Decided it was time to show you all my Samba! Had her 4 years now and after LOTS of hardwork, sweat and heartache, she's nearly finished!


Bought her from Texas, off the US ebay in July of 2003 after having had her checked out by a kind person off thesamba.com and seeing plenty of pics. Arranged all the shipping and on arrival was well chuffed (was slightly worried waiting for her to arrive!)

She was pretty much complete with boxes of all the bits missing including a few nice suprises such as an original westy rack in pieces and all the bumper trims etc.
She'd sat for a while with a leaking sunroof so the cargo floor and cab floors were a bit rotten and all the interior was rotten. Underneath however was completely rust free with no underseal or anything



After a few weeks I'd completely stripped her and it was time to attack the rust.


A friend of the family fitted a new cargo floor, new cab floor sections, new inner and outer sill and various other liitle patches here and there. Was really pleased with the results and sent her off to get her sandblasted on the advice of the bloke who was going to spray her (another friend of my dads)........BIG MISTAKE!!!!
Although the sandblaster said he'd done a camper before and various other vehicles and that he knew what he was doing....he clearly didn't!
This is what waited me when he'd dropped it off at the sprayers!



To say I was gutted was an understatement! He'd blasted at such a high pressure and at such a sharp an angle that it generated that much heat, the panels warped. I'm not gonna dwell on it too much.....whether I was stupid to even think he would be able make a good job using sand and not a different media is upto you, I've heard lots of different opinions since then. It still turns my stomach even thinking about it 3 1/2 years later. Quite possibly the worst moment of my life so far

After this there was lots of uming and ahing as to what to do. A friend I'd met through the Castawayz vw club, Adam Speak took pitty on me and offered to do his best to sort it out. With the help of his mate Phil and some new Creative sides (no Autocraft back then), new doors etc and a few months work, it was looking like a proper bus again I owe so much to those 2 guys, I really do


After a few months of not much happening I lost interest and it sat for a few more months until about this time last year. I got myself a new girlfriend (Alice) who had a dream of waking up in a Splitty in the Lake District, my interest picked up a bit and I decided that it couldn't sit like that for a whole winter so I pulled my finger out, finished off a few bits of filling that needed doing and it was booked in for paint on Nov 30th.


After spending ages deciding on the colours I opted for her original colours, Titian Red/ Beige Grey. A real classy colour scheme in my opinion

While she was away I made use of the time by restoring and polishing various bits and by stripping the engine, giving everything a once over, fitting a pair of 36 Delloro's and tarting it up a bit.


As usual, things took longer than they should and I finally picked the shell up on Jan 10th with the doors etc to follow a few months down the line after being messed about quite a bit.



Every spare minute was now spent on the build up and after all this time she was finally starting to take shape

Next job....get her up and running. I roped in Alice for company and we made a hell-like journey down to Chelsford to Richard Morena who re-wired her, balanced the carbs and got her running!



Next on the list was the good old MOT and registering. As things always seem to go wrong I had a puncture the day before my first MOT so it was re-scheduled, during this time a rear wheel cylinder gave up, so I got out my manual and replaced all the rear brake parts. MOT day came again and after some front brake adjusting and a nice MOT man, she passed. Popped off to the DVLA afterwards and registered her no problemo.
Ended up replacing the front brakes too after anothe dodgy wheel cyclinder!

Various other nightmare scenario's occured including sticking carbs, broken windscreens etc.

Next on the list....interior! I'd booked her in with Vaughan Green in Feb for the 26th May. Due to Vaughans workload this kept getting delayed and delayed. I was getting more and more ...... off but hung in there, hoping it'd be worth the wait. After pretty much missing the whole of the show season, she was finally ready for collection on the 15th September.
Was it worth the wait?.....you decide!














Personally I was well chuffed Definitely worth the wait and the cost. Vaughan and Tim at Classic Custom and Retro really are the dog danglies.

A few more weeks of tweaking various things and adding the finishing touches including a dvd headunit connected to the tv, 2 amps and subs under the bed, a leisure battery, secondary fusebox and power inverter and she's looking good.

Last week I finally got her running right too. Took her to Peter Burgess' rolling road in Alfreton, Derby, had a 123 Electronic Dizzy fitted and had her set up on the rolling road. The new dizzy made a hell of a difference and she now runs sweet as. She's not gonna be hitting the 1/4 mile with her 1600 and reduction boxes but I'm more than happy with life in the slow lane....for now


Well done for getting this far, I've been waffling a bit but I'm well chuffed with her and this last week I've used her loads and have really fallen in love with her Cant wait for next years show season so I can actually get to use her.

its ok i suppose

Real nice classic resto...

Another great bus in Derby, best get my finger out with mine.

Nice work there, looking good for a stocker and loving the interior - you should be very happy
Look forward to seeing it at a show for a proper gander.

Orb

Very nice indeed, looks great!

Top draw bus awesome

awesome work there i think she could be a show stopper. Anyway who needs a cooker when you have a TV

That,s one hell of a nice bus m8ty ..................Nice one

sweet sweet bus

"Well done there mate...very nice"

he said with a deep sigh, as he looked over his shoulder and thru the window at a very large blue tarpaulin!

Thats well nice ! Top job you've done there jimi,well worth the wait,look forward to seeing it next season mate,well done

A bus dreams are made of.
Fantastic work and I'm really liking those colours

stunning


those guys really do know how to do interiors!!!!

Steve

Its a beauty, you done a nice job there m8 and keeping it stock too