Hi All.
Thought I would start a thread on my latest project, is a 63 walk through bus that was hanging around on the samba for sale section for a while ( you will see why ). Having already done a 57 panel van resto a few years back with full paint job and having good intentions to do a thread on here that never happened I thought I should share this one.
I've had a desire to own a ratty/patina bus for several years now , so jumped in the deep end with this. The plan is a sympathetic resto keeping as much original paint/metal as possible with fully restored underside.
Due to the extent of the work required and the fact my last bus took me four years to complete with less commitments and no kids ,I handed it over to the capable hands of Matt Gill to repair/straighten out best as possible.
The project has moved on a bit now due to my laziness starting the thread, so I will keep uploading some of the progress to keep you all entertained
Cheers Lee.

Ooooo new toy like it Lee, keep them updates coming.

Love the profile image conscious pictures...
This projection has sprintstars... whilst this has one has chromed 365s...
LoL.
Some challenging corrosion..
Another one being rescued..
G

Wondered what happened to this, saw it at the docks when I collected my razor

Cheers Bren ,some great work you have done on your own van, love the new interior.
Susta. I guess you have seen the full extent of the damage
I will update a little tomorrow all been well .
Cheers Lee.

Evening all.
After purchasing the bus from the usa and sending it on it's way across to the the uk I was searching on the samba forum one night and came across photos of a Abandoned bus in the desert of New Mexico, on closer inspection I found it to be the very same bus I had purchased .
After posting on the samba forum regarding the bus another member sent some photos of when he visited the bus himself to see if he considered it worth saving, which he didn't.
Here are the photos he took A few more to follow

Ok. A few more photos of the bus in it's resting place.
And finally a photo I found of the bus been rescued The next instalment will be January this year when the bus had it's turn down at Matt Gills for repairs/welding

Cheers Lee.

At last a long overdue update on the progress .
Back in January I delivered the bus to Matt Gill Restorations for a little love it deserves. The brief was to remove as little original metal as possible.
The work started at the front of the bus where a previous owner had cut the front panel off. So cutting started and we ended up with this The front chassis leg was slightly damaged, so the cut that came with the bus was fitted along with new front crossmember,a pillar repair panels and inner and outer front valance, headlight kickpanel and some front tub repairs Then the ill fainted front panel that had been used as target practice and then cut off was grafted back on Also a couple of front panel repairs So this pretty much sorted the front,apart from welding the bullet holes up. Next onto the cab area.

Cheers Jim.
Roll on Vic Farm, resto of the year

So now the front had taken shape ,it was time for the cab area to be repaired with a mixture of new and secondhand panels.
The front panel cross member and heater tube y piece had taken a beating so this was repaired with a second hand panels while the front panel was still off
The dash was pretty beaten also ,so Matt sourced a replacement and grafted the necessary section onto the bus which will be paint blended in at a later stage. Also a new cab floor and some small patches to tubs and drivers a pillar. Next stage was to move onto the cargo area, remove remains of the cargo floor and bulkhead panel between rear wheel tubs.
Then the sills both sides So with pile of panels from Scholfield Matt fired up his welder !
So in went the floor and rear bulkhead panel and inner tub repairs The long sill inner and outer with pillar bottoms Cargo door sills, rear quarter bottom and pillar bottom Also rear of front seat tub repaired in cargo area. So by this stage to say I was pleased was a understatement Starting to see a solid bus again
Respect to Matt Gill doing a great job.
More to follow

That is absolutely brilliant. Please keep updating this thread. Looking forward to seeing future progress

I'm liking this thread

Progress being made..
keep up the postings..
G

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