VanSlyke VW - DoubleCab

[DownRiver]

So, during the summer of '08, I did a complete brake job. New lines, DC master and hardware, wheel cylinders, tune-up work.
First Drive - STOP your bumper is dragging!

Resealed and painted the tank, New exhaust

Sanded the bed down

POR-15

Paint

Put a fair number of miles on it.

After that Lions tailgate, the truck was moved into the garage and the chevelle was moved out. General tinkering for a month or two, then over a 2 week christmas break, I sanded the entire truck. Bare metal in some spots, original paint in others. DRY!

Nose - dented and grooved low. Nice upper.

All windows are out. The door tops, frame area and rear sill are really nice.

A bit of clean-up and they're ready for safaris.

[DownRiver]

Finally drop the engine and move it away from the wall. While sanding the passenger side. I notice logos. Slow down, check it out and I see this:

I'm stoked. Work a bit more then come inside and post this:

[iaccy]

Wow, you got some cool history with it...what a cool thing to find.

[Slowlow]

Badass!

Ive seen a few Van Slyke plate frames around the local TN and NC shows..... It would be nice to get one for that truck!


_________________
• Metal Fab & Quality Suspensions, Type I-II-III. Since 2004 •

[DownRiver]

An address search shows that the building is now a Harley Dealership, which has been a family business since 1968, and have been in that location since mid/early 70's.

Hoping to get more history, I called and asked to speak with someone who has been there a LONG time. like since '68. No one fit the bill, but they took my story and would pass it along.
Friday, i missed a call and it was the dealer. I called back and the likely caller (Owner) was gone. But the receptionist knew some things.

Turns out she graduated with the VanSlyke's son, and was just older than their daughter. "They were the only VanSlykes in Oakridge she says. "really nice family." She goes on to tell me that the Dealer was a landmark in Knoxville. People gave directions using the dealer. (Clinton Highway) Everyone knew, local or not.

She then tells me about the rotating car platform in the middle of the showroom. That's where her desk is now. She used to drive past the dealership everyday. And remembers that around 1968 they started getting in the cool color bugs competing with mopar, etc.

The dealer closed in the very early 70's. My truck is a '67 and must have been a shop vehicle, near the end of the dealership being open. The owners are passed, but the kids are alive and she thinks still live in Oakridge. They are in their late 50's. More calls needed.

She was a great lady. Loved the story, and talked to me for about 10 minutes. I told her I'd send some pictures. I hope to talk to the owner of the Harley dealership next week.



Today, we got 9 inches of snow. I was in the garage using my new stud welder on the nose.

[DownRiver]

Thanks!

Obviously I am VERY interested in anything dealing with VanSlyke.

Please let me know if anyone has plate frames, brochures, whatever for sale.

[DownRiver]

Drivers side corner is bad. But the late, truck only vents are good. The wheel tub is good. I'll probably end up using an entire tall, wheel lip panel, tray and a full corner. If I can get someone to make one.

The rest of the drivers side is very nice. I'll end up spraying POR or something in the rocker and weld up one small hole. Otherwise it's noice!

The passenger side has issues in the dogleg area. I need a 3rd door truck rocker, B-Pillar sections, and dogleg. Initially I was thinking a complete dogleg. Now I'm curious if I can just do a skin. Or if just the skin is sold. Both doors are dry, but I need to re-weld the inner/outer on the bottom of the 3rd door, and tweak the bottom hinge a bit. When I do the rocker/B/dogleg.

Passenger side bed is pretty clean. It needs some hammer/dolly work on the upper corner. I'll probably do a new lower corner and battery tray.

[obus]

sounds like you have a nice story behind that double cab. i hope more information comes through for you.
_________________
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

[tstracy39]

I can see why doublecabs are one of the more sought after vws. I'm also seeing why they're also one of the most difficult to restore. Luckily you found one that hasn't had any major parts bitten into by giant scabs of rust. I'm sure it'll provide good times for years to come.
_________________
Check my classifieds for kewl gauges:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/search.php?username=tstracy39

[jmw1982]

thats pretty cool that your finding all the history on your DC, keep up the good work!
_________________
________________________________________

'60 Beetle Indigo Blue

[rgdedge]

I remember VanSlyke's. I picked up a lot of parts there when I worked for my cousin's VW shop in Oak Ridge. I drove by it every day going to work. It was a Nissan dealership after VanSlyke's and is now a Harley dealer.
Tim

[DownRiver]

Thanks all, I'm really stoked on this truck more and more each day.

So, today I started searching for any remaining Van Slyke's in the Knoxville area. A quick white page search gave me a Gatlinburg address and the home phone number of who I think is Mr. VanSlykes son; Glen III. I called after work, but unfortunately the number was disconnected.

I also found some references tying him to some other local car dealers, one on airport road in Alcoa. Called there, but the receptionist couldn't help. I have a few more numbers to try still and feel confident I will track this guy down one way or another.

One other note, while searching for more info, I learned that Glen III was the National Spelling Bee Champion of 1963. His winning word was:

EQUIPAGE

–noun
1. a carriage.
2. a carriage drawn by horses and attended by servants.
3. outfit, as of a ship, an army, or a soldier; equipment.
4. Archaic.
a. a set of small household articles, as of china.
b. a collection of articles for personal ornament or use.
Origin:
1570–80

[DownRiver]

Well, I've been cranking away at all the grunt work for the past 2 months.
Sand, grind, sand, hammer, unispot, pull, sand, grind.
It's not hard, it's just work.

Wheel off to get a closer look at the dogleg, closeout, rocker and B-pillar which is expected next week.
Nice eh? Like it was maintained at a dealership.

Numerous sessions with the unispot, then hammer work. Still needs some more, but it's getting closer.

Did the deed in the deep confines of doublecabdom. I'll replace a small area of floor and some partition metal, then weld the new saddles in.

I'm ready to get going on the welding. Still a couple things to order, but the bulk should be here soon.

Gate work is fun......

I need to get going on tracking down some more history...

It's been a cold, dark winter in the garage. But progress has been steady.
I am looking forward to spring and the birth of a son in April. I have a feeling progress might dwindle, but I'm motivated to get some color on it by summer.

Back to the garage.
_________________
Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right. -Henry Ford
VanSlyke VW Doublecab

[DownRiver]

Started cutting on my B-pillar. It looks worse than it is, because of previous attempts at collision repair down low. A new B-pillar, rocker, dogleg outer and dogleg closeout should weld in nice.

The hinge, upper B, jackpoint, and door channel are surprisingly well in line.

I separated the dogleg. It's solid and straight except by the floor. I'll sand, POR-15, then fit the outer dogleg.

I decided to just patch the floor instead of replacing outers, so I made some templates for the floor and dogleg inner patches.

It poured rain all weekend. I smoked some turkey and chicken legs and the garage smells like Jack Daniels barrels.
_________________
Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right. -Henry Ford
VanSlyke VW Doublecab

[wardvwracer]

Nice work and a nice truck. Thanks for posting your story and progress.
_________________
David Ward
ACME Berrien Buggy Street/Strip racer build
1963 Single Cab
1969 Beetle Convertible
63 11-Window Kombi Bus
Cornpanzers

[DownRiver]

Finally some visual progress.
Started off the weekend by cutting out the short rocker. I'll make a section of inner and weld it in. The Gerson 2 piece rocker should fit real nice.

Then more work on the gates.
To replace the bottom channel, there is a hammered over edge along the bottom of the gate. I carefully separated that fold and removed the old channel. Later, I need to weld in a small section, then work on getting the hinges in-line and the new lower channel fitted and welded in.

Saturday, I started cutting on the corner, out with the old and in with the new.

Next, a bit more time in grind land.

_________________
Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right. -Henry Ford
VanSlyke VW Doublecab

[DownRiver]

I'm still debating on what I want to do here:

I have this huge Gerson panel, which seems to fit perfectly.

But, to use that piece, I would have to cut down the height for the vents. and then do a series of LOOOOONG welds. Since I'm a new welder, I'm a bit hesitant to do that to myself.

Luckily, the truck vents are good, and the wheel lip is good, so I might just cut out the small bad section and replace with some flat stock. I think I have just enough good land under the vents and above the lip to make it work. All the metal in front of the wheel well, and below the front 2 sets of vents is perfect.
_________________
Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right. -Henry Ford
VanSlyke VW Doublecab

[Floridian]

It looks like you are making good progress.....I am trying to repair a rear cab corner, too....How did you remove the spot welds around the rear corner spot - drilling them out,grinding or using a seam buster?

I read the topics in the Paint section on this subject but the spot welds on a VW are small and numerous. These spot weld are hard for me to find at times.... I have tried drilling to drill but it ends up looking like swiss cheese...

FYI- I also live downriver and I was one of the people that called the day you the bought the Van Syke. The PO told me to call at a certain time but he must had it timed to the same time you were there looking at it..sneaky or by chance....I called after you bought it and he was giddy that he got what he was asking for it....He told me that he had people calling from California and really all over about it. He wanted to know what was so special about the having a DC...It seemed that he happened upon the DC....
I am glad to see you are fixing it....Keep up the good work

[DownRiver]

Right on Floridian!

Interesting about the PO. I called the guy a couple months after I bought it asking about an interior panel. He wasn't so giddy when I told him I would have paid more. He said he heard that more than once after I bought it....Nice guy though. I told him when I was done with it I'd cruise by and take him and his son for a burger.

Downriver eh? I'm in AP.

About the corner, I made a cut all the way across the top below the support then down the left side at the seam. Next I made a cut inside the channel running parallel to the right edge. The only spot welds were inside the weatherstrip channel. For those, I center punched then used a spot weld cutter and a bit of coaxing with some needle nose pliers rolling the metal strip off. It turned out pretty clean with only 1 or 2 holes punched through. Those will be used to weld the new corner in anyway along with some spot welds. Then, I just separated the the skin from the other side of the vertical channel with a grinder, and split it from the tray.

The thing I was most concerned about was separating the hammered over bed skin. It was pretty easy once I got a pick up and in there. Once it started, I was able to flex the old skin back and forth a bit opening up the fold and the old skin came out clean. I was pleased with the end results and kicked back with a victory cigar.
_________________
Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right. -Henry Ford
VanSlyke VW Doublecab

[Floridian]

Thanks for the information

Flat Rock the level pebble.....

When I talked to PO I didn't state that he could have got more...I just figured that ignorance is bliss for this case. He did list the DC in a odd catgory on ebay to sell it...I had the money in cash that day too and the PO stated that was number 2 which I assume was after you....So does that mean I am your DC's godfather?

I would send the PO a picture before you pick him up....Just to break him in before you show him the real thing....Either he is going to be jonesing to get another one or kicking himself in the butt for selling this one...