old us 23 bus

[Dave.]

Hi joined today ,skulking for a while now

I own an old 23 walkthro 1962 bus from the states and would love to know if there was anyone on here who knows of its past its been here with me for about 5 years now ,i was told it was in the arizona desert for quite some time
,but could of been in texas as some stage as i found a texas bank book holder type thing in the front nose ,it was found in a junk yard then lived in la habra C A but i cant find much else ,i know its a long shot but worth a shout i think
Here's an old pic of how it was

cheers all

[EmpiGT]

That bus looks like one I had. did it have a nose replacement at one time? Done at the windshield frame and on the front floor somewhere?
I had a 62 walkthru that I had the outside sand blasted and primed it grey. When I sold it to a guy in Texas it looked like that one in the pic, I sold it 9-10 years ago.

[Dave.]

Yes it had a front grafted on across the window frames and the early flashers hacked out for fish eye ones,looks like an earlier front ,the roof was damaged mainly at the rear and pleanty of rust !!

2qgu232 was the reg plate

i love some more info if you have time !

[EmpiGT]

Yup that's it. It had an early nose someone put on it years ago with the pointed end speedo pod. and hacked out bullet to put in fried eggs. I got the bus years ago on a trade. It and another 63 23 window came out of a tiny town in Oklahoma. My buddy got the 63 and I got the 62. It looked more complete and nice when I got it. I started taking it apart and had it blasted and it was so trashed I never messed with it anymore. I had it for 5-7 years. I sold it to a guy in texas, I can't think of his user name on here I'll have to think for a bit. The guy I got it from was an absolute flake/wierdo...... He also had 2 oval windows setting where the busses were, deadendvw and onepercenter here on the samba got the two ovals. I have some old photo's from the day we brought the 2 busses home. I'll try to find them and scan them for you. That bus was sealing wax red and white and the other 63 was turkis/white. My buddy cut up his 63 to build a 21 out of the roof. I never thought I'de see the day someone would build that 62. Hows it look now?

[Dave.]

really cant believe this ,over the moon ! i would really love to see the pic's etc

my story is i bought it over here in the uk of a guy who had bought several dubs over , as you see it in the pics

So far its had new cargo floor cills/rockers inner /outer new cab floor new roof windows ,battery tray new side panels complete new front inc screen sections

new dog legs A posts B posts only thing that was good condition was the main chassis !

I just felt like saving it , bit of a challenge i suppose but

im yet to drive it one day it will be finished

finding this news has given me so much enthusiasm to finish it !

[Derek Cobb]

Now this is a cool thread. I want to see build pics along with old PO pics

[Mr Mike]

definetly a cool thread. Gotta be one of those ultra rare times
someone has posted, lookin' for past info on an old bus and got a hook up!
sure hope theres some photo's comin'

[Dave.]

yeah im buzzin but the bus is still being restored and not looking too different hehe
but i will dig some out and upload them its just after midnight here so off to bed soon im up in 7 hrs

i do have a few cool pics tho of various bits being removed and a few termite nests ive kept in an old tin

just found a couple of early ones in my photo bucket

i ended up changing the whole side panel as i wasnt happy with the lower repair i did

[carterzest]

[kombisutra]

Great thread! Congratulations for finding the history on your US bus! Empi Dogg wit da' history! Ohhhh Yeaaaahhh, Hero status!

[kombisutra]

[EmpiGT]

I'm looking for the pics right now of the pull out. The guy that had them was a nut case. He owned a house in the small town of Porter Ok. He lived in Muskogee and just left the house and abondoned vw's there to rot and the house was in worse shape than the vw's. The city gave him a few months to clean up the property. So that was the trade I was talking about. Me and my buddy, went in and cleaned the place up spending a whole weekend cleaning and working on the place. The yard was so grown over you couldn't see the vw's if you were 5 feet away from them. and the entire acre lot was the same way. It was an old house that the neighborhood kids played in. With all the glass busted out and who know's what all went on in that house. When I first found them from a rumor, I talked to the nieghbor, he said he had no idea who owned the house or the vw's, he told me to just take them he would be happy they were gone, He said he had lived there for 10 years and the house and vw's were there the whole time. but I talked to the city first and they gave me the contact for the owner. So we made a deal for $100 per bus but wy buddy and I had to clean the yard that hadn't been touched in 15 plus years. I Still think my buddy and I got took......

Oh and the guy never showed up the entire weekend we worked, so we stacked all the debri from cutting limbs and over growth in a few piles so they could be hauled off or burned, so we hooked to the busses and left. When we got home 150 miles later I had a call from the porter police saying we stole the busses and needed to bring them back. The owner showed up after we left seeing the busses were gone and the debri and the only work he thought we did was clearing brush to get them out. He never got out of his car to look at what we had done, but instead went to the cops, so we went back the next weekend with him there and he then saw what we did and all was fine, But I was pissed at the time.

[Dave.]

Hehe i stayed up a little longer just cus im stoaked about the history awsome story !! $100 each phewwwww

Hope you find some pics bud, beers on me !

[ZENVWDRIVER]

i just emailed 1% to direct him to this thread...i am another Flake from Okla

[EmpiGT]

[Dave.]

ill upload some more pics today after work got a set of brakes to fit on a citreon in the cold damp weather

Cant wait to see some pics

[bushaus]

[Dave.]

[EmpiGT]

Hey Dave, I'm still looking for the pic's, I haven't even seen them in years, But I have some somewhere? If I can't find mine I know Aaron has some of the pull out too. I don't know how you got a story of the bus coming from an Arizona desert or a california salvage yard. But alot of people think the Ar. abbreviation is for Arizona but it is for Arkansas. The guy that got it from me I think already had it "flipped" when he picked it up from me. It sounded like it was going overseas directly after he got it. I think he was a middle man for an importer. He bought 2 23's from me and a cut up 21. I'll keep looking........

[Dave.]

I think the guys name was terry gonzales or similar to that ,lots of dealers on the make over here i know the shipping was 7500 usd for two busses full of parts i saw it on the import tax form

heres a few pics ,that ugly fella is me