1965 Mild Custom Camper From Scratch

[tkortebein]

I've always wanted a bus, but imagined I'd end up with a Vanagon. Maybe a Bay if I was lucky. In the fall of 2022, the bad news of a close friend leaving the West Coast to move east turned bittersweet when it became clear he wasn't planning to take his '65 Split along. And I was first on his list to be the next caretaker.

The bus was a still-life project for 10+ years, but he'd recently gotten it back on the road with a rebuilt 1600DP, new fuel system, wiring harness, and tires. After a short test drive and tour of the stark creature comforts, we struck a deal and I made the 50 mile drive home during the first big rain storm of the year. A good omen, I think.

In the following few days, I re-installed the front emblem and hub caps, cleaned out the interior, and started to get familiar with this bus.

The exterior is very original, patina'd, with just a few spots of rust. Overall it's very solid and dry considering it was, at some point in time, sold at Allen's Autohaus in Fargo, North Dakota. I am on the hunt for an original paint Light Grey decklid! Personally, I love the honest way this bus presents itself, and I don't intend to alter that any time soon.

The engine bay shows some evidence of hacking, as does the rear bulkhead, which points toward the existence of a gas heater at some point in the bus's past. The engine was assembled by Mesa West in Costa Mesa, CA and runs like a top. I haven't dug into it very far yet, as I haven't needed to!

The rear interior was bare, save a few deteriorated wood panels on the driver's side and headliner. Originally a panel van, I believe it was converted into a Sundial camper early in its life, judging by the windows and awning mounting strip on the roof, but someone more familiar with the details might be able to disprove that hunch. I do find it odd that there are no upper vents near the roof in the rear.

As camping and day trips are our goal with the bus, I've already started the work of building up the interior. Next I'll get this thread up to speed with my current progress.

[AC Mack]

Nice Bus . Check your m code it should have 116 - without vented cargo area. Panel Van
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1959 Model M1: 118
1964 Model 265
1965 Model 251 Deluxe walk thru
1966 Westfalia so42 Schiebedach fabrik 4864
1967 Model 231 EZ Kamper # 1940
1978 Westfalia P 31 / 1987 Westfalia Wolfram Grau
Split Bus Club / Lost Coast Bays / North Coast Vans
Long may that Split Bus Run!
Always and Everywhere Volkswagen

[velvetgreen]

Great looking honest bus. I would take the same approach and given that there is no camper interior left in the bus you have a clean slate (hopefully without too much hacking) to make it the way you want

[Willin]

If you need/want some ideas for the interior, check out the build thread from sgellis for his 64 camper. (he's active now in the barn door forum.)
I copied his seat/bed design for my bay.

Congratulations on the nice bus!
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73 bus. Org. 1700 with dual Weber 40 idfs, bus header with Empi qp muffler, CB magnaspark 2 " ready to run kit".

[vwuberalles]

Nice bus, congratulations! I kinda dig the mismatched decklid, it adds character.
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1973 Superbeetle: 1st car, owned since age 12. Update thread --> https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9919140#9919140
1967 Kombi: Owned since age 17, Dad's retirement project.
1966 Beetle: My new project. (SOLD) Build thread--> https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=678040

[Stocknazi]

Very clean bus. Paint/patina are just about perfect IMO.

Going to disagree on the mis-matched decklid. It's too nice to not source a original paint decklid to match the rest of the bus.

What are your plans for the interior?
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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

[Buggeee]

Sweet Bus! My domestically outfitted Sportsmobile camper was shipped over here as a no-upper vent panel as well.

Enjoy sending your friend pictures of the awesome times you have with your new bus!

Drive 'em if you've got 'em.
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Big Time 1988 Vanagon Westy
Release the Krankenwagen! 1966 Sportsmobile Camper
Dr. Kompressor 72 Super Duper
61 Turkis Pile (adopted out)

[BonTonRoulet]

Nice clean slate to build your own thing. I used what was left of an original "Alabama Camper" cabinet and then created my own components similar to an SO-42 style camper. It's yours do what you want with it, however, when it comes to adding finished woodwork inside your bus, I'd strongly suggest you attempt to "make the frogs ass watertight" and get all of your window and door seals up to snuff to keep any water out of your bus.

Good Luck have fun Enjoy!
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Never argue with an Idiot. They'll only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.

[von_hansel]

Congrats on the new to you camper. I am looking forward to seeing updates of it.

What part of So Cal are you located in?

There are a couple of VW campouts coming up in Orange County that I recommend going to for either the day or the weekend. If interested I can PM you more info.
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[tkortebein]

[von_hansel]

[KTPhil]

Hope to see you at both Silverado and Spring.
Make the interior your own. Take your time examining others, including the more space-efficient later models. Notice how people have made cubbies and fitted cabinets to their equipment so it doesn't feel as crowded.
Looks to make a fine camper!
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Current Fleet:
- '71 Fastback
- '69 Westfalia
Retired:
- '67 Beetle
- '65 Beetle (x2)
- '65 Bus
- '71 Squareback

[tkortebein]

Throughout all of 2023 and most of 2024 the bus was basically on the back burner while other projects took priority. The time I did spend with the bus was focused on sorting out some lingering mechanical issues and making it really road-worthy.

There was about 90 degrees of input play in the steering. Fortunately the steering box itself was in good shape, and everything else was to blame. It's now got a completely rebuilt beam (thanks to A&D Buggies in Torrance, CA) under the front end and all tie rods, drag link, and shock absorbers replaced.

Has anyone in a salty coastal environment found really durable brake master cylinder and tie rod boots? I've already had to replace them due to cracking twice in 2 years/2,000 miles. The most recent ones were warrantied out by WW, but obviously I'd prefer to avoid taking the whole thing apart to replace the rubber stuff every other year…

Since September 2024, I've finally been able to spend full weekends on the bus here and there. I don't know about y'all but I have a tough time making progress an hour or two at a time.

I stripped out what was left of the old interior. Essentially just the wood headliner, large driver's side wall, back corners, and head banger. Luckily there wasn't anything too alarming hiding behind. Only bits of foam insulation left hanging from the roof that had trapped some moisture and started to cause surface rust, though most of the brown splotches you can see all over the inside is just old glue.

For the time being, I'm really focused on getting this project to a state where I can start enjoying it, which means having a place to sit and sleep. The dog and I are happy to sleep on the cargo floor, but it'll take a few more creature comforts to convince my partner!

Pic from the 2024 Silverado Campout:

At some point I may strip everything down to bare metal and repaint the entire interior, but for now I sanded back just the areas of surface rust and coated with Rustoleum Rust Reformer. It's not pretty, but should at least stop the situation from getting worse in the meantime.

I'm under no illusion that this thing is ever going to be quiet but figured a bit of sound deadening and thermal insulation on the large panels couldn't hurt. I read tons of posts here and on other restoration forums and took the sound advice to steer clear of anything that could trap moisture. I covered 15-20% of the large sheet metal panels in tar/foil sheets, which made a huge improvement in the general "tin can" experience riding down the road. The bubble wrap thermal insulation is covering as much of the walls and roof as possible.

[BarryL]

Should be like a recording studio in there now.

Regarding the rubber boot they are counting on you having a splash pan.

[ted698]

Ah yes! The rubber components with all the rubber taken out!

I changed all my shift rod boots - the originals lasted 50 years, the replacements 5 months....

[tkortebein]

[tkortebein]

Considering the cost of good quality birch plywood and the templates I'd have to create for the missing panels, it was a no-brainer to buy the walls, doors, and headliner panels CNC cut from OC Westy in Orange, CA. As they were made to order, I was able to get exactly the parts I wanted, unfinished and without the windows cut. That way I could be certain that they were in the right places and choose the color and type of finish I wanted.

Aside from cutting the windows, I had to make very few modifications to the panels. Ed really has his templates dialed in.

To source the 1/4" floor and 1/8" plywood to cut the panel joining strips, my neighbor tipped me off to a fantastic local lumber yard that carries 5'x5' Birch plywood - Hudson & West in Torrance, CA. They carry a wide range of plywood, hardwoods, tools, hardware, and best of all - KNOWLEDGE.

As others have noted, by using a 5'x5' sheet for the floor I only had to trim 1" off one side, and the gap at the rear will be covered by the bench seat.

I really like the warm glow of the woodwork in sgellis's 64 camper and decided to use amber shellac as well. Everyone seems to say that shellac is "foolproof" to apply. But I disagree... Either I'm a rare breed of fool, or my expectations were too high, because I really struggled to get a result I was happy with on such large birch panels. After 10+ samples of varying cuts of denatured alcohol, coats, brushes, and techniques, I finally landed on a process. Three light coats of Zinsser Amber Shellac, cut 1:1 with denatured alcohol, applied with a cloth, and sanded with 400 grit between each coat gives everything a really nice honey color and satin sheen without completely obliterating the grain. I coated the backside of all the panels with polyurethane for a bit of additional moisture resistance.

Having fitted all the panels, I disassembled it all again to spend a few days shellacking.

And reinstalling.

So far I'm very happy with the color, fit and finish of the paneling. The panel surrounding the rear window on the driver's side looks a different color in photos, but it's really just because the grain is running the opposite direction. They look much more consistent in person. I'll probably wait to make the strips around the top of the wall/below the headliner until I've planned out my new headbanger shelf and rear cabinet dimensions.

Which brings this thread up to date with my current progress. I'll be updating as I work from this point onward.

[BarryL]

Looks brand new and cozy as is.

Where did you get the "Denatured Alcohol".

[BarryL]

[70bus]

Shellac is not a terribly water-resistant product; you may want to look into a topcoat of a non-polyurethane varnish, or at least a wax. The good part about shellac is that if it gets blotchy due to rain or a spill, you can brush more right in usually.

BarryL, ACE or Do-It-Best type hardware stores still carry denatured ethanol, marked FUEL.
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Craig K
70 Neunsitzer
65 Pritschenwagen
"If Von Dutch was alive, he'd walk in there with a pistol and shoot these people." - Robert Williams

Raul the 65 singlecab

Karl the 70 nine-seater