VW dream

[firemedic]

I lack the infrastructure at home right now but my dream is to restore a split-window VW camper. Anyone who has driven a VW bus knows they're a lot of fun.

[EL34]

Never had a camper, but I was a huge VW nut at one time.

I had a (65?) rag top VW van with all the little green windows around the rag top.
I loved that van.
Someone borrorwed it, loaded it with gravel and broke the frame/floor pan.
That sucked!

Mine was green paint on the lower section



Also had about 15 beetles and 2 Karmann Ghia's
Used to fix em up and sell them
The Karmann Ghia's were my favorites.

Loved the 1966 era because the Ghia's had the rear axles with CV joint axles which made them handle way better than the solid swing axles.

I tore down a 66 Ghia, dechromed it, filled all the body holes, solid black rubber gaskets on all the glass, painted it white, custom T bumpers, Empi 8 spoke rims, 4 wheel disk brakes, lowered the suspension, custom shocks, full wood interior, custom dash, new carpet, new seat covers, Dual weber carbs on a bored/stroked engine, and a bunch more custom stuff.
Drove my custom Ghia on a 2000 mile vacation trip and back and forth to work every day for a long time.
Eventually, I wanted air conditioning (Florida) and got a S-10 pickup

[Ritchie200]

Eventually, I wanted air conditioning (Florida) and got a S-10 pickup

Wow!  Talk about a letdown!  I thought you were going to say you traded it in on a 911Turbo!  Ghia's were way cool.

Jim

[PRR]

> Anyone who has driven a VW bus knows they're a lot of fun.

Hmmmm... a clipper ship goes faster and does less tacking in the wind.

OTOH: there's only one hose off the gas tank, and no pump "in" the tank. I'm trying to fix a 1991 Chevy K2500, have found SIX hoses so far, plus wires, to drop the 34 gallon tank to get at the fuel pump. (Yes, lifting the pickup bed may be easier.)

[billcreller]

I changed the pump and sender assembly on my '92 Chevy pickup.  Dropping the tank was not too bad, since it had only about 4 gallons in it when the pump failed.

[bigsbybender]

Here are 3 that I've restored. I have 2 more convertibles in progress and a Ghia roadster in parts.

[stingray_65]

My best Bud is a total VW nut.

Besides his fully restored 62 Beetle he has an old 57 Karmman Ghia thats about 90% finished.

If I remember his story right he pulled it out of some woods in Oklahoma, twiddled with it a few days, thew a few pillows on the seat frames and drove it here to Michigan

I get requests from him all the time for odd ball tools to do body work, like a 8"long  delrin hammer with a 75 mm face tapering to a 10mm dome.

We've built 2 english wheels, bead roller, shrink/stretcher stand. The list goes on.

I'll post a few pics when I get home tonight, I'm near Louisville,KY in southern Indiana and going to sleep in my bed tonight for the first time in 2 weeks

[EL34]

I kept the Ghia a long time after getting the S10 with AC
Florida and AC are a great combo

Ghia's sitting in 90+ florida stop and go traffic suck

Eventually sold it to my Snap-On Tool guy.

I'll try and find some pics
It was before the digital days and so I would have to scan a print.

[bigsbybender]

I used to cruise a 71' Baywindow VW bus. My brother found the key and took it out when I was at work one night. I got off work, went home and noticed the bus was gone. The next thing I knew I got a call from a friend that a VW bus was on fire in front of a Hardees and he was wondering if it was mine. I went out to the garage and sure enough it was gone. So I drove to the nearest Hardees, I could see acrid smoke 6 blocks away, at that time I knew it was done for. The police had to hold me back so I didn't murder him.

I had said that it had a leaky fuel pump and I had ordered a new one but it hadn't arrived yet. He was evidently trying to impress some wannabe-hippie chick so he took it, claimed it was his....and destroyed it.

I'd love to have that bus back, I still have the replacement fuel pump that arrived two days later (after almost 15 years).

That bus was fun. The Bays are more stable than splits to drive, but the splits have that great look.

j.

[Madison]

Basically learned to drive on a badly rusted out 73 Bus in the "hippy" sticks part of Maine in the early 80s.
(Yes,back then there were true hippies still escaping from society up there .Good times)
Sloppiest stick I've ever felt and the handling was to die for.....and you might!
Made every other car seem like a dream to drive.
Had bugs, square-backs, etc. in the family down through the years.
Veedubs always brings back fond memories.
Anybody owned "The Thing"?

[firemedic]

I KNEW you guys would understand!
My 1st car, in 1993, was a '71 bus. Once with a full load of hollering passengers, the side door fell off right there on the road. I just circled around & put it back on. Good times.

[EL34]

Was able to dig up a few old color photos of my prized 66 Ghia.
Had to scan them because it was before the digital camera came about.

When I got it back from the paint shop, to save some money, I installed the cheesy 5 spoke hubcaps shown in two of the pics below.

Later on I sprung for the EMPI 8 spoke rims and they looked great!
The bottom image is the only imge I could find with the Empi rims.
Not sure why the front T-bar bumpers are not on the car in that pic?
Looks like I had some sort of fancy mirrors outside but I don't remember what they were.
Turn signals behind the two front grills.
Solid back rubber gaskets, no body chrome.
All body holes were welded and filled

I could not find any pics of the interior or the motor
Both were done up really nice
Custom wood dash, door panels and rear panels
Full array of really nice gauges on the dash
New carpet, seat covers and head liner
Killer T handle shifter (don't remember the brand)

The motor was bored/stroked dual weber carbs with an alternator upgrade.
Aluminum fan housing, etc
Colored accents

[EL34]

Also found a pic of my old ragtop window van in my apartment parking lot

[firemedic]

Man these pics are awesome. Its giving me the "bug"!

I'll just be keeping my day job.....

[tubenit]

Had a '67 beetle with centrifigal distributor, ram induction manifold, EMPI short throw shifter, Holley 2 barrel ..........

It was baby blue.  Fun car.  I originally had a 4 track tape player in it, then an 8 track, then an audio cassette player. Very light weight car. Not very good in crosswinds.

with respect, Tubenit

[jojokeo]

Love the "folksvaagen" stories! A german ladyfriend told me how to correctly say it back in the day. The V is an f sound and w is a V sound. My brother and dad were the mechanics in those days and would have an engine apart down to the nuts, bolts, and screws soaking in gas filled coffee cans. I'd wake up the next morning and the car would be running again after they'd spent the night putting it all back together again. Fond memmories. We had a'68 bug 3-speed automatic (or auto-shift?) w/out the clutch. The commercials for that one was a guy in a body cast escaping the police and all he could do/or had to do was leave it in 3rd grear and take off. 
Another one was when we had a '70 van and dad drove us up to Oregon from SoCal w/ a bad rear axle bearing or something. We had to stop every hundred or so miles so he could tighten up the nut and put the kotter pin back in to hold the darn wheel on. My mom hated every second of that trip complaining and scared the whole time! During this trip we had "crisis at the fruit stand" but that's another story. My favorite memory of that van was learning to drive a stick shift with it when I had my learner's permit at 15 1/2, taking it out by myself "to practice" at a local school yard and doing nothing but donuts and power slides with it on the grass at night time so no one would see.

[bigsbybender]

Doug, that van is worth a LOT of money now. 21 Window Ragtop, perhaps the most desirable VW out there!

Another one was when we had a '70 van and dad drove us up to Oregon from SoCal w/ a bad rear axle bearing or something. We had to stop every hundred or so miles so he could tighten up the nut and put the kotter pin back in to hold the darn wheel on. My mom hated every second of that trip complaining and scared the whole time!

That's caused by the Splines in the cast iron brake drum wearing out. It is repaired by replacing the drum, I found that out the hard way when I was a teenager. I still remember that the torque spec is 217 FT/LBS for that 36mm nut.

[EL34]

Doug, that van is worth a LOT of money now. 21 Window Ragtop, perhaps the most desirable VW out there!

Yeah, I bet it is.

I loaned it to some friends to "haul some stuff", is what they said.
Come to find out they loaded it with a bunch of gravel and broke one of the two frame beams.

After I got it back I was pissed.

The center of the van would flex up and down when stepping on the gas or braking.
It was a chore to get it to stay in gear because the shift linkage was being pulled as the body flexed.
I remember sistering a 2x4 to the beam with bailing wire and chewing gum. 

Several times, I drove that van over the old Sunshine skyway bridge (the one that fell down) on the way to Tampa, FL

It was a 36 horse motor.
I would have to go down to first gear to get over the hump of the bridge.
In was a bit scary to drive in high winds.