SO-34 Westfalia Folding Chair Found

[bastardbus]

It took me only 13 years to finally find this for the Flipseat Westy I bought in 2005. This is a picture of the original owner's wife in their SO-34 back in late `60s. That is the chair I purchased in the picture. They sold the bus but kept the chair, tent and toilet which later was thrown out. Only the chair was saved and used in various other Westfalia campers through the years for camping up until I purchased it yesterday.

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Samba Member #95

[srfndoc]

Talk about being patient. Nice score!
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RPM=(MPH*336* (R&P*4th*1.26))/Tire Diameter in inches

[Z]

Wow...that chair is a survivor. Congrats! How did you find it?

[easy e]

[ToolBox]

That means you need to get it running. Tristan needs something to drive....

[Z]

[hitest]

[Wolfsburg Classics]

Nice score Todd,and I guess that very faded upholstery confirms it is an original chair and not a close genaric copy.
Presume you didn't have to step up and pay the inflated price on it either.
Even better is it's going home to where it started,reunited.

[bastardbus]

Yup and if you look closely at the chair pics above, you will see the two faint white stripes of the plaid seat material in exact same place in both the early and current photos. Lots of details identify an original from a fake. There are many generic chairs similar in design out there but nothing matches an original one.

Price paid? Was the cost of a set of new fuel injectors for the Vanagon Westy in the back ground. But I was way overdue for this find.

This chair was heavily used for camping the past 50 years but luckily never damaged or modified in any way. It will be restored to better match it's return home.

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Samba Member #95

[Braukuche]

Congrats and beautiful Westy!
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Go Reds! Smash state!

Retirement is here!
1956 Ghia
1959 SO-23 Westfalia
1960 double cab
1960 Baja Bug
1963 stretched double cab
1962 Golde sunroof Ghia
1963 356 B coupe
1963 Notchback
1967 21 window less rusty now

[BarryL]

[bastardbus]

Z here is the story. The chair was found "out in the open" on the net. I was in a VW related forum and the owner of the chair posted a thread and the above picture of his mom in the old westy with the text "this is a picture from the late `60s of my mother in my parents first VW camper, does anyone know what make and model it is ?". No one on that forum had a clue except me. I posted a reply stating it was a SO-34 Westfalia and I had a `62 SO-34 as well, then posted pictures of mine. The fellow said thanks and some light chat in the thread continued about it. The owner stated his father owned several westfalias through the years, this one being his first. He only recalled sleeping in it once on this small child's cot that hung over the front seat. Later his father got rid of that SO-34 and purchased a `71 and so on but always had a VW Westfalia Camper through the years. He then said "interestingly enough I still have that camping chair in the picture!" Apparently his dad always had used it in the various Westfalias he had through the years. Later, when his dad passed away, he cleaned out his home and found what appeared to be the original tent, toilet and the folding chair from the SO-34. The tent was in terrible shape and he threw that and the toilet away in the garbage but he kept the chair because the always used it when camping. He currently was using it in his Vanagon Westfalia you can see in the background of the one picture.

I told to him these chair are quite hard to find and I had been searching for one for many years. I would love to own it and put it back where it really belongs in a SO-34 Westy. He said he didn't want to sell for sentimental reasons. I said not even for several hundred dollars? Shocked he said..."well I am not THAT sentimental about it !" LOL There being really no record of one of these selling on the open market and no idea of a market price he told me he did need a new set of injectors installed his Vanagon Westy. So I offered to pay for that in exchange for the chair and he agreed. So my westy got a chair it has been missing for decades and his westy got a well needed set of new injectors.

It took me a month or two to pick it up it was a good 14 hour round trip from my home but luckily was in his area last weekend and was able to get it. He wasn't home but he left it sitting outside leaning against his garage door for me.... I was a nervous wreck until that thing was in my van and on the way back to Ohio.

T
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Samba Member #95

[campingbox]

Very nice find. Congratulations.

[BarryL]

It's like you found each other the chair and you.

[EverettB]

Great story.

Did you tell him how much the toilet was worth?
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[oakman]

Congratulations!!! Awesome score!
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Brandon

[Z]

Thanks for the story-it’s a good one! Knowing that chair was out in the open while you were on the road must have been nuts.

Congrats again on the great find. Your SO34 is fantastic, a perfect home for that chair. I need to go read your resto thread again.

[velvetgreen]

Came across this recently. Thoughts on originality?

[Wolfsburg Classics]

Definitely original,I have seen others with the same,The Atkinson so34 has one too,seems to be a '61 era thing and the chair is a gold colour just like the early flipseat mechanism.

So yup an early oddity,colour and fabric back.

[Clara]