxe
71 s.c.
73 factory sunroof

[Malokin Martin]

It would be sick to own a kombi gabinette dentario. Dental bus FTW.

[LAGrunthaner]

[novetti]

I saw a Dental booth split unit rolling along Avenida Santo Amaro in Sao Paulo circa mid 90's....

[LAGrunthaner]

Everett where can we locate build numbers of this bus?

[EverettB]

[novetti]

I still have some friends working in the old Anchieta plant. I will quiz them if they have access to this information by any chance.

Last time I was there they had just stopped machining the last batch of engine cases that were cast in loco (prior the foundry building caught on fire).

Another funny trivia

I also worked in a manufacturer of super abrasives in Sao Paulo region 15 yrs ago who have two Fortuna Crankshaft Grinders from the 30's.

They were bought as scrap from VW Brasil in the 80's. Originally sent from VW Germany in the 50's there the BR plant was been tooled.

One was asset no. 11, the other no 12 stamped in tags containing KDF logos and the Nazy Iron Eagle. Quite sure they ground many crankshafts for all VW's prior, during and just post WWII.

VW Germany when they got aware of this tried to rebuy them many times to send them to the museum but the owner liked them and wouldn't part out.

[KombiMadness]

[Squeeze Cheese]

[Malokin Martin]

Classifieds are seemingly flooded right now with them. Crazy

[Squeeze Cheese]

I should note that since writing that post on the cost of importing a VWDB bus, I did buy and import two (the right way) and the expenses I estimated ended up being pretty spot on. (I was only able to cut the per/bus costs by a little by shipping two at a time because two fit in a container and you pay per container.)

A Brazil bus is NOT, by any means, a "poor man's split bus". There is no such thing, unless it's very poor quality.

I received two really nice buses because I inspected and test drove them myself, and now having owned German and Brazilian, I can honestly say they're a little different but a "10" bus is a "10" bus is a "10" bus.

It's not the VWDB buses anyone should be wary of, it's the characters in Brazil peddling them. I know for a fact they are taking advantage of the situation and searching out owners of old worn Kombis and explaining, "Hey do you know how much money you can make if you slap a coat of paint on it and let me (the broker) sell it for you online, because - get this - someone from another country will buy it without even seeing it!"

And EVERYONE I have talked to that has done just that has had some kind of "surprise" the first time they saw their purchase with their own eyes - sometimes to the point of it being a total waste.

Interestingly, my buses were not advertised on this site by one of the Brazilian dealers or brokers, only locally in Sao Paulo. I suspect those guys often post ads on English sites like TheSamba for those buses that look nice on some low-quality cell phone photos but have hidden flaws or mechanical issues. They figure some fool will buy it sight unseen with no knowledge of the full cost and by the time they pick the thing up at the port, he can't send it back!

However, if you contact one of these characters and tell him you're coming to Brazil and would like him to show you a few dozen buses, he'll be happy to do so, and will show you the really good ones, either professionally restored (they do have a few very good shops in SP) or cheaper unmolested ones you could do yourself at home.

[surfr4evr]

Funny coincidence, as a guy I work with just had one imported from Brazil ('74 15-window)...took just under 3 months from purchase to delivery (port in Savannah, GA). Bought it from Fred who has ads posted all over here for Brazilian buses. He said Fred was great to work with and had his export guy answer lots of questions and was available for the entire process. Paid an importer in Savannah around $300 to fill in all the required paperwork. I looked at it and drove it today...he's got some small issues to work on (steering wheel play and e-brake adjustment), but otherwise it's a very solid almost rust-free bus. 15-foot paint job as expected and a couple minor door alignment issues but he'll use it as his daily driver. I asked him to document in detail the entire process, including contacts, phone numbers, etc as I'm sure there are some guys in our area and local club that may be interested.Pricing as follows: $13.5K for the bus, $3K for shipping, export fees, etc and around $1.5K to trailer it from Savannah here (gulf coast FL), registration, taxes, etc. I'm not the expert to pick apart the Brazilian and German differences. However I'll also say if I lived in Brazil I'd be scooping up as many buses as my bank account could handle. Desireability isn't decreasing, and the layman wouldn't give 2 shyts where the bus was made.

[LAGrunthaner]

cheesecrackers75, thanks for all the info, good lesson but they are cool.

[6sixTinBox]

[surfr4evr]

Don't hate Sergio just cause you overpaid And yeah, I do think the influx of brazzo buses will drive the market down...may take some time and most of the imports will be to those who just want a bus. Caveat emptor though man...i'd have a hard time throwing down that much cash on something sight unseen.

[novetti]

General brasillian nationals (who are not really die hard fans of VW's) just recently discovered thesamba.com and are planning to CA$H in whatever they can.
I attribute this to the increased popularity of facebook in Br in the last 3 to 4 years (yes it took longer to the big F catch up there unfortunately). No I don't have F...

Yes the are still good opportunity buses there, however they are running thin very quick. It is only a financial advantage to Americans, Europeans, UK's etc because of their hard currencies against the under valued BRL (which crashed 35% last year).

For Brasillian terms, those Busses at 20, 30 and even 40K BRL range (that would be for the top of the range, condition 1# vehicle), they are running out and for locals are crazy money.
VW Brasil made a lot of them, however a lot less than what VW Germany did. So I don't think it would bring down a fraction of the market. Prices are ridiculously strong (just check Australia how silly $$ is going for one VW split).

Madness mate, thanks for your comments. I need to also highlight the fact that LHD Brasil made VW Splits in ''Straya'' get snubbed quite a lot by fellas. I hear comments like ''this is a cheap version of the german VW'' and is LHD ''Oh'' and other crap like that.

I personally worked for years at the VW Anchieta plant at ALA 4 (building factory number four) which for more than 30 years was the largest single factory floorspace in whole Latin America. I was servicing them in all conventional abrasives and superasives, so knew the place quite well.

I shot an email for the mates still there to see if I can fish that info about the funky special models. I am afraid those archives only exist in paper (if still) so its like archaeological work to find any solid info.

[novetti]

The header of this article just grabbed my attention

''1964 21 window walk thru Price: 63k
1964, 21 window deluxe walk thru, (the real deal) no brazil junk or fake. "

Great Kombi mate at a reasonable good price however you don't need to bash the VW B stuff freely to propel your business. Are all items(engine/suspension/transmission/brake items) german made? Not a single Brasillian made devilish sinner fuel pump in that? Will that be detrimental at all to the value of the car?