Sportsmobilers Unite! FAQ

[DougClink]

Does anyone have a sports Mobile latter? I’d like to build one but need dimensions sizes, etc.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=1530037
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1957 Sunroof Beetle • 1964 Beetle • 1958 Westfalia Subhatch • 1955 Baja Bus • 1970 Sportsmobile

[TweedLinn]

[jtauxe]

[alman72]

I found a great vintage RV ladder at the habitat for humanity restore last year. It was made right down the road from SMB. my overall length is 67 inches, and I asked via pm about Tweeds ladder, and he wrote"Just metal is 62 1/8ish
Overall with plastic foot and hook is 64ish
And the legs and rings are all 4 inches around" so I don't think mine is authentic, unless the length changed over the years. still close enough for me, and it leaves room to sneak under the ladder to the bed when it is down.

[TweedLinn]

[quote="alman72"]I found a great vintage RV ladder at the habitat for humanity restore last year. It was made right down the road from SMB. my overall length is 67 inches, and I asked via pm about Tweeds ladder, and he wrote"Just metal is 62 1/8ish
Overall with plastic foot and hook is 64ish
And the legs and rings are all 4 inches around" so I don't think mine is authentic, unless the length changed over the years. still close enough for me, and it leaves room to sneak under the ladder to the bed when it is down.

Or maybe yours is authentic and mines not.. never know I guess! Mine just fits too good to not be it seems like, plus finding it in one..

Yours looks great though!
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76 Sportsmobile

[gator]

[alman72]

maybe it is just a pool/rv ladder in 82, but in 72 it was a SMB ladder!

[gator]

I forgot about that picture. Ladder option must have been omitted over the years. According to the po of my bus, when he took the bus to sports mobile in 1985 all they offered for our busses was the top\upper bunk and a headbanger.

Thanks.

[jtauxe]

FWIW, Sportsmobile still includes a ladder if you get the penthouse.

I wonder if it would fit a VW...
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John
"Travelling in a fried-out Kombi, on a hippie trail, head full of zombie..." - Colin Hay and Ron Strykert
http://vw.tauxe.net
1969 Transporter, 1971 Westfalia, 1976, 1977, 1976, 1977, 1971, 1973, 1977 Westfalias,
1979 Champagne Sunroof, 1974 Westfalia Automatic, 1979 Transporter, 1972 Sportsmobile, 1973 Transporter Wild Westerner, 1974 Westfalia parts bus, 1975 Mexican single cab *FOR SALE*, 1978 Irish 4-door double cab RHD

[alman72]

looking over the literature, a couple of different 3000 btu catalytic heaters were offered with the SMB. Those accessories have to be even rarer. If someone was lucky enough to find one in their barn find bus, they would think it was a PO leftover.

[alman72]

I just dropped this in another thread about a Riv top onto a tintop, and I have a SMB related question at the end.
just thought I would drop my idea down here. My 17 yo boy and I are working on a 79 tintop, and we already have a 73 sportsmobile, very similar in the straight up popping department. The kid really likes the sleeping area up top, and wants to make his bus like mine. I suggested that he may regret cutting a big hole in the roof. We are pondering the idea of installing the SMB top WITHOUT cutting a hole. we would flip the canvas around so that the luggage access zipper is in the rear rather than the front, and he could climb a ladder (either a drip rail 70's special, or a rv upper bunk ladder from the outside rear of the bus. We WOULD however need to come up with a remote or wired popping mech. It could double duty as latching, or have a exterior latching mech. We like this idea, as it gives extra sleeping area in the bus (he already has a Z product hinge under his factory bench, so I think he really does not need the uptop space) without a lot of damage to the bus if he wants to go back to tintop. just a couple of boltholes to fill.

OK smb people, who has had a look at the bottom side of the bolts that attach the top to the bus, under the headliner? Captive nuts? just threads cut into the roof? I can cut a hole in the headliner of a junkyard smb when the weather gets better, but just wanted to check with the other owners. (at least the other two guys who read/post on here. You know who you are) Any potential issues you see with our idea?

[gator]

Jeremyrockjock put linear actuators in place of the springs on his sportsmobile, with a switch. He had a build thread, I believe.

[alman72]

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=2157444
wow! a cross collectable! a champagne sportsmobile!

[TweedLinn]

[DougClink]

Looks like it may have had a tough life.
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1957 Sunroof Beetle • 1964 Beetle • 1958 Westfalia Subhatch • 1955 Baja Bus • 1970 Sportsmobile

[alman72]

yup. a CHC. I just got exited when I saw the penthouse.

[TweedLinn]

I see nothing wrong with getting excited when you see a penthouse...!
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76 Sportsmobile

[jtauxe]

I've been working on this wonderful 1972 Sportsmobile for a few years, now, but my wife and I have decided to get a newer Sprinter 4x4 Sportsmobile. So good old Ann the Van (http://vw.tauxe.net/ann) needs to find a new home. I know we are not supposed to advertise on the forums, but I thought that since there is so much specific interest in Sportsmobiles here, that it is almost a public service to announce when a new one becomes available.

Thanks to alman72 for helping so source some hard-to-find parts, like the black window trim and water tank!
_________________
John
"Travelling in a fried-out Kombi, on a hippie trail, head full of zombie..." - Colin Hay and Ron Strykert
http://vw.tauxe.net
1969 Transporter, 1971 Westfalia, 1976, 1977, 1976, 1977, 1971, 1973, 1977 Westfalias,
1979 Champagne Sunroof, 1974 Westfalia Automatic, 1979 Transporter, 1972 Sportsmobile, 1973 Transporter Wild Westerner, 1974 Westfalia parts bus, 1975 Mexican single cab *FOR SALE*, 1978 Irish 4-door double cab RHD

[TweedLinn]

[alman72]