SOT - To Bus or Not To Bus, Should I Go VW? Options

[strawman]

I say go for it!!!

In terms of VW buses, I've had a '66 with swapped-in 1600 from 1982-84, a '63 21-window rust bucket that I bought for parts (and scrapped in 1983 -- it would be worth saving today!), a '75 with 1800 TIV, an '81 diesel Vanagon Westy that I converted to 1.8 Golf gasoline engine, and an '86 Syncro Westy that I shoehorned a Subaru EJ22 engine in.

The '66 was fun because I was in High School and I was playing the whole Spiccoli thing, the '75 was my college driver that I sold to buy a Eurrail pass after graduation, and the '81 Westy was fun because my wife and I did our first Burning Man in it. I loved the Suby-powered Syncro Westy when I lived in Tahoe -- that thing rocked in the snow!!! -- but we sold it a few years ago when we moved down here to the flatlands of the Sacramento Valley.

Neither the Split nor the Bay Window was "roadworthy" by today's standards for a daily driver, but they were basically stock (the Split had had a header / turbo muffler). I never got around to changing the gearset in the converted diesel Westy, so it hummed on the freeway -- something like 4k at 65 mph. The Syncro Westy could pull 60 to 65 mph over the Donner Pass with the Suby engine, but it wasn't powerful enough to pull and most importantly safely stop the kart trailer -- so we bought a 3/4-ton Chevy Conversion Van a few years ago.

I also owned a '64 sunroof Bug (my first car), a '63 Bug parts car, a '66 Fastback and '59 Bug-based fiberglass Dune Buggy. In fact, when I was born my parents couldn't afford the hospital bill and had to sell their '55 Euro (semiphore-equipped) Bug. So VWs are in my blood. I'm currently comtemplating a '69 Squareback that'll put a crimp in my teener project, but my wife's friend will practically give it to us...

[maf914]

Here are some shots of Charles Slaters bus. Basically a type2 with full custom suspension, and Boxster running gear. It's automatic too and has A/C. Here's some (IMG:style_emoticons/default/drooley.gif) for ya:

Great photos! Thanks. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

I saw this bus in the Daytona Speedway paddock a few years ago. What a beauty! Very well done custom. It got as much attention from the fans as the racing cars. Too cool! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/drooley.gif)

[markb]

I drove the Thunder Bus ('73 Bay Window) for 21 years, 10 of 'em with a 2.4 E and a chillcast 901 tranny with 914 gearing. Other than the fact that the 901 ate a few diffs because we habitually abused it, it was one of the best vehicles I've ever owned. If I were to do it over, I'd use a later 901 with a bigger diff and diff bearings. It had 911 seats, a center seat and a bed platform in the back, largish speakers under the platform, smaller ones in an old A/C pod on the ceiling, nice tunes, it was too fast for safety, comfortable, got a little better fuel mileage than the T4 power it once had, had dynamite heat, and was relatively quiet at cruising speeds. My sole complaint? After you passed everyone on a twisty 2 lane road, you had to pull over and let 'em all by so you could do it again!

At a little under 6 ft tall, I found a splittie difficult to drive at age 30, and it didn't get better as I got older. The seating position is less than ideal, the noise level is high, the suspension is primitive, and they're SLOW. You're hunched over the steering wheel, no matter how you move around, and that's exhausting.

The Cap'n

After I bought the ThunderBus from the Cap'n, we re-bodied it with a dropped front end, which helped highway handling. The Cap'n's response to that was something to the effect of "you're not supposed to step DOWN into a bus!" It was a great vehicle, but I never got comfortable with sitting over the front wheels. The brakes needed updating to discs with a bigger motor, but stopped ok overall. I say go for it, and enjoy!

[pete-stevers]

i would say go for it unless you have long wet winters like up here in BC.
i would really like to get a split panel for a promotional vehichle for our store
it would be very unique, and would get a whole lot of attention ...which is perfect for marketing the store....just got to get this idea past the brainstorming stage....
(we'll see what the boss says about yet another aircooled beast sitting around the farm)

[seanery]

I've seen A LOT of panels on the samba - not too pricey!

[swood]

I had a '79 Bus, auto trans. Man I miss it. Bulletproof, very smooth and comfortable ride. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif)

I saw a sweet one at the Seal Beach car show last weekend. It was the one that got "Foosed" on overhaulin. 23 window...

[seanery]

got any more pics of the Foosemobile? I forgot what that one looked like. I just remember watching them weld in the back 2 window frames.

[germanv82000]

Had a 71 bus, a 61 single cab and a 60 double cab. People kept bugging me to sel the two trucks and I caved in. Biggest mistake of my long car owning career. Now the kids have long since left home and I have the money to do them right but no haulers. Familiar story?

[McMark]

got any more pics of the Foosemobile? I forgot what that one looked like. I just remember watching them weld in the back 2 window frames.

Is this enough?

[seanery]

yeah, that's a pretty damn cool bus!

[seanery]

On a 1-10 scale how bad is the lift throttle oversteer?

[swood]

Cool Mark. Now I don't have to upload the other 3 shots I took. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)
That's a sweet ride.
Looking at buses on CL, they don't look cheap at all. I can't believe how many $k you gotta drop for one of the early ones.

[type2man]

On a 1-10 scale how bad is the lift throttle oversteer?

Well, this is not an issue on early type 2's because you take turns very carefully and very slowly . It's not much of a performace vehicle. I have 2 buses, one is a 67 westy and the other is a 60 singlecab. Check the pics below. My westy has 16x6 and 16x7 alloys, a 2.0 type 4 and a factory front swaybar and I've never tried to take a hard corner with it although it does manage to cruise at 70 mph. The singlecab has no swaybars and is a joy to drive on the expressway with crosswinds (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

[seanery]

I've added Double Cabs to my list of vehicles to look for.

I've narrowed it down to 13, 15 & DC.

Here are some color options I'm looking at for DCs.

The blue over white would be a blue like the 67 Camaros.

The gray over white would be silver over white.

Whatya think?