Are you serious? 52 pink dream

[felix ehrhardt]

So I got the inner feeling and need to start a theme about my „decent“ 52 pink (magenta to be more precise) panel…I like to support those forums we all participate from, and I‘m not that Facebook & insta guy. That gives me nearly nothing.
So were to start? Maybe nearly 20years ago were I bought this pink box thru an really oddly writen ad here on the samba.com! Live was a bit different back then, and I was way more green behind the ears and had BIG plans for the 52. Then live had other plans and other projects on hand. If you are a bit older and run that family thing you will know that for sure…

The 52 had it‘s first outing at the DFL may cruise madness just the night before the Maikäfertreffen at Hannover. We camped there in the 52, that was brillant to sleep in that bus after all that time it stood around.
So it runs now good but it‘s not completly finished. I cut some corners with paint matching to get it finally on the road, so this will be optimized over time. And no I will not paint it in an other colour There was a brillant VW ad with the subject: „You’ll never loose it in a parking lot“ That‘s here the game plus never loose it in a drone or helicopter pic!
My good friend and club mate Georg Otto wrote an super cool article about the 52 „situation“ in the hot vw‘s 07/25. Man I nearly fell over when i realised that‘s the vintage special issue…

So that‘s it for the starting point, will update the topic from time2time and show some things I done to get it on the road with IRS and so on. In real life a bit more efforrt as writen in the article.

BEST Greetings, Felix

[Scotty]

Great to see you finally driving it Felix!
_________________

[felix ehrhardt]

Hey Scotty, thank you very much man. Yeah that was a special and even cruel moment driving that old girl after all those years of owning it. That was a grin ear to ear and still is it when I see the van with that good mod colour in the barn!

The 52 is more in a state of „repaired“ than proper restored, technic is spot on I would say, but with some of the repairs from back then and some spots I repaired. Metalvise it‘s in a brilliant state for a 52, so absolute no extensive metal thread going onhere…
Good thing about that „repair“ state is I won‘t mind too much about a scratch or dent when a kid is playing next to it with a ball or so on. More relaxed ownership when it‘s not that perfect…My other car is a fully restored shiny 67, so I know the other side of it

So let‘s get back in time when it all started and go on from there.
It‘s an Oct. 52 panel which was delivered in primer thru factory. The holes for front sign were closed. It was the painted in white & bright blue (much lighter than dove blue). It has some extra holes in the dash for switches and had some things on the front roof, in the middle and to the sides. Not sure about the first state, no firevan that‘s pretty clear. There could be some signwriting or scripts on the doors, maybe some day to be explored.

The pre pre owner was Wolgang Dauer who made the conversion to pink with portholes & sidepipes cennected to a 30Ps! He really had a big thing going on with crazy colours AND sidepipes. That was like his trademark. He used this van for house repairs, an ad was found from the 90‘s. The owner after him used it as an sanitary van. Sadly I could not make contact with both of pre owners or son, tryed it some times but didn‘t work out sadly.
So here is the state nearly 20 years ago when I bought this 52. I had BIG plans for it and felt the colour was a shame and non driveable in public. Funny how we change over time. I was mid 20 back then anf studying so didn‘t have money at all… But the price was very nice, so I had to lend money & many things to make it happen. Even many parts from the van needed to be sold, like orig. crush box, brakes, 5x 52 match dated wheels, incorrect 30Ps & incorrect bumpers and so on.
Today I would have made it different for sure, but better never look back too long as you could not change that decisons made back then…

[felix ehrhardt]

I hope I don't bore you too much…

but some words about Wolfgang Dauer from Düsseldorf. He was running his own one man van club named „VW Uralt Bus-Club Wolfgang Dauer“ which was setted before 93 as the sticker only has 4 post diggits.
Trademark: Purple & pink WITH truckpipes. When I bought the 52 there was a 52 in a colour switch to mine with purple body and pink parts and truckpipes at the D pillars… and a split beetle in purple in place.

He even owned the Auwärter Carlux which was later bought by Walter Jelinek of the well known BUG-BOX in Weiden. That was the first Auwärter been shown to the VW scene at Hannover at the DFL may cruise madness and 1.may meeting afterwards. Quiet funny cause I even debuted there my ex- Dauer van…And the Auwärter and my van even confused/ horrofied some folks…
Auwärter was shown lowered and without stickers and truckerpipes, here is the before state. My 52 even had those BIG stickers all over the place which i peeled already of when it was on the trailer.

[Scotty]

History like that is never boring, so thanks for sharing it with us.

Do you still have the side pipes? Maybe they need to return
_________________

[felix ehrhardt]

Ha ha, I was thinking in the same direction last year
Those are long sold to some farm boys which hot roded their tractor with them, and they don‘t have those anymore, i checked that… ground clearance would even be a problem…
So the modded CSP super comp. has to do the job instead. That fits quiet good! I modified the endpipe routing and flated the endpipes in a vice for more barny look plus a lambda sleeve. Works!

[felix ehrhardt]

Csp super comp. Pic‘s:
Header fits good under the rear valance

Tailpipe cut

And maybe a beer too much wrong side cut…

So a beer more and bit more work and fidling around to get it symetrical again but nothing a wig couldn‘t solve! Superb Wig welding was done by my DFL clubmate Tobi!

[Touch Nicks Thing]

Love it! So glad you shared the photos and journey with us!

[Lind]

I believe that ever car has it's own highest potential existence. I would say that this bus is "living it's best life". The time when it was stock was long ago, and it had that time. Now it is much more distinct. Drive it and have fun and live your best life.
_________________
.
Wanted:
Idaho VW license plate frames or other dealership items.
VWoA literature and early dealership or distributor literature/pictures/information
.

[TRS63]

Felix, really happy to see your bus here! And what a cool story and definitely the way to go, using it instead of letting it in a Garage hoping to one day do something with it !
Tobi made great with the exhaust

Grüße,
Antoine
_________________
Antoine
My 62 ragtop daily driver:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=728873
My 914 restoration&lightweight project :
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9698432#9698432
Resurrecting a 60 ghia : https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=713906
My 52 Standard Zwitter :
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=10086685#10086685