65 Standard Sunroof Walk Thru

[ronjonlasvegas]

I had been in the market to buy a factory 11 window sunroof bus for about a year. I first saw this bus at OCTO, in October 2019 and it was on a trailer for sale. Here are a couple of pics.

It was for sale at OCTO 10/2019 and it was a bare shell with no front or rear suspension, no wheels, no engine or trans and no seats or interior. It also had a rusted out cargo floor and battery tray from sitting outside with no sunroof cover for a long time. I decided to pass on the bus that day, the owner Greg Hale told me if he didn't sell it that day he had a friend who wanted it and had a solid offer on the table. About a month later the bus was posted up for sale on this website for the same price. I reached out to the owner Greg and told him I was interested, but the price was too high for the condition and everything it was missing. We talked some more and I found out he restores and sells buses for a living so I negotiated for him to install a beam and a big nut transmission and put four 14 inch stock wheels and new tires and to cut out the cargo floor and battery tray and replace those with brand new replacement metal pieces. I also had to throw in a drivers seat and a rear seat from a bay window. We struck a deal and it was contingent upon him getting the title back in the mail from the DMV. So I waited a few weeks and it came back right around Christmas 2019. My buddy offered to help me pick it up from CA as he had a manx he had to get so we ran down to get it on a weekend. Here are a couple of pics.

I did some research and found out this bus was originally found by user name mrjobe in Nebraska in 2012. Here are two pics he posted on this site when he originally found it.

I tried to find out more history and sent a couple of PM's to mrjobe but he is no longer active on this site and never responded to my PM's.

I go the bus home to Las Vegas, NV and started to make a plan for what I want to do with it. My plan right now it to leave the original paint and to just finish pulling out some of the dents, buff out the paint and get it running and back on the road and to leave it mostly stock. It was missing the SWR decklid and the SWR apron so I found replacements. I was also saving up money to get an engine and all the other parts that were missing. Here are a few detailed pics of right after I got it home.

So I have had the bus here for about seven months now and I have acquired a good used 1600dp engine and the missing walk thru passenger seat, short middle seat and correct split rear seat as it had a bay window one. I put my name on my buddies Telly's list at his shop to get it in and running driving and the brakes to work. In late July Telly called me said he was ready for the bus. So now it has had new front disc brakes installed, the front beam that was in the bus was a bay window beam so that was swapped out with a correct split beam and the beam and spindles were rebuilt. He installed a new master cylinder and new rear brakes. I also sent the steering box out to Wolfgang to be rebuilt and that has now been installed. He also fixed the broken hinges on two doors and the decklid and went thru all the wiring and got all the electrical to work. As of this week it now runs, drives, steers and stops. Here are a few pics of the bus in his shop.

Here is a pic of the first drive.

So I now have all the correct seats and placed an order with Lenny for a complete new interior, all seat covers, headliner, door panels, ragtop cover, etc... I am waiting on that to be completed it should be another 30 days or so. I also sent all the door handles out to be rechromed. Here is how my bus looks today.

I did also order the birth certificate from VW to confirm the build date and options. Here is what came back.

I now have a DMV appointment to get it registered for three weeks from now and am patiently waiting for the rest of the parts to come in. Once I get it back home I will do all the small stuff.
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September 1964 Standard Sunroof walk through SWR/BG original paint.

[earlywesty]

Nice! I considered this one too. 11w sunroof is where its at!

[velvetgreen]

Great looking bus- logo looks like original paint logo too. Good for you chasing down all those hard to find pieces!

[velvetgreen]

Any idea what the 798 Mcode corresponds to?

Looks like a tourist delivery bus?

[AS350driver]

It looks pretty darn solid for a Nebraska bus. Especially if it sat with the sunroof open

[ronjonlasvegas]

[ronjonlasvegas]

[oakman]

Killer bus!! Sunroof standards and kombis are great, and yours being walkthrough is even better. I still think about adding a sunroof to my mango standard..
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Brandon

[Braukuche]

Congrats on the bus, my son has the exact same bus, though his is Sea Blue.
Seems like most of the sunroof standards that pop up on the site are 65s.
Weird that the dude who found it would remove the beam and trans on such a rare and nice bus? But glad it found the right owner to put it back right.

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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

[ronjonlasvegas]

[Braukuche]

Yes mcoded for walkthrough and full width middle seat.
Does yours have a full width or walkthrough middle?
_________________
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

[Ragtop]

Killer bus. Love 11 window ragtops

[Clara]

[ronjonlasvegas]

[AC Mack]

[Riff Raff]

Most excellent bus!

Congrats on doing it up right!
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The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance, but the illusion of knowledge
- Daniel Boorstin

[ronjonlasvegas]

Thanks for all the kind words. I am excited to bring this bus back. I will post up some more pics after I get the interior completed and get the paint buffed out.
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September 1964 Standard Sunroof walk through SWR/BG original paint.

[earlywesty]

[WildIdea]

[zuggbug]

Beautiful bus
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SOUTHERN INTEGRITY AIRCOOLERS
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56 westy