Welcome to the resto thread of my 1960 RHD Single Cab Pickup.

I have been extremely lucky to prise this away from Tony C and I hope I can do justice to his toil in getting hold of him.

So here’s the story, in 2006 Tony heard a rumour of the SC being owned by a local coal merchant, it took until 2008 for the rumour to be confirmed, whilst filling up his Splitty in a local petrol station he was approached by the coal merchant and in conversation he mentioned that he had a split screen tucked up in his barn.

Tony was eager to view but the guy wasn’t so, to keep showing his interest Tony called into the yard every month, but had to bide his time and not be too pushy.

In February 2013 Tony’s patience and visits paid off when the coal merchant turned up at his workshop and asked if he was keen to view, he was amazed to find out that the SC was actually stored only 1 & 1/2 miles from his workshop and he had driven past it thousands of times. So Tony went to see it and a deal was struck and he became the proud owner.

The SC was built on the 10th February 1960 and delivered into England on the 18th Feb and then registered by the original owner who used it on his farm, but apparently felt sick every time he used it, the final straw came when the clutch gave way at 64,000 miles, he pushed her into a barn and that was where she was left for 40 years.

When the owner died a few years later and the farm sold the cab was still in the barn and the family never bothered with her, she was towed from one barn to her final resting place at the back corner of a barn where Tony eventually viewed her, it was nestled in amongst masses of ancient farm machinery, coal trucks & lorries, sadly open to the elements under a broken corrugated roof.

So here are a few pictures of when Tony pulled her out of the barn:-

What a fabulous Reg!
Looking forward to nestling down and reading of your progress... mmm what have I got in my stash for a 1960..

type21f wrote: ↑Mon Jun 18, 2018 11:16 am What a fabulous Reg!
Looking forward to nestling down and reading of your progress... mmm what have I got in my stash for a 1960..

Unfortunately no paperwork to link the reg and the bus but I have written to the DVLA to ask them to allow me to keep it, will see how that goes.

Let me know what you have, the SC is pretty complete, the only things I can think of at the moment is a rear lens (in two pieces but salvageable), wipers and an OG front VW badge, preferably rusty white.

So August 2013 is where my part of the story starts, we had just returned from a roadtrip around France in the bus and the engine had given up on the last stretch, I had managed to limp it home but it was toast.

So I posted a thread on here asking if anyone had an engine for sale and a message appeared from BusBug&KG saying he had one I could borrow. "Borrow?" I said, "are you sure? What if I manage to blow this one up too?” I asked. His response was "Well it would have blown up on me anyway", so I set off to High Wycombe to borrow an engine.......

I arrived at Tony's lockup or should I say treasure trove, to be met by Tony & Amanda and a wonderful selection of vehicles: Beetles, Buses, Pucks, a Karmann Ghia, the Hippy Split and, hidden in a tent, a 1960 SC. I casually asked if it was for sale, I think the answer involved no and maybe a few other words too.
From that moment on Tony and Amanda have been very good friends, I love this scene and the people you meet, I doubt there is anything else quite like it.

I had some fun keeping my Reg on my 62
Discussion topic over a beer..

Look here..

http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/registrations/hx.htm

Your two digit HX reg is one from central London..
First used with just two letters in 1930 - 1933 then from February 1960!

If it was anywhere else then you could have written to where the Vehicle records may have been stored and attempted to find more information.
But central London.....
Do you know where the Coal merchant was based?
I would try to find the local historical society to find an old photo of the sc in use in the local area.. or local newspaper or library.
Amazing what you may discover..
Maybe a simple discussion with the original owner and or family for a family photo.

If the VIN ties up with build date and projected registration date DVLA will probably be sympathetic and allow use on the SC but not transfer..
I did on my 62..

Your Reg is not shown on the DVLA Vehicle Information site

https://vehicleenquiry.service.gov.uk/ConfirmVehicle

If you ring the number and go through the enquiry process, they give very clear advce on the process to be followed
You need to ring and they will talk you through it.

You need to complete two forms
V55/5
V765
Send them in with photos of the Vehicle from several angles
Letter from the owners club verifying the age of the vehicle ah that would be the SSVC!
The suggestion is to send any PRE 1983 documents you may be able to find old log book old photo old tax disc old bills receipt anything! Search everywhere!
It may be required to be inspected by the DVLA..
Mine was by an inspector who knew lots about splitters..he walked round and said fine!
Application to

Kit & rebuild
DVLA
Swansea
SA99 1ZZ
G

Very nice.

What state is the bed in?

type21f wrote: ↑Mon Jun 18, 2018 4:04 pm I had some fun keeping my Reg on my 62
Discussion topic over a beer..

G

G, a beer discussion anytime, I’ve already applied for the registration number and V5 and the very nice Rod from VWOCGB completed the paperwork, I will take a look at your info and see if I can add anything to my application.

Who.Me? wrote: ↑Mon Jun 18, 2018 6:21 pm Very nice.

What state is the bed in?

The main bed is good, a few patches and a bit of work where it meets the bulkhead should be enough, the treasure chest floor is a different matter. Will see what we need to do if there but a maybe a complete floor could be the answer.

I met up with Tony and Manda at many SSVC events and kept in touch regularly, I’ve tried to pass on the kindness they’ve shown me by helping people out where I can.

When Tony told me he was off to Ireland and moving on some of his stash I asked if the SC was available, the answer was probably no, they were thinking of getting a farm over there and were going to use it as the farm truck. When he went over I told him to store the SC in my garage but he was having none of it, even when he was looking for transport to take over his remaining vehicles I had one more go to no avail.

Last year we decided to tour Ireland in the bus and I asked if we could call in on the two of them, we had the best time, well fed, beautiful scenery, great company and I also got chance to look at the SC, I said if he ever wanted to sell then he knew where I was.

So fast forward through autumn/winter 2017 and me and Nige Allister (nige1171) decide to import and upgrade a VW Brasilia to have a bit of fun and take to the DTA in Birmingham in October, unfortunately it arrived the week after so that bubble was burst, we decided to aim for Ninove and managed to get it done, 800 miles later she still looks good, here she is from start to finish, available for sale if anyone wants to be a little different? I’ve got an SC to restore......

And in Ninove, stripes now removed but easily replaced!

April 2018 rolls around and I spot a post on Facebook, Tony saying "those who know me will know what I have, if you are interested feel free to message me or wait for the adverts”, I couldn’t wait and I messaged Tony reminding him how I coveted that SC and if there was any chance he was selling that I was interested. We exchanged messages and spoke on the phone and the deal was done, all I had to do was fetch it from County Fermanagh!

With holidays, work, brewery (yes I part own a nano brewery, no money in it but great fun trying! www.punchlinebrewery.co.uk free delivery to any shows I attend!) May disappeared and we were into June, with the ferry booked and Ted (ted698) sorting a truck and trailer we were good to go.

Then Tony found himself in hospital, I told him we’d cancel fetching it but I’d head over for the weekend to help around the small holding, but as usual he wouldn’t hear of it and I was really pleased to see him up and around when we got there.

The 16th June came round quickly and we set off for Holyhead, all ready for a road trip; me, my son Sam, Ted & my mate Stu left Wolverhampton at 5pm, landing in Holyhead at 8ish, a comedy attempt at reversing a trailer and we dumped our bags at the travelodge and headed into town to look for food, unfortunately everywhere stopped serving at 8pm......

We found a pub with good beer and settled in, we asked the barmaid if we could bring some food in and we were allowed to eat in the beer garden, so a couple of pizzas and we were set for the evening, a few old school arcade games while the karaoke went on in the other room and we were off to bed, excited for tomorrow (well I was!)

It’s soon Saturday morning and we’re heading for the ferry, the sun is shining despite the forecast and the sea looks calm.
3 and 1/2 hours later we get to Dublin. We decide to go through the city rather than take the tunnel and pull up at a set of traffic lights, next thing BANG and someone’s driven into the empty trailer, some poor old lady obviously hadn’t spotted it......

No damage to the trailer, a little to the front of her car but she’s okay and we set off, a couple of trouble free hours later we get to Tony & Amanda’s place, as I said before what a fantastic location, 26 acres of glorious Northern Ireland countryside, part of a lake, with goats, sheep, chickens, pigeons, cats, donkey and dogs, fields of hay, sileage and a large allotment garden with all sorts of vegetables and fruit.

Amanda had organised lunch, beef burgers and we were set to not be hungry again all weekend!

I’d arranged to give Tony a hand with a few things while we were there, I’d brought new fuel lines, filter & pipe clips to replace all the pipes on his bus as well as do a service, so plugs, oil & filter, but Tony wanted us to get the SC loaded first, so we agreed to drag everything out of his barn - the first chance I’d got to see the SC for a while.

I think Tony was sad to see her go.

With the SC outside we started to give Tony a hand, he’d built a Dovecote and had fitted the body of it but couldn’t lift the roof, it took 5 of us and we still only just managed it.
Tony has some amazing skills, it fitted first time, no trouble.

So we set about his bus and got everything done, he’s not driven it for a year so it is now ready for an MOT, still required in NI!

We then got the SC on the trailer and I took a few more photos and took a good look around, it’s going to need some work but I know it’ll be worth it.