Post by Volktales on Dec 7, 2014 22:32:48 GMT -8
I am sure most of us have got rid of a VW, that years later we wish we had kept it. I have only let a few leave my grasp, but have only regretted one so far...
The first one to leave was a 1973 passenger bus. I bought this for a whopping $100 as a parts vehicle to go with my first bus, the 1974 orange Riviera Camper. The '73 was in very poor shape and had been towed to an impound lot and left there to rot. It was complete, but full of garbage on the inside and had not run for some time. The lack of running was due to the distributor coming loose and popping up off the drive. I actually drove it around the parking lot at work a bit which revealed a noisy rod bearing and howling transmission. Still this bus donated a good engine case, distributor, dashboard, glass, and a few other bits and pieces. Dad cut the roof off for metal for his various projects. Didn't feel too bad when this wreck was scrapped, but knowing what I know now, I should have kept the front axle and trans for core value. Did keep the gas heater which also worked! No pictures where taken of this beauty...
The next to leave was a parts car bought to fix the parts car for my first '66 Beetle. Yes you read that right...
This was found in a back alley by a friend of a friend who was good at sniffing out interesting scrap metal to make a few extra bucks. It arrived missing various parts but still had a lot to offer. I think it was among the best $150 I spent. I ended up using the gas tank, hood, front apron, deck lid, shift knob, one wheel, and several smaller parts to restore my "other" 1966 parts car. The picture shows the car after I washed off a lot of green slime so it looked a bit respectable. It looked good enough from a distance that a Granny walking by yelled at me for wrecking a nice old Beetle! This car had heater channels that were more fibreglass then metal and lots of expanding foam in structural areas (that works great....). Again I didn't feel too guilty about cutting it up. The roof was donated to my Dad's hot rod buddy and parts of it ended up in a 1941 Willys coupe!
This 1972 Ghia was spotted on Used Nanaimo. I had seen this car sitting on axle stands in a driveway on Bruce Avenue near 8th street for many years. I had no interest in a 1972 Ghia with Autostick, but knew someone who might. My friend Brian had recently acquired a decent '72 Ghia, but needed stock style seats. And I owed Brian because he redid the interior on my red Dorper camper.... And this Ghia had a MINT interior. For $250 it was mine. The car was one of those "running when parked" cars. The owner decided to change the oil one day and removed the strainer and drained the oil. Then let it sit for years... As you might guess, moisture got inside and seized the engine nicely. Don't do this. The chassis was not too bad, but the body was terrible, a victim of accident damage and poor quality repairs. The inner structure of the front end was fragile with rampant rust. I was able to salvage the complete interior, glass, doors, hood, and chassis. The engine was filled with diesel and left to sit. Surprisingly this worked as a few months later it began to turn. The automatic stick shift was offered up for free, but no takers, so was given up for scrap. The chassis ended up with Reagh eventually and Mark acquired the doors and hood. The rest was given to Brian to assist in his restoration... Again, a worthwhile purchase... Parts cars can be very useful for your projects.
Now for those I sold...
This was my first real Westfalia, and was a 1977. I found it when getting my '74 Restfalia's propane stove inspected at a RV dealer. $400 and I became the owner of a fairly solid mostly original paint Westy with a non-running engine with its rockers and lifters lying in a pile on the floor... So why did I want this??? Too be continued...
My friend Brian wanted a bus for ages as he as he owned several desirable VW's in his past including a 1958 Westfalia. I figured with this one we would buy it and fix it up together. He could buy me out if he wanted to keep it, or we could sell it and split the profit. He agreed and the purchase was made. The first step was to see if it would run... It was taken off the road due to what sounded like a very noisy lifter according to the previous owner. I substituted a spare set I had lying around and tried to fire it up. It cranked very slowly but eventually sputtered into life. A short life however because it sounded like the mother of all lifter noise. Upon disassembly it turned out one rod bearing was so bad, that the piston was actually hitting the bottom of the head! The slow cranking was due to main bearings full of metal debris from the disintegrating rod bearing. A used crank from the pile at work with rods still attached was the solution, as the rest of the engine was undamaged. We later sprung for new heads as well. Then a lack of time and enthusiasm followed. Meanwhile I was becoming less happy with the dual-carbed 1800 in my orange '74 Restfalia. As Brian and I were getting little accomplished, I decided to buy out his share and swipe the complete fuel injected drivetrain from the project '77. In the end I took the engine, transmission, all injection components, trans support bar, fuel tank, throttle cable, and anything else I could think of relevant to convert my '74 to fuel injection. It turns out I forgot the throttle pedal bellcrank, as that was different too. And I also took the plaid seatcovers from this bus and swapped them for the dull ones from my bus. Then a customer came in looking for a solid shell to transfer all his mechanicals into. "Have I got a deal for you!" I said. I told him $200 for the bus and he was pleased with what he got, particularly when I packed it FULL of extra interior parts I needed to get rid of. Don would have cried with joy had I known him then... The '77 was reborn again and the new owner had it painted two tone black and white. It went through a few owners after this and still resides in Nanaimo today and is used in the summer.
You would think Brian and I would have learned our lesson the first time, but NO we didn't... A few years later we couldn't resist buying another white 1977 campervan, although this one was something special. One of our customers decided to part with his old bus, one that he had owned many years and took it with him when he moved from France to Canada. This was a full on European spec bus featuring a stock dual port 1600, very low "Alpine" geared transmission, no marker lights, Euro spec headlights, no opening vent windows, stock fog light switch and wiring, and a funky homemade camping interior. The body had a lot of welding done to it, but seemed solid enough in the important areas. The engine was very tired however and this is why the customer wanted to sell. For $500 it was purchased and the engine was yanked out immediately.
The engine stripdown revealed many nasties and much wear. Except the crank was near perfect. Everything else sucked and the case was originally found in a fuel-injected bug, so had no hole for the fuel pump. Frank was later given that case for one of his many big engine projects. I lucked out and found that a buddy of my boss had acquired a '71 bus for scrap that included a "good" engine. For $100 it was mine as well as anything else I could scavenge from the bus. The truck was full when I left... The engine did turn out to be OK and I used it as a base to build a decent engine. Once again as this stage was completed, Brian and I found more interesting things to do than dealing with the rusting bus. Once again I bought him out...The bus sat behind the shop for some time... I also got my hands on another bus around this time and ended up doing a resto on that one (the '72 Dorper camper). Once that was done it was time to decide what to do with the French bus. Then another bus became available to me and I couldn't say no (to be described later...) So the French bus continued to sit doing nothing until someone I knew expressed an interest to buy it as an unfinished project if I could make it driveable first. This was agreed to and the rebuilt engine was installed, brakes fixed up, and electricals made to work again. It ran and drove well, but still needed a lot of work to restore. The next owner did a lot of modifications to it that some liked, and some did not. When he became bored with it, he sold it to John who did MAJOR work to it to bring it up to a very nice standard. I am glad that worked out well in the end.
After two failures to complete a project together, you would think Brian and I were smarter. Uh, no. We bought our final project, yet another '77 bus, this time a Taiga green Westfalia, loaded with equipment. This one was an unusual find because I didn't go looking for it, it came to me. One day it showed up at the shop, left outside with the keys in the ignition. Judging by the green slime on it, this was not a runner. Usually the customer will phone in telling what they want done with the vehicle, but not this time. We pushed it inside the fence, where it sat. For months. Eventually a customer recognised it and knew the owner. He finally called, stating "I brought it in to get it fixed up, but now I am leaving the country and don't want it. Just keep it". That was the last we ever heard from him. It was going to be parted out but I did some investigating and decided I wanted it. Amazingly I found a signed off transfer form buried inside and registration papers. And an out of province inspection sheet detailing what it failed on. Apparently the previous owner never bothered to fix it or register it either. ICBC was happy with the transfer form and papers and it could be mine provided I could make it pass inspection. I asked my boss how much he wanted for the whole bus and he muttered $500 for the parts he was interested in value. SOLD! I said, and once again became the owner of a real Westy.
This bus was a real find with lots of history. Sold new in New York, this was the top model available with everything including the tent. And the tent was still hiding in the back of the bus too! There were receipts inside from all across the US and Canada. It was pretty solid in most places, and was almost all original paint too. The bus's last trip was a drive from Ontario and I suspected it might run. After cleaning the points, charging the battery, and fiddling with the alarm system, it started right up! I did the minimum work to pass a safety inspection, and low and behold, I owned another bus. Again despite best intentions, Brian and I never finished this one either. I didn't want to sell it at all, but someone I know kept bugging me until I caved in and sold it for what I basically had invested in it. Through another complicated trade that I don't want to talk about, this bus ended up with my friend Steve who will hopefully fix it all up one day. This is the one VW I do regret selling as Taiga green has always been my favourite late bus colour, and this example had a very nice original and complete interior too. At least Steve has no intention of hacking it all up like others have done...