1958 Louisiana Subhatch Westy

[mpribanic]

Hey guy's. Now that the sites back up lets get back on track with any updates pic's of that '58 subhatch.

Here's some I had posted for the owner:

I'll post more in a few

[nimbus]

Here you go.

[Ian]

Ya lets hear the story, but your pics are backwards. The part with the slash needs to be at the end.

DUDE, SICK FIND!!!! I am envious. If you want to trade for a running/driving/1600sp Rustfree OGpaint drive-it-to-your-door '66 Letme know.

-Ian
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All your Buses are belong to us.
Love and good roads!
IN LOVING MEMORY OF ROB CRESS 1968-2012 & KEN CRIMMINS 1957-2024

[my65vert]

I dont know if Denny will respond right now. He just went on travel monday for his work.

Im not sure if he will have net access.
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OGJHC
Kombisutra;
I'm starting to get little wafts of bus stink coming from the north. Something about the unique scent of drivers seat padding when it's glued together with mouse piss and shit that really gets me going... and I'm smelling it! Oh yeah! Time to start loading up the equipment.

[mpribanic]

some more. Any comments from the early camper experts?

[my65vert]

I believe that that fridge is like 1 of 5 or 6 known?

I have like 100 pics of that bus denny sent me. Mark if you want to see more pm me your email address.
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OGJHC
Kombisutra;
I'm starting to get little wafts of bus stink coming from the north. Something about the unique scent of drivers seat padding when it's glued together with mouse piss and shit that really gets me going... and I'm smelling it! Oh yeah! Time to start loading up the equipment.

[mpribanic]

Any idea what's inside the fridge on the top shelf?

[my65vert]

Thats part of the cooling system, thats a propane fridge.
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OGJHC
Kombisutra;
I'm starting to get little wafts of bus stink coming from the north. Something about the unique scent of drivers seat padding when it's glued together with mouse piss and shit that really gets me going... and I'm smelling it! Oh yeah! Time to start loading up the equipment.

[NorCalWeekender]

That's gorgeous! I'm sure Lind or Campingbox can shed some light.
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9th Owner of a 1971 Tintop Westy

"Eventually, we sold to a guy for $500 who towed it away to live in it in his parents' driveway. We didn't think it would ever avoid the junk heap on that day." -The 3rd Owner, 1995

[bigredd]

Hey. He is out of town but he can check his email at night and I can check it during the day. If you need anything please email. Bigredds wife.

[Mango Juice]

My pants are still wet from seeing those photos last week

Now that is one hell of a find!!

Greatest score of the year so far!!!

[TeamSpatula]

[dieselnut]

Nice to see the site back up, thanks to everyone that worked to revive it!

The outside of that bus looks pretty nice, here's the scarey pic...

- - - - -

As for the fridge, there is a '58 in Hawaii and another in Wisconsin that have them, and more may have surfaced by now. There are a couple of dozen pressed bumper westys on Lind's site (noted below), and I would guess there is another dozen plus that have surfaced since his last update a few years ago. The total known are up over 40 by now I would think, w/ at least 1/3+ of those being '58's. There is another '58 in the PNW that needs a fridge, you've probably seen the WTB ad in the classifieds. I've got an interior that is missing the fridge as well. Anyone else want to chime in?

The decal can probably be seen at www.westfaliaregistry.com or www.westfalia-register.org - it seems like someone was offering shirts w/ this design on it at some point. There is a different version for their caravans IIRC. Badges w/ this design and one like it show up on ebay, etc. There was a site up selling the badges, don't have the link though.

[mpribanic]

Thanks Dieselnut. I heard it was for sale but took it as just a rumor.
I'm not in the market for another bus.

However, I do enjoy hearing about good finds on early buses.

[bigredd]

Here is the link to the photos again.

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/redsvwplace/album/576460762389116842

[bigredd]

Thanks for those who replied before Samba went down. Unfortunately I did not save that information on the camper box. To those who contributed, thank you, and would you mind re-posting the information on the number made, the number still known to exist, and the rarity of the refrigerator? Also, please relist any links you have for these.

I did state before that it has the original VW key which operates the ignition and the door locks. There is also an old rack that someone bent to fit inside the camper. The bumpers are the pressed bumpers too. I don't know much more about it but I appreciate the input from everyone.

Thanks again.

[bastardbus]

[Lind]

[dieselnut]

Yea, but Todd, we all know you have Chuck Norris-like skills! Besides, they know how I feel about their bus as I've talked to them about it. I also offered help in the form of links and information via PM/email/phone. Some of which was obviously lost due to the crash so I'll repeat it here in the forums.

The link I forwarded you guys is also noted above in my earlier post, it's www.westfaliaregistry.com - it's your best source of information about these buses. The site hasn't been updated in a few years, it lists most of the "known" pre '59 westys as of ~2003 or so. Information that was compiled and first made public around that time by Lind. Of the 29 on that site, 13 are 1958's. Since then, around a dozen more have surfaced, I would offer a somewhat educated guess that at half of the "new" ones are '58's, probably a bit more.

As for the fridge, at least three of the 13 '58's alluded to on the site came with fridges, two of them still have them. The fridges are also found in certain models of the westy caravan (a camping trailer popular at the same time), so there are probably more fridges around than westys that need them. They're certainly not easy to find though, AEB the WTB classifieds ad that's been up for some time now. Every one of the buses on that page need a rack however, and relatively few have them. The unique part of the rack are the bows and the feet that hold the rack to the roof. Unfortunately, that's the part missing from the rack in this bus. With that said, both fridges and racks are very hard to find. There are just many more buses needing the rack than the fridge. (You guys should try to find the rest of the interior and the bows from the rack! Trace it backwards....)

The 1000th westy was made during the 1959 model year. So less than 1000 pressed bumper westys were made from '52? through '58. There are basically four types of pressed bumper era production interiors. Sounds like Alex has a firm number (so23 on this site), pm him for the number/source if he doesn't respond:

1) Barndoor camping box (Mar. '55 and earlier) 2 real ones survive, as do 2 that were probably "created" at the museum? another that was created in belgium...
2) Standard camping box (from Mar. '55 through the end of the pressed bumper era and into the end of the bullet buses?) 4 kits survive for sure, two in '55 buses. two of the kits came from later buses, one is in a '61 that appears to be in Japan, the other from a '58 remains loose?
3) Export camping box - frequently referred to as "spring frame kits" (from Mar. '55 through sometime in '57) less than a dozen remain...? not all have interiors, one has a nice '58 kit in it...
4) The "'58 only" kit, which may have actually started sometime in '57? - 20+ known to be surviving now?

There are only a handful of #1 & #2 surviving. (Less than a half dozen originals total?) There is also the type of barndoor interior as seen in the book "South Africa Today" which may or may not have been a production model...?

Hope this helps BigRedd.

[Stocknazi]

really nice find! i would love to have that bus, rust and all
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WANTED:
58 Westfalia cabinet knobs (3 needed), roof rack, and (7) privy tent poles (silver painted).

"When the people are afraid of the government, that's tyranny. But when the government is afraid of the people, that's liberty."
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."

Thomas Jefferson