1967 13 Window Deluxe VW Bus called Eve

[AustroBus]

These photos are showing how the bus looked like when we bought it in Oktober 2017.

This is “Eve” our 1967 VW Bus– she received her name from a previous owner in honour of Eve Muir, the wife of famous John Muir. He wrote the popular book “How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive: A Manual of Step-by-Step Procedures for the Compleat Idiot”.

About the bus:
It Is a Type 2, Model 251 Bus. That means the bus has 13 windows and all the deluxe trim. Additionally our bus is equipped with a short middle seat (2-seater) and it has the walk through option. Our Volkswagen Bus has been produced in Germany in May, 1967 and was delivered to San Francisco. It spent the following 50 years in California, had a short stop in the Netherlands and now Eve found a beloved home at our place in Vienna. Together with my father, I will work on the bus to make it roadworthy here in Austria.

Previous known owners:

Pre 1990 – California, USA - ???
The first owner I know about is a wife in California. She probably was the first owner and passed the bus to her brother as she married a rich man who bought her a new car. The brother then owned the bus until 1990 when he sold the car for $ 1.000,- to Eves last owner in USA. The reason why he sold the microbus was that he was very sick and wanted to travel the USA by train before he died.

1990 to 03/2017 California, USA - user: oldandinthewaybus
Luckily I managed to get in contact with this guy in San Luis Obispo, California. He was the very proud owner of this Bus for 27 years and named her Eve. We are in contact nearly every day and he sends me lots of pictures, stories and other information about the bus!

Here are some photos of Eve in California.

04/2017 to 10/2017 Netherlands, Europe – user: Adonis91100
A dutch man bought the bus directly from the last owner in California. Actually his plan was to buy a 21 or 23 window bus, but the deal got cancelled and so he bought this 13 window deluxe bus as an alternative. He gave the bus a new grey overpaint, as it had many different color spots from several primer layers and he also invested in a new upholstery for all the seats. Then he decided to sell the car as he received an opportunity to buy a 21 window samba again.

10/2017 until forever
After a long search for the right bus that lasted many months, we started a 1150km road trip to Amsterdam (and back – within 2 days) and bought the bus from this very pleasant dutch man. As I saw the classified ad on thesamba about this bus in Holland I already recognized it. I remembered it from a facebook post in January 2017 as the Californian owner tried to sell it. Back then I already thought this bus has everything that my father and me are looking for. A 13 window deluxe bus with a walkthrough and original sea blue paint (L360) was still existing underneath the surface. Aaand the bus also shared the exact month of birth with my father: May 1967.

Then in November 2017 we finally received the bus and put it into a dry garage over the winter season. About a month ago, we ended its hibernation and started to work on the bus.

The condition:
The last owner from California had an own facebook fan site for Eve. So we already knew very much about the bus. Whilst visiting the bus in the Netherlands, we discovered some problem areas. For example the doors – the lower 10cm were in poor condition, badly fixed with bondo. Also in the floor of the driver cabin showed a few coin-sized holes and the cargo floor in the back needed attention. But all in all it seemed to be a very solid bus – and also very complete with all the original accessoires (handles, seats, …). The interior panels and all the leather is already dried out and needs to be done new. Same thing with all the seals, we need to install new ones.
As the previous owner drove it nearly every day, the engine was turning and the bus was ready for driving. We also had some fun driving it in our garden before putting Eve in storage in November.

You can always read about current updates by visiting our
blog website


At the moment we are sanding down all the paint layers and try to bring back as much original sea blue paint as possible. We are also dismantling the interior and preparing for the upcoming body work. Here are some pictures:

Let’s hope that we don’t find to many bad surprises so that we will be able to drive it soon again!
_________________
Blog website:www.austrosplit.com
1967 Deluxe VW Bus - Resto Thread

Barndoor Coachbuilder Topics:
"Hans Kohlruss & Co"

[vwuberalles]

Nice bus with an awesome story, good luck with it! I love sea blue on busses, that's the color we're going with on the bottom of my 67!
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1973 Superbeetle: 1st car, owned since age 12. Update thread --> https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9919140#9919140
1967 Kombi: Owned since age 17, Dad's retirement project.
1966 Beetle: My new project. (SOLD) Build thread--> https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=678040

[AustroBus]

[Skim]

Love the info and story. So good to see that sea blue coming back!
_________________
GFK
Samba since before the towers collapsed. Still here.
1953 Kabriolet
1954 Sunroof
1959 Lowlight Ghia vert
1960 Lt Grey Double Cab SMZ LEGIT
1963 Deluxe Turkis Walk Thru 15 Window OG Paint

[OG Velvet]

I like this bus!
_________________
'67 13 Window
'77 Westy
'69 Sunroof Beetle
'65 Honda Dream

[d-rick]

very nice! keep it up
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1959 mango-trailerbus
1962 single cab *1/2
1966 13 window
1967 panel/camper
1968 cig-panel *1/2
1968 passenger bus *1/2
1969 beetle
1969 dormobile
1978 sage green Westy
1990 DoKa
2002 Golf TDI

[AustroBus]

thank you guys!

Condition before our partial restoration - 2017

So as we will be doing a partial restoration soon, i wanted to show you the areas that need body work and replacement metal sheets as well as other attention.
All of those pictures have also been taken in Oct. / Nov. / Dec. 2017:

A big project will be the front as well as the a-pillar and the doors plus the driver cabin floor. As you can see in the following pictures, our bus had a damage on the front - mostly hit at the area below the headlight of the drivers side.
It has been fixed back in the days, but not perfect. The A-pillar is still not positioned correct and so the driver door is not closing as it should. We already took the measurements and it is approved that the distances are wrong.

Driver door:
Lower 10 cm will be replaced. Lots of bondo and other kind of provisional and easy fixes.

Co-driver door on the right side:
Is in slightly better condition, but here the dogleg will be replaced and also the lower 10cm of the door need attention.

Engine is good, runs. Lid still showed the original sea blue paint on the inside.

The bottom - view from underneath:

the crossbars still look solid, we will sand them and cover them with rust protection. But most likely we will replace the entire passenger floor with new metal parts. as some areas were badly fixed - for example the areas around the seat mounts:

Rear fender on the right side will also need some little body work.

Interior.
Our bus came with all the original accessories. Such as the light blue rubber mats on the floor and the rare short middle seat bench. The original aeropapyrus interior panels are still there, but they are faded out and will be done new. The previous dutch owner did a new upholstery to the seats. As aeropapyrus facbrics were not available anymore, he decided to choose a blue hue that comes close to the original sea blue paint.. well at least he tried. But we are happy that we have new done seats! And we already bought the same fabrics that the seats were made with, and we will do the interior panels in the same colors.

The dashboard looks good. The steering wheel is in very used condition. The horn bottom is very damaged as well as the water box for the wiper. In general lots of tiny work has to be done here.

The windscreen windows are not original anymore - no Sekurit glasses.
I guess the lower parts of the window frames will need an replacement too, looking quite rusty and have been glued, so i couldn't remove them that easy at first try.

But i am glad, that all the other windows are SEKURIT ones. They will also need new seals, but thats peanuts compared to the other work that is upcoming! Here is a picture of a pop-out window on the right side:

In the next posts i will show you what we did in the last week - and then i will post some update with the first pictures of the body work soon. Lots of welding!
Thanks for reading!
_________________
Blog website:www.austrosplit.com
1967 Deluxe VW Bus - Resto Thread

Barndoor Coachbuilder Topics:
"Hans Kohlruss & Co"

[Colm5928]

I have been following this bus for a few years now and i am glad it's gone to a good home. Great history and enjoy it.

[AustroBus]

[AustroBus]

More pictures showing the condition of the passengers / loading area:
You can spot several bad fixes on the floor..

_________________
Blog website:www.austrosplit.com
1967 Deluxe VW Bus - Resto Thread

Barndoor Coachbuilder Topics:
"Hans Kohlruss & Co"

[AustroBus]

As this is a father-son-project - here is some of the work that we did last week:

removing rust and dirt from the bars underneath.

Bringing back the original paint to surface - current state:
Still lots of work to do!

Removing head lights, indicators, interior.

Removing the engine, and gas tank.
Does anyone know where the closest Walmart to Austria is?
The blue sticker on the battery says we have to remove it to Walmart.

And last but not least two pics with some of the replacement metal parts:

_________________
Blog website:www.austrosplit.com
1967 Deluxe VW Bus - Resto Thread

Barndoor Coachbuilder Topics:
"Hans Kohlruss & Co"

[AustroBus]

Body work

So here are some updates of what has happened during the last few days..

We decided to replace the entire nose - as the front section showed a front damage that has not been fixed good (happened before 1990).

So thats we we cut out the old front mask:

Afterwards we removed the old, crusty floor of the driver cabin. As everything was free now, we used the opportunity to sand everything down and cover it with primer / rust disolver.

Lettering on the can says: "Rust Protection" - shirt says "NOT NOW! And definetely not later as well".

Then the first welding took place on the right side at the dogleg.

Followed by the new driver cabin floor and the part under the front section, right there, where the front bumper will be fitted.

Then it was time for the new front for our 1967 Volkswagen Bus:

The parts for the lower window frames will follow..
_________________
Blog website:www.austrosplit.com
1967 Deluxe VW Bus - Resto Thread

Barndoor Coachbuilder Topics:
"Hans Kohlruss & Co"

[AustroBus]

Working at the front doors:

Here is what the sill on the left side looked like - we also decided to replace it as we have the chance now..

We also started to work on this area - it will also receive an replacement.

Removing the cargo floor:

Lots of rust at this sill - caused by old, crumbly window seals, as the previous owner told us.. so rain could get inside the bus and was collected down there..

now as i take a look at those pictures, i realized that we forgot the ash tray behind the driver seat!
_________________
Blog website:www.austrosplit.com
1967 Deluxe VW Bus - Resto Thread

Barndoor Coachbuilder Topics:
"Hans Kohlruss & Co"

[AustroBus]

The bars all are very solid. So we spent lots of time with sanding them, using the sanding machine, wire brushes and scrapers. Then covering them with rust disolver / primer. We often work with nightshifts during the last weeks..

Chaos in the garage!

Nice and clean bar!

Of course i cleaned everytime before painting it - using air pressure.

Now this is the current look of our bus:

We also removed the rusty area on the sill of the left side. Two pictures showing it from the inside and outside:

Still lots of work to do - will try to post every kind of update in time.
_________________
Blog website:www.austrosplit.com
1967 Deluxe VW Bus - Resto Thread

Barndoor Coachbuilder Topics:
"Hans Kohlruss & Co"

[scottvw]

Nice job so far.

[AustroBus]

[AustroBus]

So today i am back with another update..

After sanding all bars with a wire brush, we covered them with rust disolver and primer - afterwards everything was ready for fitting the new floor.

The next step was to measure and fit the seat mounts for the middle seat.

_________________
Blog website:www.austrosplit.com
1967 Deluxe VW Bus - Resto Thread

Barndoor Coachbuilder Topics:
"Hans Kohlruss & Co"

[AustroBus]

Then the lower metal sheet at the left sill was mounted.
Of course we did some rust protection before again

As you can see above, the driver door also is complete again!


The rear right wheel well and surrounding areas:

_________________
Blog website:www.austrosplit.com
1967 Deluxe VW Bus - Resto Thread

Barndoor Coachbuilder Topics:
"Hans Kohlruss & Co"

[AustroBus]

And the lower area of the windscreen frames is also complete again!

At first, when we were taking down all the layers of later resprays, we thought we could keep as much original paint as possible. But then we decided to better do a good metal work job that last for a few decades. So now we are thinking about doing a respray in the original colours again.

L360 Sea Blue
L860 Cumulus White

We already ordered some small cans for test sprays - below you can see the sea blue paint:

Sadly, when we cut out the old front mask of our bus, we damaged it as we cut away two corners on the left side. Now we welded them back in place and it will make a nice piece of decoration at home!

Last but not least - the current look of our bus:

_________________
Blog website:www.austrosplit.com
1967 Deluxe VW Bus - Resto Thread

Barndoor Coachbuilder Topics:
"Hans Kohlruss & Co"

[Spike0180]

You're flying through this! Good job, she's looking good.
_________________
Brutis Patches Izabich: 1970 VW Transporter - 1776cc DP
Current State: Projects never truly end...
Location: Grosse Pointe, Michigan
Other cars: 2003 F150, 2003 Jetta GLI vr6-6sp

Sambastic: adj; the quality of being nit picky, elitist, expecting everyone to do things the way they believe is best with no regard to situation, "sambastic"