Karl the 1970 9-seater Deluxe Station Wagon

[70bus]

This bus was my first car, and served long and faithfully; most of its trials and triumphs were documented on the various bus lists waaay back (vanagon@lenti, type2.com, etc) so that, and CDR backups that fail to load all those photos anymore, means much history is gone.

So Karl is looking a little rough these days...

but I do work on him from time to time, and will keep future efforts here on his own page.



Some from 30 years ago...

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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

[hutmo]

Very cool. Wish I had my first Westy...Stuart.

Karl needs some lovin'

HUTMO
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What if the Hokey Pokey really is what it is all about?

Samba Member #1115
Joined Feb 6, 2002

[mikewire]

Nice!

Not very many 9-passengers around, so good to see another.

Good time to get things going again, and from the pics it doesn't seem like it would take much to get going...what are your biggest hurdles and where do you plan to start?
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-Mike

@countdowngarage
@bigskyeuro

1972 VW Kombi 9 Passenger Deluxe w/ 2.0L F.I. VWAC swap
1965 VW Beetle Deluxe Bahama Blue

[70bus]

Honestly - justifying the expense! I just spent a few years and more than a few dollars bring my 65 singlecab back from the dead; Karl likely needs a good 6-8K in metalwork to be solid, and more to be shiny. I'm ok with it not being shiny. I would like the area behind the bumper replaced.

Otherwise he's nearly ready to go; I have an old 'what parts are still good to use?' motor in it that seems to run fine. I just put on newly-rebuilt fuel pump, carb and dizzy. I need to find why it immediately hits 2K rpm and stays when started, but will drop to proper idle when warm. After sitting, brake hoses should be redone, which is a shame as they were new in 2020.

I'm currently replacing driver window seals, and will post some boring pics of things people have already done much nicer than I, but once the door is back on I'll be test driving.

A question: I've never been sure what exctly to call Karl (other than Karl, after Von Saltzen, a late type2 list member) - he's a station wagen, but also a 9-seater, and has all the shiny chrome trim a Deluxe has. Birth certificate has 221-521 on it. Not sure if there is a name for this particular model, unlike Westerner, or Clipper. So aside from the 1/3-2/3 middle seat I'm not sure what else I need to replace. I've had two of those middle seats, and gave both away because I used poor Karl for hauling construction material for years. :P

Sharp eyes no doubt spotted variations:
the axles are from a 72 donor and have front disks; no booster, but pressure regulator is installed. Sliding door was replaced due to impact damage, and since that door had a camper jalousy, I got another for the driver side. I do have the solid window and vent wing for the driver side, but the breeze is nice when I camp... When I replaced the rear driverside seal, that vent wing fell apart, so I slapped a solid unit in until I find a new vent. I also backed him into a low hanging branch, so the rear hatch is a replacement as well.
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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

[Manfred58sc]

Drive and enjoy, that is where the memories live ( not at some "car show"). Cool machine
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Fat chick owner/operator

[HarryFD]

Fix what’s broken or unsafe and keeps you from driving it. The other stuff can wait.

Enjoy the patina.
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1970 Deluxe Sunroof Bay Brilliant Blue/Cloud White
1971 Jaguar XKE 2+2 V12 Coupe
1973.5 911 Targa
2009 MB C300

[70bus]

Hah! We're beyond patina at this point; I have Structural Algae.

Wrestled for last 3 days with crappy 'German' outer scraper; today I got another one that is still "German" and still kinda crappy... but t least the clips went in this time without bending.

Door after the algae was mostly cleaned off. Outer scraper did NOT want to come out, sadly... I had felts to drill out old and rivet in new, but the chrome was pretty adhered to door.

New scraper - "German" - was a laugh; the lower tab is barely long enough to reach lip of door, let alone wrap around it

Clips were off by a good 1/8 to 1/4"

When you tried to force them in, they simply bent downwards

Not same shape/size either

Went to Always V-Dub and grabbed a few that they said were German; the middle one was actually stamped 'Made in Germany.' Too bad it was in the wrong spot on shelves and was for a Bug. Also, passenger side :P Note my original one (top) lacks the holes for the felt clips - you have to drill/cut those yourself on many of these. As far as that goes, at least the new one from Always was much more difficult to cut than the one I had been wrestling with, so a good sign.

You can see that the better ones have less slop in the slot holding the clips; they still flop a bit, but resist bending down.

The Bug one had a hole in the lower tab - do they have a screw? Better, or worse way to do it? In any case, the tab length on the new ones is a laugh.

Aside from having to cut holes in the proper places, the vent rubber was a breeze. Now if I could only find the 3 rivets I have somewhere to finish...

The part I bought initially and those from Always all had Pacific Imports stickers on them, and all were said to be German and not Brazil; Always did not have ones from Wolfsburg West or others to see who imported them or compare quality. I did note that the better outer scrapers had greyer rubber, with talcum on them, and the crappier were dark black rubber. So when buying, choose the ones with tighter clip holes and grey rubber if you are in person and not mail-order.

Also cleaned, lubed and reinstalled the door workings; latch did not always open with inner lever, as the metal sliding part's slot had been hammered just a little long over the years - common problem. I don't have a welder to fix as others have done, but peening the little bit of metal mushroomed out by years of operation, and adjusting the handle a tad, heped a great deal.

I have some fancy plastic construction housewrap I might use for the card protector; waterproof, but lets vapor pass to dry door interior. I live in the PNW, so water vapor goes everywhere anyways... only so much one can do to keep a car dry!

Once I no longer have rain rolling through this door and across cab floor, I can track down leaks from the windshield, and then get to straightening out the wiring an inept thief poked at some time back. Car is mostly functional, but there are a few dangling wires left to sort out for lights.
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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

[70bus]

Alright, progress. Sorta.
Got a rivet in but did the worst job I’ve done so far. I just couldn’t get it to squeeze right, even with a ball bearing to flare it.

Had some issues with the window racking when wound up and not meeting felt in ventwing upright properly.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=799251

But some tweaking got it… decent. I’ll put the plastic on but not door cards and see if I’m satisfied with sealing first. If not, I have a replacement regulator to swap. It would have to be a big improvement to be worth the (minor) effort, and aftermarket parts do not inspire me to take that leap of faith very often.

The scrapers didn’t fit well at ends, had machine marks, and the tabs - especially on the lower end - did not have enough depth to fold over a seam and properly seat them.

I’m going to adhere tha seal gap closed before I install door… gorilla snot and some pressure til set.


I have to say, I was not pleased with changing window seals; between not being practiced in procedure and crummy aftermarket parts, even ‘German,’ ( not to mention worn OG car) the experience was not pleasant. I have all the bits to do the passenger side but I may put that off while I decide if the horror was worth it. Might just make sure plastic fully drains door interior and let water pass on through…


On the plus side, I got a Sapphire XIX am/fm radio from blackdog1999, which seems to work just fine. As soon as weather allows I’ll put it in and see how it sounds in the bus. The original radio abruptly made hissing sounds and a ton of smoke in the middle of rush hour traffic some 30 years ago, and I’ve had no tunes since :p
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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

[TomWesty]

Got a good long laugh out of “Structural Algae” and guessed you had to be in the PNW based on that remark. Then I saw P.O. As your location and it all made sense. As for the original radio that died on you, I’ve heard that if you can gather up enough of the right kind of smoke and smoke pump, you can pump the smoke back into that radio and it will come back to life.
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If you haven't bled on them, you haven't worked on them.
Visit: www.tomcoryell.com and check out my music!

[NASkeet]

[70bus]

Nine seats total - 3 across in front, middle and rear rows. One in front is (hopefully) reserved for the driver, so 1 driver and eight passengers.

There are also 8 and 7 seaters - variations with a front walkthrough, a 2-seat middle row, or both.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/lit/71bus.php

Note the brocure big pic is an eight-seater, with a walkthrough. You could buy an accessory that made the walkthrough a seat to get 9. It also show a 2-seat middle, and a bench front. VW was pushing on its versatility for sure.
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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

[NASkeet]

[70bus]

One assumes Devon advertising did not assert that the crew rode in extreme comfort or even safety with 4-abreast seating...
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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

[mikewire]

[70bus]

[NASkeet]

[Saul Koll]

Cool!

[NASkeet]

[wcfvw69]

[lil-jinx]

or a hunger problem back then : )
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https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=620186
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=668799
1974 Bay Westfalia. she likes to be called Ethel.
1968 Dune Buggy sold dec 2024

1974 parts bus
A smart man learns from his mistakes,a very smart man learns from other's mistakes.