Dare I ask a question?

Having checked your build thread for your other bus, how will you prioritise which one will be worked on first (I assume this one would be less work to get on the road??) and will this one be slammed too.....?


Nige

Choc wrote:Brilliant, all round brilliant.

Thanks for sharing this experience with us.

Good luck with your new project.

X 2

Good luck NUTTER

AaahAaah Rockstock !!
Sure, Girl rescues don't need prep

Rob, that's an awesome find... I'm jalous
Thanks for sharing the story ! Congratulation and good luck with the resto.

Cheers
Florian

Haha
Chris that's hilarious.

I find that if you want to do something you just need to do it.
It's too easy to get lost in to much preparation.

Aye Chris

nige1171 wrote:Dare I ask a question?

Having checked your build thread for your other bus, how will you prioritise which one will be worked on first (I assume this one would be less work to get on the road??) and will this one be slammed too.....?


Nige

Hoping to use the buses as templates for each other. What the 52 has the 51 is missing and vice versa. Need to get them together and start welding.

There seems to be a lot of rumours flying around about the bus.
If you don't read it here consider it just rumours.

I am loving owning this bus . Looking forward to Ben Pon. Hoping to have it looking very different for the show (just paint). I'm spending every night picking paint with a blade. It's very slow but rewarding It's looking like there might be some reasonable original paint. It's under about 5 repaints including a Dove blue. Might be able to answer the mystery that is how the white roof was painted
I'd love the finished bus to be 100% accurate resto with the patina. No metal mods anywhere just repairs. Attention to all the nice 51 specific details.
And then...
Restored barndoor beam and gearbox shelved and a repo adjustable barndoor beam with drop spindles bolted in. Straight axle at the back turned a few splines. Like Scotty's 52. But only bolts no cuts. NO steering box raise and centre pin steering (leads to clearance cuts).
So the whole bus can be made 100% stock within a couple of hours if it should be desired.

Oh and number plate
51amba (Slamba)

Marvellous story and very well presented in this thread - I salute you for your tenacity and hard work to see this through from the initial crazy idea that it might still be out there through the regular chasing to the even crazier road trip to collect it - True bus hunting and an epic extraction. I look forward to seeing your progress

Very well done indeed!!!

Dave

Here is what I known of the history of the Samba.
The guy I brought it off believed the owner before him was the original owner who ordered it from VW directly. He must of as no barndoors were imported into Greece until 1953. But there is a lot of paint jobs on this bus so perhaps he wasn't the first? That owner used it as a School bus (like all Greek barndoors ) for a private school of 12-16 year olds. There is a law in Greece that no school bus can can be used for more than 12 years max to ensure road safety. So that put an end to the Sambas use for the school. They stored it for a while until the guy I got it from brought it in 1967. Which is also when the original engine got replaced. He described it to me as a perfectly complete samba painted white over red. Unfortunately he needed it to carry cargo. This meant it had to look like a panel van. This is when he cut the roof off level with the bottom edge of the sky windows to the front of the sunroof. He also cut some of the window pillars out (I'm not quite sure why?). He added the ambulance divide. He said he LOVED the original look and amazingly he stored the complete cut roof and original engine to the extent that he was surprised he couldn't find them for me!!! The van was registered to his business, Animal food delivery, until 1974 when he sold the business. He brought the bus out of the business contract and registered it to his new company, the restaurant at the, soon to be, campsite. It lost its number plates in 1983 when he sold the restaurant. He drove it around the campsite until 1991, when a massive dog they had which kept braking his chain broke free again. When they caught up with it it was by the bus so they tied it to the van while they went out and brought a new chain. When they got back the dog had got under the van and ripped out the wiring. That's why it was left parked up. He kept it under cover into the 90s. The campsite closed in 94 and opened again in 96 as a club. This is when it turns sour. It was located in the club car park and drunk people returning to their cars soon started throwing stones and then it all escalated. One cluber tested out his new bull bars by driving into the front. The cans started arriving and it wasn't cared for anymore. I genuinely believe this van had but a few years left before it was junked. The vandalism was really escalating. Between my visit in April and this February someone had tried to rip the quarter light off and had used a log to smash in the split screen centre pillar. Thankfully the thorn bush had probably limited some damage and the cans had stopped any arson attempts. Someone had ripped off the engine lid and front cargo door and probably tossed them into the sea.
The owner really loved this car though. Which is why he had never sold it. He told a story of two French guys who tried to buy the van 10 years ago with a plan to ship it to Brazil for a full resto in the Brazilian VW factory
He kissed and hugged it goodbye when I left and asked if possible could I return and give him a lift in it when it's done

As someone has already said, you need to write a book, this is extraordinary! Even more than your last find!, which is a book in itself! I don't know how you sleep at night, your head must be buzzing

Get better each instalment
You got a time frame to get it rolling ?

Fantastic stuff Rob
Thanks for sharing.

To know the history of the bus is so important as most have no idea.

Brilliant mate , just brilliant.

Simon.

such a shame that it was vandalised like that for no reason. Is he still looking for the roof and engine for you? If he stored it it cant have walked off it itself?

I know it is a loooonggg way but would be awesome to give a ride in it again when back on the road.

Good luck

Max Last wrote:Mine looked like that inside after Spa!

Just noticed this post.

Good work Rob! Did you take anything other than ductape with you? lol

Now don't buy any more for god's sake, and get your two sorted!

Amazing! I remember this bus from Duncan Faggs page http://eurobox-vw.com . Can't believe you tracked it down and brought it home!!! Awesome!