My 1973 Tin Top Camper Build and Travel Thread

[Seventy3Bus]

Thanks guys! It's been such a long project, I almost can't believe I'm at the point where I get to enjoy it. Tom, I agree. I almost went with neptune blue, but I'm really happy I went back to the factory L90D. I'm really happy with how it looks and the lighter white bumpers and wheels provide just enough contrast to balance all the white.

More pics to follow.

-Josh

[xyzzy]

[Seventy3Bus]

Thanks! Not yet, but my '73 parts bus had the stock solex carbs, so I plan to switch over eventually. For now I am running dual weber ICTs.

[xyzzy]

[Seventy3Bus]

Well, I did it... I got the bus ready for the Treffen! My dad flew out from the east coast for the first few days.

Southern Oregon

Meet up at Whaleshead Beach

Stopped on highway 1 in Northern California due to road work

Camping in the redwoods!

Me and Dad in the redwoods

Quick stop at a pull out. Nice view!

Dad flew out in SF. Glad he was able to make the first part of the trip! I might have have convinced him to get a bus!

Ventura, CA went all out by shutting down their downtown for us, even had an outdoor movie and live band. Awesome!

Made friends with some fellow VW people and they let us camp at their farm just south of town

They even had a cool goat named taco or nacho that liked head scratches

We camped at a guys house right on Imperial Beach. I think it was my favorite campout of the whole trip.

I parked next to the campfire ring and my bus ended up being the backdrop for the party! We played live music and chatted late into the night and I jumped in the ocean the next morning... awesome!

The next day was the trip to the border. You can see the bull fighting ring just over the border in Tijuana

My move to Washington, DC coincided with the Treffen. My original plan was to ship the bus when I got to San Diego and then fly back to Oregon and take my daily driver across country... but the bus was running really well... and I was having a really good time... and I had three weeks before I had to start work, so I decided to take the bus across! Luckily my brother has a pretty flexible schedule and volunteered to drive my daily driver across with the hopes of meeting up on the tail end of the journey.

I stopped for a day and a half in LA with some friends I met on the Treffen, changed my oil, did a valve adjustment, adjusted the brakes, and took care of a couple little things then pushed on to Las Vegas and then on to Zion and Bryce Canyon. My speedometer cable came unstuck in the desert somewhere west of Las Vegas... so I had to guess my speed for the rest of the trip (all signs point to slow) and none of my mileage was logged on the odometer. I told myself I would fix it if I had to take the front left tire of for some reason... but I did not so it stayed unstuck.

Zion

My electric fuel pump was making ominous noises as I was driving through Nevada, so I picked up an extra and some more fuel line so I could replace it if it went and had enough fuel line to mount it outside of the engine compartment if I had to mess with it... it sounded like it was eating itself when I got to Zion so I replaced it in the Zion NP Visitor Center parking lot in 100 degree heat. The foreign tourists were perplexed by the sweaty greasy American that kept coming out from under the 45 year old German car. I also adjusted the clutch cable while I was under there. The operation was a success, and Zion was pretty crowded so I pushed on through.

I pulled off on a gravel road just outside of the park and found another of my favorite camping spots of the trip. A thunderstorm came though the valley below just after sunset and it was magnificent.

Made it to Bryce Canyon the next day. A beautiful park. Not crowded, but there were thunderstorms and flash flood warnings so I wasn't able to get much hiking done.

Happy camper in a nice little spot

Got a short rim hike in between storms

Pushed on to Carbondale, CO to check out some natural hot springs. The springs were killer and I got a hot tip that the town was having a live music night. I checked it out and met some cool friends. I was also surprised to find out that your body absorbs more alcohol at elevation and woke up the next morning with a pounding head and fuzzy memories of dancing with strange women.

Hiked Maroon Bells the next day

Met up with a friend from home in Colorado and checked out Red Rocks... so cool!

I met up with the guy I met in Carbondale (also traveling cross country) in Kansas and checked out Monument Rocks. He had a pretty legit drone and camera so stand by for some cool footage. We caravanned all the way to Lake of the Ozarks, MO spent the day swimming and then parted ways.

Monument Rocks

I headed to the Smokies by way of Nashville where I changed the oil and adjusted the valves again and picked up Skyline Drive to the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Elk

I camped for the night in Cade's Cove and did the loop first thing in the morning. Saw some cool old farm houses and churches!

Cade's Cove

Crossing into NC

The bus climbed a hill!

Finally met up with my brother in Shenandoah. We had a great campout at Loft Mountain and celebrated two successful cross country trips with beers and steaks.

Me and Sam

It was a great trip. I put approximately 4500 miles on the bus. I'm proud of it for performing so well, and feel fortunate to have had a relatively trouble free crossing. I think it was paying back for rescuing it from a field in Southern Oregon, giving it some TLC, and getting it back on the road in a big way. I have a long list of little things to take care of, but the bus is all washed up and I can't wait for future adventures in the DC area!

[xyzzy]

Holy cow. This is fantastic. Thanks for sharing! Amazing trip, awesome pictures.
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1973 VW Westfalia 2L hydraulic, dual Solex PDSIT
1987 VW Vanagon Westfalia

[Spike0180]

Congrats on the trip! looks sweet. Very impressive the van didn't have any troubles other than the fuel pump. Not a bad failure to have at all.
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Brutis Patches Izabich: 1970 VW Transporter - 1776cc DP
Current State: Projects never truly end...
Location: Grosse Pointe, Michigan
Other cars: 2003 F150, 2003 Jetta GLI vr6-6sp

Sambastic: adj; the quality of being nit picky, elitist, expecting everyone to do things the way they believe is best with no regard to situation, "sambastic"

[Seventy3Bus]

Been a while since I've posted any updates. I'm all settled in in DC and have been on a few really good late-summer and fall adventures in the bus.

I'm only about an hour from the northernmost part of Shenandoah NP via Route 66. It is a pretty ride once you get out of the city... and there are a lot of wineries!

May have sampled a little too much vino at one of the wineries and had to camp in their back field.

Skyline drive through Shenandoah has to be one of the nicest roads in the country to drive a bus on:

Took a tour of skyline caverns and got to see some cool formations.

I had a long weekend for veteran's day and wanted to take one last trip in the bus before buttoning it up for the season. My GF lives in Pittsburgh, so I thought it would be fun to take the bus and explore WV, MD, and southwestern PA.

Before I left I replaced the speedo cable (it ended up being rusted and broken where it bends to go through the floor of the bus) and my speedo and odometer are working again! I adjusted the valves, a couple were at .008 and .007, three or four were at .006 - pretty consistent with what I've seen over the last few adjustments. I also checked the transmission fluid level (I have a small leak) it was about 1/8" low... I plan to top it off before starting to use the bus next year. I also greased the from beam, adjusted the brakes, adjusted the idle (it had creeped up to 1015) and adjusted the timing (it was only at 24 degrees at full advance) and with the bus happy I hit the road.

Stopped for fresh apple cider donuts and a warm cider:

Stopped by a nice lake:

I camped in one of the PA state game lands and found a nice clearing to share with a bulldozer:

I then proceeded to spill a whole pot of chicken noodle soup. It was definitely one of the highlights of the trip, right up there with the highway patrolman checking in on me while I was peeing in a bottle, and freezing my butt off:

Pretty frosty morning, ice everywhere!

The low was 19 degrees! Despite the low temps, I was pretty comfortable all night in two sleeping bags and a blanket. I turned on the little buddy heater before getting out of my sleeping bag and let it run for about half an hour. I'm now very grateful that my friend gifted it to me before I left Oregon.

The final leg of the trip to Pittsburgh was really nice... saw some giants!

Made it safely to Pittsburgh and plan to head back early Monday afternoon. I'm hoping the drive back will be a bit warmer... getting the heat working well was pretty far down on my to do list, but now I'm re-considering.

[WildIdea]

Great photos and updates, thanks for sharing. Keep me coming!

[Wasted youth]

Don't know how I missed this thread... Great Job! You got one pulled out of certain death and put it to good, rewarding use because you stayed focused and invested time, money, blood and sweat. No tears. Just sack up!

What a cool story. Thanks for sharing, and keep this thread up to date!