"Pre Cal Look" era VW Transporter...would you dare to build one these days?

[Jim Ratto]

Saw a nice 21 window Microbus on the 118 freeway, done up much like the DKP "Mother" bus from the late Sixties, big fat tires, mags, and rear fenders cut out to clear the fat rear tires. From every angle it looked super cool. Wish I had a camera in the car this morning!
So this begs the question.... would you build one? In this era of "preserving our resources" and the blasphemy of doing cosmetic surgery on an early Bus, could you raise the kinfe and make a Bus like this? I wish I had a picture to convey how cool it looked.
Personally, as much as I dislike early T2's and swimming downstream, I'd take great pleasure in upsetting all the purists. Those Firestone Wide Ovals would look great on some Ansen mags stuffed in the (cut) rear wells.
Light the flames. 

[Dave Galassi]

Jim, I've got a Muntz 8track in the garage and a sawzall........................There's a bad moon on the rise............................

[TexasTom]

With ALL of the retro and nostalgia builds people do nowadays, its hard to believe someone somewhere hasn't exploited an example found behind some old, abandoned fuel station half buried in a field of tall grass just off the main highway where it dropped a valve and was never recovered.
They intended to return and retrieve it, but the hitch they caught took them beyond their intended destination where perhaps an even higher state of mind repeatedly pushed the transporter farther and farther back in the list of to-dos until finally it simply became a memory fondly recounted when old friends assemble.
 
TxT

[speedwell]

 

[Jim Ratto]

The '67 and earlier T2's I've owned/worked on/driven have all been (with one notable exception!) been a bit death trappy to drive. The exception was Dave Galassi's crew cab, the white one with BMW rack/pinion and FI motor. It drove like a fast Vanagon.
My dad and I had a very very nice (more so mechanically than cosmetically) '59 pickup that we bought from original owner, I built a 94 x 74 with Denham 40 x 35 VW heads, small Scat cam (C35) and Weber44's ............ to haul furniture, recycling, parts of other VW's..etc. It was fast, if you could get it to hook up. Traction wasn't a wrod in it's vocabulary. Ever seen 150hp at work through reduction boxes and swingaxle?
But it sure was refreshing to see this 21 window rolling nice and high and proud, not the usual slammed sled skateboarding and pogo-sticking along. The wide tires sealed the deal. It was an early bus I actually liked.

[bugnut68]

I say go for it... it would be totally worth it to watch the bus guys' heads explode. lol.  My thought: "It's just a VW."

[Tony M]

Hey Jim,
Would be a fun project except: Have you seen the prices on split window buses. A P.O.S. is going for no less than $4.500. WTF !

[danny gabbard]

Kinda funny, Thanks to the guys that cut them up, Turned into a pretty good product for me . Funny part, My good friend randy about had to force me to make them ! Who knew. If ya want to see some die hard guy's restore'n old cars, Look at the barndoor forum' on The Samba. Guy's are pull'n up stuff that had been in the bottom of a lake for 30 years and restore'n them. Gotta love the VW hobbie !!

[RobtheManx]

Well this small grainy pic is me in the process of shortying a 58 combi less than 10 years ago .  I'll admit , I kind of regret doing this now , but chopping the arches out is small fry in comparison . I would do it , you've got to be brave to be different !

Rob

[hotrodsurplus]

aww hellz yes I would! It's funny how we used to think that cut wells and vents were the end of the world but man that's nothing compared to what I see people do to slam a bus. New wells and vents are a weekend repair if you know how to bang tin.

The first shot in the wreckabus theme: to do the job justice you'd have to start with a panel. Do an early ball beam with late discs redrilled for 4 1/2 pattern. Late rear drums redrilled for 4 1/2 pattern. As-cast 15x5 and 15x8.5 Torq Thrusts. Hurst 5.60-15 recaps on 165 carcasses and grooved 28 3/4 X7 1/2-15s pie crusts (radials that look just like better looking bias-ply tires? What's not to love about that?). The taller tire would make the bus actually decent to drive on the freeway and let you decamber the rear to about 2 degrees negative to kill some of the death trappiness. Find yosef a pair of Miller Havens fiberglass flairs and scoops and feel good about whacking the wells.

Build a thick-wall 2180 with a 110 cam and a single Zenith on a plenum manifold. Get a Thunderbird standard header (1 1/2) and run a single 1 3/4" pipe with a glasspack.

Spray bomb the wheel centers gold and lay up the body in Corvette Ontario Orange. Then have someone like Steve Stanford (who lives to see the day vans come back) hand-letter Orange Sunshine down the side in gold leaf with a flake-brown border.   

Man, that would put all those faggy straight-axle jobs to serious shame. Hang in the right circles and a bus like that could get one of these.

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[modnrod]

Hang in the right circles and a bus like that could get one of these.

Come on man, what are you thinking.
Then all you'd hear is, "Does this have aircon, it's hot in here", and "Does my bum look big in this?".

[bugnut68]

Hang in the right circles and a bus like that could get one of these.

Come on man, what are you thinking.
Then all you'd hear is, "Does this have aircon, it's hot in here", and "Does my bum look big in this?".

Truth...lol.

[Catbox]

I have seen these styled busses reffered to as "Jersey Look".
 

[hotrodsurplus]

Hang in the right circles and a bus like that could get one of these.

Come on man, what are you thinking.
Then all you'd hear is, "Does this have aircon, it's hot in here", and "Does my bum look big in this?".

Truth...lol.

Oh is it? This is what my wife drives:

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Well, I should say that's what she HAS. It's been in paint jail for the past few years. Tip: Never ever paint a car. She's actually quite steamed that she doesn't get to drive it.

And no, it's not something I wanted her to have. In fact she's done a ton of the work to it.
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You suckers just don't know how to pick wimmens. Sorry for the thread hijack but I couldn't help it.

[johnl]

Jim, I've got a Muntz 8track in the garage and a sawzall........................There's a bad moon on the rise............................

I've got a few Muntz 8 track players in the garage in storage.  Also countless 4 and 8 track tapes.  Think I kiped Sarge's 5th Dimension collection of some years back.  I suppose now he'll want them back...   Further thoughts I may have traded him as he wanted Christie's Four Top stuff so he could learn to get rhythm like Stan Davis did on the dance floor........

[Jim Ratto]

John tell us about Rick Meissner's Bus from the golden era.....

[johnl]

aww hellz yes I would! It's funny how we used to think that cut wells and vents were the end of the world but man that's nothing compared to what I see people do to slam a bus. New wells and vents are a weekend repair if you know how to bang tin.

The first shot in the wreckabus theme: to do the job justice you'd have to start with a panel. Do an early ball beam with late discs redrilled for 4 1/2 pattern. Late rear drums redrilled for 4 1/2 pattern. As-cast 15x5 and 15x8.5 Torq Thrusts. Hurst 5.60-15 recaps on 165 carcasses and grooved 28 3/4 X7 1/2-15s pie crusts (radials that look just like better looking bias-ply tires? What's not to love about that?). The taller tire would make the bus actually decent to drive on the freeway and let you decamber the rear to about 2 degrees negative to kill some of the death trappiness. Find yosef a pair of Miller Havens fiberglass flairs and scoops and feel good about whacking the wells.

Build a thick-wall 2180 with a 110 cam and a single Zenith on a plenum manifold. Get a Thunderbird standard header (1 1/2) and run a single 1 3/4" pipe with a glasspack.

Spray bomb the wheel centers gold and lay up the body in Corvette Ontario Orange. Then have someone like Steve Stanford (who lives to see the day vans come back) hand-letter Orange Sunshine down the side in gold leaf with a flake-brown border.   

Man, that would put all those faggy straight-axle jobs to serious shame. Hang in the right circles and a bus like that could get one of these.

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The photo of the Type II looks like a Deluxe as it appears to have a "crotch" cooler built in........

[johnl]

John tell us about Rick Meissner's Bus from the golden era.....

Ah yes, Mother's Bus....  Well beyond that one there were three others of the era I remember.  Not in any order was Ron (eye can't see you) Bremlow's rather attractive two tone green unit.  Then of course there was The MASS' (aka Doug Gordon) white bus that was the two vehicle for the Dog.  Later he updated and purchased a '72 Type II but those are different stories.  Last of course would be everyones favorite the Stan Davis Toilet.

Of the four mentioned I guess Mother's would be the flashiest.  You could hear him coming with a wheel a hopping as he made the turn onto Chestnut St. in front of the DKP Club House.  The photo with the Porsche style chromies and caps was shot in the parking lot across from the Club House.  Note the logos on the caps.  He copied my idea of taking a DKP decal (for you youngies, a "decal" predates a "sticker"), trimming the outer verbage off and using it as a center piece for the cap.  The trick was to get them applied correctly as the cap had a roundness and decals don't work well in that format.  None the less Ricky Bob (Billy Bob's younger and smarter brother) made it work.  I'd forgotten the Anchor Headers lettering on the rear and of course those rare Walker front wheels.

We always seemed to use the Mother Bus as the club's center piece for our Bug-in Displays.  Thinking back I don't know if I ever took a ride in it but had many a mile logged in the MASS unit.

In recent times Rick has made overtures of getting another first gen Bus.  I hope he does and I know he'd do it justice.

[Jim Ratto]

Were the vans typically hot rodded too?

[Zach Gomulka]

Couldn't do it. Just because it was done "back in the day" doesn't mean it was a good idea.

[hotrodsurplus]

The photo of the Type II looks like a Deluxe as it appears to have a "crotch" cooler built in........

If that cools your crotch then, well...you might be battin' for the wrong team. 

It's definitely a camper because it has a flip seat.

[johnl]

The photo of the Type II looks like a Deluxe as it appears to have a "crotch" cooler built in........

If that cools your crotch then, well...you might be battin' for the wrong team. 

It's definitely a camper because it has a flip seat.

Think about it.  I'm speaking of the photo with the girl and no close.  "crotch cooler".  My comment had nothing to do with the bus but well you should be able to figure that one out.

[hotrodsurplus]

The photo of the Type II looks like a Deluxe as it appears to have a "crotch" cooler built in........

If that cools your crotch then, well...you might be battin' for the wrong team. 

It's definitely a camper because it has a flip seat.

Think about it.  I'm speaking of the photo with the girl and no close.  "crotch cooler".  My comment had nothing to do with the bus but well you should be able to figure that one out.

Uhhh...John that's what I'm talking about too. If she 'cools' your crotch then you're probably batting for the wrong team. You might have to break the news to Christie. And so on. Make more sense? 

[johnl]

The photo of the Type II looks like a Deluxe as it appears to have a "crotch" cooler built in........

If that cools your crotch then, well...you might be battin' for the wrong team. 

It's definitely a camper because it has a flip seat.

Think about it.  I'm speaking of the photo with the girl and no close.  "crotch cooler".  My comment had nothing to do with the bus but well you should be able to figure that one out.

Uhhh...John that's what I'm talking about too. If she 'cools' your crotch then you're probably batting for the wrong team. You might have to break the news to Christie. And so on. Make more sense? 


Interpretation, it made perfect sense to me as she has the cooler, once again, interpretation.....

[bugnut68]

Hang in the right circles and a bus like that could get one of these.

Come on man, what are you thinking.
Then all you'd hear is, "Does this have aircon, it's hot in here", and "Does my bum look big in this?".

Truth...lol.

Oh is it? This is what my wife drives:

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Well, I should say that's what she HAS. It's been in paint jail for the past few years. Tip: Never ever paint a car. She's actually quite steamed that she doesn't get to drive it.

And no, it's not something I wanted her to have. In fact she's done a ton of the work to it.
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You suckers just don't know how to pick wimmens. Sorry for the thread hijack but I couldn't help it.

Oh, I'm well aware there's always an exception to the rule... but in every cliche' generality there's a modicum of truth, that was the point of my "Truth" comment. lol.

[modnrod]

Couldn't do it. Just because it was done "back in the day" doesn't mean it was a good idea.

You mean like skinny fronts that have no grip, loud exhausts that attract attention, that sorta thing?

The best fun I ever had driving around was in my old Bay panelvan. It had JUST BARELY enough grunt, so when you went around a corner at an intersection and dumped it, the auto (yes, it gets even worse! HAHAHA!) would kick it back to 1st, light it up a bit, and swing the back out AT LEAST 2ft.
 

[johnl]

Were the vans typically hot rodded too?

I think Mother's bus had 40P11 Solex Carbs but I don't remember the engine size.  Back in the day most would have run a 32NDIX Zenith and a header.

This story is kind of related about hot rodding Type II VWs back in the day.  Joe Schneider had a 36HP shop pick up.  We use to have access to it on occasion.  I remember one time Butch Sinor and myself drove the thing up to the top of Lemon St. in Fullerton where the entrance to Hill Crest Park is.

We turned around and floored it through the gears.  The decent is somewhat steep and had to major flat spots (launching pads) on the way down.  By the time we hit the second one we were moving at a rate fast enough that when we left the flat area we were "FLYIN'".  Yes the truck was airborne and then it would come slamming down.

I remember that we did this two or three times and somehow managed to keep the thing upright on it's wheels.  Stupid yes, but it sure was fun.  Today the hill has been smoothed out so I don't think you can obtain the same results.....   

[Zach Gomulka]

Couldn't do it. Just because it was done "back in the day" doesn't mean it was a good idea.

You mean like skinny fronts that have no grip, loud exhausts that attract attention, that sorta thing?

Taste is a subjective thing, but I'd say since people are still using the big & little treatment on many types of builds that it doesn't fit into that category.
Custom vans are like disco music. Dead. And for good reason.

[hotrodsurplus]

Custom vans are like disco music. Dead. And for good reason.

Dude, aren't you too young to be that far out of the loop?

When 'traditional' hot rods got trendy 10 years ago the pioneers started building trad choppers. Now that the trad choppers have gotten trendy they've jumped ship to custom vans. Trust me when I say that custom vans are seriously rebounding hard.

Coby Gewertz (Church magazine) at Grand National Roadster Show '11
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Colby Martin's (SEMA) brother's at '11 and '12 GNRS:
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Matt Davis, owner of DicE magazine from about five years ago:
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Even customizer Gene Winfield recreated the Econoline he built for the Ford Custom Car Caravan (GNRS '13):
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More from the DicE site from three years ago:
http://dicemagazine.blogspot.com/2010/10/van-creeps-van-in.html 
 
And guys are fully building vans again.


Remember, even Cal Look--as 'cool' as it is right now--was once out of fashion. I caught flak for having a shaved bug with black window rubber...IN 1991!

So remember, be careful Of the words you say; keep them soft and sweet. Because you never know from day to day which ones you'll have to eat.

[Dyno-Don]

Hell yeah I'd build an early bus done that way. Back in high school (early 70's) a girl friend of mine had a mustard Yellow Westy (think it was a 60-61) with the rear wheel wells cut, White Spoke Jackmans all around and a stout 1835 with a Zenith. Surf racks on top (the original Aloha ones, which I still have a set) and we were off to the beach regularly. That thing was the balls and used to love gassing it and doing the rear wheel hop!
Her dad drove an Oval Window Baja!

And JohnL, you may remember that we had a girl that worked at the San Berdoo Auto Haus that had a two tone green early westy with big's and little's as well. She was a surfer chick but I'll be damned if I can remember her name, which is really sad since we dated for a bit. In fact one Saturday I came into Costa Mesa to work and a couple of people had called in sick, you were a little panicked about staff and I said "no problem ______ is at my house on Balboa Island sleeping in. I'll call her to come in". She came and worked at CM that day. Damn I wish I could remember her name.......