Date: Fri, 1 Sep 1995 10:57:24 -0700
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: dabaker@nas.nasa.gov (M. David Baker)
Subject: Restoration Saga Part I (long)
How does one word their own feelings: excitement and misgivings, at 11:00 on
a Thursday night? Each day I sit at my desk here at NASA and perform high
tech computational aerodynamic simulations. All around me I see the most
powerful computers, the most advanced aircraft, and maybe a lot of backward
bueracracy. Yet, as the new and proud owner of a 40 year old VW Bus I, am
feeling a lot of excitement... and misgivings. Nay, it is not the Cray
supercomputers nor the big fat SGI hot-rod computer on my desk that I think
about... it would be the misshappen, broken down VW in my sister's driveway.
Before I relate to all of you my tale of how I actually got the money-pit (I
mean Bus), I would like to thank all of you on the list who responded to my
WANTED: RESTORATION PROJECT!!! post that sent out about a month ago. I would
especially like to thank Rusty VanBondo... he is the one who turned me onto
the source of my current mission. A question for you Rusty: was Jeff's
price on the Bus worth it to you?
The Jewel is a 1956 7-Door Panel Bus. I've heard people call it a walk-thru
Panel or a double cargo-door Panel.... It has the third brake-light in the
deck lid. The original 6-volt system is intact with good lens on all the
lights (except interior lights). It has the early split-case transaxle with
the unsynchronized first and reverse gear. It even has a newly rebuilt 1956
36HP correct style engine (you know, the ones which can be externally crank
started)... And I do have the crank to go with it. Largest rust hole in
the automobile was about 1" in diameter and was repaired before I bought it.
I have counted only two other rust holes in the entire car.... each about the
diameter of a pencil, one in the front floor and one in the rear floor edge.
The body has about 20 dings, spread over the cargo doors back to the rear
corner panels. There is one small ding on the nose peice. The Bus came from
the factory with Safari windows, unfortunately the window pieces didn't survive
the elements... however the interior tabs for the said windows are still entact
clean. It is in sore need of a paint job... Jeff covered the old oxidized
paint with primer out of a spray can (I'm sure also to cover the chili
delivery company logo that was put on it back before the French-Veitnamese War
The brakes have recently been done... they stop great albeit with a loud
screetch. It even has the correct early crows-feet bus rims.
The Adventure: I guess it started about three-weeks ago when I first talked
to Jeff Bettez (resident of Arizona) at work about his Bus. I was referred
to him by Rusty over the list. At this point I just wanted an early Bus
that didn't need a lot of body work (work which I am not able to do correctly).
As I had mentioned in my post, I wanted to restore and drive a Bus. I was not
really to sure at this point as to what the extent of my restoration efforts
would be... i.e. did I want to just restore a body and put in a big motor
and fancy interior peices?... did I want to go a Cal look?.... these were
things that I had not yet really thought about.
Jeff described to me many of the things I listed above. I became really excited
until I asked, "Do you have any of the rear bench seats?" (this goes to show
you how much I really knew then). What the hell was a Panel Bus? No benches!
NO WINDOWS! "It really has two sets of cargo doors? Thats kinda neat."
"Wow, you can crank start the engine from the outside?" "Whadd'ya mean third
brake light?" "$4000! But it has no windows!!!!" "Sure I'll call you back
soon..."
Well I closely watched the list, read up on some Bus lore, and Jeff sent me
some pictures. Indeed it is a rare Bus. Indeed it was in good shape. You
know, what the hell! If I am going to get a restoration project I might as
well do it right. Get a Bus worth restoring, a rare one, a really old one,
one that isn't a rust case. Well I hemmed and I hawed, hemmed and hawed, and
hemmed some more. Finally, I put the money together and told Jeff that I
wanted it and not to sell it to anyone until I had the chance to see it at
the Pomona Swap Meet.
I arranged a plane ticket to arrive at the Ontario Airport in SoCal on 12 noon
on Sunday, August 27... the last day of the swap meet. My thinking was that
if it was what it was supposed to be in real life then I would buy it and
drive it 400 miles to San Jose in NoCal. Note: I specifically told Jeff:
"When you get to Pomona, call and leave a message at my house so that I
know you are there. If you don't call then I will think that
you broke down. In which case I wouldn't be able to drive the car back and
wouldn't be able to buy it then."
Saturday, 8:00 PM ................ no call
Saturday, 9:00 PM ................ no call
Saturday, 10:00 PM ................ no call
Saturday, 11:00 PM ................ no call
Sunday, 6:00 AM ................ no call
Sunday, 7:00 AM ................ no call
Sunday, 8:00 AM ................ no call
"He didn't make it!" "No Magic Bus!" But then I had a thought... I went to
school at Cal Poly in Pomona... the Pomona Fair Grounds is a BIG place...
what if he had to sleep in the Bus... what if he couldn't get to a phone, after
all it is a BIG place... Maybe if I chanced it and flew down I might be able
to find him (we had arranged for him to pick me up at the airport)... if he's
not there, maybe I'll find another Bus there...
You see, my brain was going a million miles a minute. When I get the itchin'
to buy something I need to get NOW. I was so antsy I just said what the hell
jumped on the plane... throwing caution the wind as they say. Well, the plane
left 20 minutes late (great! even if he was there, he wouldn't wait around
that long). After arriving at the airport I waited another 10 minutes waiting
for Jeff at curbside.... then a large van moved and I spotted the Bus waiting
for me at curbside!! He had made it!
Needless to say, Jeff was a basket case. The poor guy was stressing heavily
thinking that I wasn't going to show! The Bus was sweet! We drove back to
the Fairgrounds to meet his friend he had driven from Arizona with. I performed
a very thorough tire-kicking inspection.... talked price and was off!
Now, one would think that the story is finished. A good ending so to speak.
But it really wouldn't be a true VW story unless the unexpected occurred.
But now its 1:00 AM Friday and I think I may have gone over my posting limit.
I will leave everybody with the suspenseful cliff-hanger... i.e. more to come
on how I actually got the Jewel home. I will tell you only these hints:
the journey involved taking the Bus to speeds of 65 MPH
the 6-volt generator had a 12-volt pulley on it
a special stop and meeting with Rudy and Horst's VW Repair shop in Atascadero
David Baker '56 Walk-Thru Panel****
dabaker@nas.nasa.gov
