Official Postal Yellow and Deustche Bundespost Bus SK 648

[ronjonlasvegas]

There is one thread that was previously set up for Postal Yellow buses, but it started out as a poll as to whether the op should repaint or not and kind of grew with others posting pictures of postal yellow buses. I thought it was time to start a new thread just devoted to original postal yellow buses and the people who own one and/or love them. Please share your pictures and stories.
I am also interested in finding out more about postal yellow and how it got on buses that were not Deustche Bundespost (German Post Office) buses? I know this color was primarily for Deustche Bundespost buses and Fridolins. This postal yellow color also found it way onto some other buses including my Oct. 59 Double Cab that were not delivered to Germany and not post office vehicles . It has been found mostly on single cabs, panel buses, kombi's and even one one 23 window bus. The most prevalent years are 1957-1960 and panels and single cabs are the most common survivors. My double cab was delivered new to Portland, OR in the USA so it obviously was not an original Bundespost vehicle.
The postal yellow color was never listed on the brochures as an available color for buses. I am not sure if someone could walk into their VW dealership in the late 1950's and ask what special colors were available from the factory and order a bus to be built with all their options and a special color. I am not sure. The only thing I know is that postal yellow buses have survived in very low numbers. If you own one please post it on this thread with the build date and a photo or two so we can add it to the list of known buses.

Postal yellow buses were delivered with a Black emblem on the nose, black bumpers and black wheels which makes them a little unique from the other color schemes.

Please add to this thread with your photos and also stories of any new finds, or ones you parted out years ago.

Here is a photo of a postal yellow bus that appeared in a VW ad on a matchbook.

Here are a few photos of my Oct. 59 double cab.

Here is a photo from the gallery of a Bundespost bus that surfaced a few years ago in NV.

Here are a couple of nice panels from the gallery.

Here are two photos from the gallery of the one known 23 window bus in original paint postal yellow.

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September 1964 Standard Sunroof walk through SWR/BG original paint.

[ronjonlasvegas]

Here is a photo I took last weekend of a postal yellow single cab that was in the swap meet section at the Vintage VW Treffen on 9/17/17.

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September 1964 Standard Sunroof walk through SWR/BG original paint.

[srfndoc]

Postal Yellow buses are sweet. Not mine but one of the few known Barndoor Postal yellow buses, seen at EBI 2017 (pics shot by my buddy Maurice):

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RPM=(MPH*336* (R&P*4th*1.26))/Tire Diameter in inches

[ronjonlasvegas]

[EeVeeWee]

[ronjonlasvegas]

[ryans65]

I love this truck.

[zehbeh]

Not what you asked for, but maybe its interesting too.
In Germany we had beside busses and Fridolins also lots of postal yellow beetles.
And as far as I know, the hubcaps were always painted yellow too.

[ronjonlasvegas]

[zehbeh]

The Bundespost beetles weren't for supervisors, the were, as expected correctly, for smaller an amount of mail. I remember them, only having a drivers seat, no passenger and no rear seats.
I am sure you also know the grey cars from the "Deutsche Bundespost". They look nice too.

[LAGrunthaner]

Excellent thread ronjonlasvegas, I didn't know about the yellow Beetles or the yellow hubcaps. Do I understand correctly that all export postal yellow buses going to the US were chrome hub caps not yellow?

[mg6770]

[ronjonlasvegas]

[quote="LAGrunthaner"]Excellent thread ronjonlasvegas, I didn't know about the yellow Beetles or the yellow hubcaps. Do I understand correctly that all export postal yellow buses going to the US were chrome hub caps not yellow?

Thanks. I Can not confirm that all Postal Yellow buses that were exported to the US came with Chrome hubcaps, but that seems to be the norm. It is hard to say exactly because many of these buses were pre M code plate. Here is a scan of my Birth Certificate for my Postal Yellow and I have talked to three other people with Postal yellow US single cabs and a panel that all also came with chrome hubcaps. The VW advertising photo from the matchbook ad also shows Chrome hubcaps on a single cab.

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September 1964 Standard Sunroof walk through SWR/BG original paint.

[mg6770]

This is the same bus that had the Washington plates above but was originally delivered to Colorado. It was a US import as well, ordered by a gentleman that either owned a Caterpillar dealership or worked for them. Story goes, he wanted a bus in Caterpillar yellow but this was the closest that VW could provide and he ordered it. Also ordered double door option for it, crazy cool survivor. It now roams the streets of San Diego and surrounding areas along with the occasional jaunt up and down the California coast.
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Phil 4:13

[EverettB]

Here's another pic of the Postal Yellow 23-Window

My understanding is this was owned by a Caterpillar dealer too.
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[ronjonlasvegas]

[HappyTheMan]

The May '57 postal yellow kombi

In the winter of 2002, one of our spotters reported in that a fence had blown down during the huge wind storm we just had. He dutifully informed us that there was a bus now visible in the yard. Just when you think you know about every one nearby, and expecting it to be a bay window or something, we quizzed him repeatedly. "Split front window right?" "I think so" he said. So, a mere mile away we saw this.

The owner curiously knew one thing. "You know it's a postal yellow right?" The back story was that it had been in eastern Washington for a long time and someone had been living in it. There was evidence of a stovepipe going through the roof, some kind of odd camper kit interior, one of those old '50s dashboard compasses, evidence of curtains, that kind of thing. Also the front pedestal had been covered rather professionally with some felt like material. Anyway, a deal was struck and it came home.

We commenced to remove the outer layer of paint to see what it looked like. The coat of paint on top was a brush and roll job in oil enamel. We quickly found out the yellow had been sanded in preparation for this home paint job. Many curse words were flung at whoever did it.

A gazillion hours, every chemical, grit and trick known to man, we got it to where it looked reasonably good. What yellow was left was very thin though. We knew that was going to be the case and had to just be as careful as we could be. All in all, it came out better than we expected.

We installed a running 36hp from stash and did a little brake work. After going through the electricals and a set of fresh tires, it was running around for the first time in who knows how long.

I should mention that all four wheels are original April '57, 3 being crows foot, with beautiful black paint. The white you see in the nose shot is underneath the yellow. This bus was primered in black, then a coat of white, then the postal yellow. Being an ex-painter, I know why this is. Yellow, especially in lacquer is translucent, meaning you can see through it. The white was necessary to brighten the yellow. It would have looked terrible over the black. Lastly, a view of the SK648 in the driver's side headlight bucket.

Cheers,
Happy

[srfndoc]

Nice save on the OG paint, that could not have been easy. Any plans to fix the rockers/dogleg and blend or just rockin it as is? Is there yellow stripe between the V and W on the front emblem?
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RPM=(MPH*336* (R&P*4th*1.26))/Tire Diameter in inches

[ronjonlasvegas]

[HappyTheMan]

Unfortunately the front emblem was missing when we found it. We grabbed a spare and painted it black. I tried to make a trade with someone here who had an original black one, but he wanted to keep it and paint it a different color. That's okay. I have no idea if it would have had the yellow stripe. I've always wondered about that.