'71 Deluxe oh Patina!

[Barkafer]

I have found a '71 Deluxe on thesamba and am going to have to buy it. It would be rude not to!

What are your thoughts peeps? Leep, will you be offended if I buy this one instead of yours?

She will need immediate repairs to the cab floor, load bay floor, new battery tray and front caliper to get her roadworthy and thats about it. The PO has receipts for 4000 bucks spent over the last year and is selling for just over that figure. She has new drop spindles fitted to a stock width 'yard bus' beam and rear lowering plates. Also has a bus depot swaybar on the front. Interior is tatty with the NWT having been crudely chopped out.
This is included in the sale.

Oh and it has a new wagenwest screen seal up front.

 

[dubscum]

buy it and improt it to the UK. I will buy it

 

[bottom rung]

My import had similar rust on the cab floor... look at http://forum.earlybay.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=23031" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
It turns out it was caused by rot under the manky windscreen rubber. You might want to pop the screen out and take a look, or else next time it rains you will get a puddle or two on top of your new cab floors. I've just finished repairing my floors and am in the middle of replacing the front panel, as it wasn't worth just repairing the windscreen ledge on my bus.
Your bus looks great! I am slowly warming towards patina rides!

 

[Guest]

the patina is excellent. 8)

 

[gninnam]

Looks like it is hiding some possible horrors - which may lead to some of the patina being lost

Your call

 

[aogrady]

Hi!

What about this one?

http://forum.earlybay.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=23965" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Alistair

 

[DadWagens]

Hell no I wouldn't be offended, that patina is sick!

Lots of welding though, way more than my camper (as far as I can tell). The price I had in mind for the camper was less than 1/4 the price of this one.

This deluxe reminds me of one I know of here in town that's a stock daily driver. I want it but I'm pretty sure it's the owner's only transportation so I bet it's gonna be expensive to get them to let it go.

Let us know what you end up doing, this bus looks tight! Especially if you have a welder :lol:

 

[Ted]

Looks good to me, gotta love faded Pastel white/Chianti red

 

[dubscum]

uncanny!

 

[Barkafer]

Thanks for the feed back chaps I may be keeping this one for a decade or two

This bus isn't hiding much, as far as I can tell from the photo's and talking to the owner. It has taken a knock on the RR corner at some stage during it's time in South Carolina and has some filler there, but as the patina shows, little else in the way of other damage.

I will have to repair the lower screen as it is holed, but not beyond the new seal.
It's a two owner bus with a history/story behind it and will be with us soon with any luck.
I fogot to say it also has a MOFOCO gearbox with about 3000 miles on it. Apparently the PO before had bought it and not bothered to install it so it sat from 1992 until last year when the current owner bought it and discovered the box still crated in the rear of the bus!

Rear bumper too.

Here's the bus when found by the current owner.

The 1600 dual port motor.

Never imported a bus before, but Kingstown seem to know their stuff and are very helpful. So I'm going for it as I'm not getting any younger :lol:
There will be a '71 swiss microbus for sale soon, as and when I can get it in good enough shape to be an attracive project for someone with more time on his or her hands
Leep I may just have to buy yours too at that price :mrgreen:

 

[DadWagens]

It's cool, if you don't end up buying the camper I may just keep it for a while.

This bus is awesome. I can't wait to see it at "home" with you in the UK, :lol: .

So it's just running Wagenswest dropped spindles and a stock width front beam? I like the stance, that's totally what I'm going for on my bus- I didn't really want to run a narrowed beam, mostly because of the extra expense. Except I might get oldspeed narrowed dropped spindles for a tiny bit of extra clearance.

Have you gotten any feedback as to how it drives with this setup, with rubbing, etc? You mentioned that it needs a few things to be road worthy, so maybe it hasn't been driven since it was lowered?

Also, just curious, how does it work importing a bus if it's not drivable?

 

[Guest]

if Kingston are handling it you wont have to do anything other than fill in a few forms, pay for it and pick it up. I cant sing the praises of CFR and Kingston enough, they are very good at what they do, CFR were very patient even when they had to wait an extra month after a deal fell through on me and i had to find a replacement bug. CFR will even have it picked up from the POs door in the US.

 

[slammedresto]

if Kingston are handling it you wont have to do anything other than fill in a few forms, pay for it and pick it up. I cant sing the praises of CFR and Kingston enough, they are very good at what they do, CFR were very patient even when they had to wait an extra month after a deal fell through on me and i had to find a replacement bug. CFR will even have it picked up from the POs door in the US.

X2

CFR and Kingstown are excellant

 

[Barkafer]

Thanks Guys.

Leep, the beam is adjustable too and yes it does scrub the tyre on one side, so much that it has a slow puncture according to the vendor. He drove it daily for a year about 30 miles a day until one of the refurbed brake calipers sprung a leak :shock:
He has a 71 Westy which he is driving and is selling this Bus to fund his eldest kids new car + ins.

I figure if I fit smaller tyres on the front it may solve the problem!? :idea: I will get some more photo's of the scrubbing tyre to see exactly what the problem is.

Ideally I would love to start my own business importing and restoring Buses and Campers, but it's a competitive business so I'll have to be switched on to make it work.

 

[Egorspyle65]

Thats a friend of mines bus. Its a good solid bus thats for sure. Greg is a good trustworthy guy i wouldnt hesitate to do any dealings with him. Just picked up a l/p beam for my 69 deluxe from him. If i had the cash id surely buy that bus.

 

[Guest]

looks like all the hard lowering work is done, the chassis looks solid but the floors have rusted out probably due to wqter sitting inside when it was parked up. I think you could have a good bus there but the external repairs will be a little bit trickier if your preserving the patina (which we all hope you are).

 

[Barkafer]

Oh, don't worry about that gorgeous patina, it's there for good if Ican help it

Gregg seems a cool guy having spoken to him. He has certainly answered any questions I have put to him. Can't wait to get the bus here.

 

[DadWagens]

Leep, the beam is adjustable too and yes it does scrub the tyre on one side, so much that it has a slow puncture according to the vendor.

I figure if I fit smaller tyres on the front it may solve the problem!? :idea: I will get some more photo's of the scrubbing tyre to see exactly what the problem is.

I wonder what size tires are on there now? It may have to do with the additional track width from the WW spindles.

Ideally I would love to start my own business importing and restoring Buses and Campers, but it's a competitive business so I'll have to be switched on to make it work.

Does "switched on" mean the same thing as "connected" or "hooked up" here in The States? Time permitting, I may be interested in participating in your endeavor...

 

[Egorspyle65]

The front tires on that bus are 185/60/14.

 

[Barkafer]

'Switched on' means paying attention and doing the correct thing at the right time.
You could also say 'on the ball' or 'on my game', you know, generally being alert to any opportunities that may present themselves.
Connections and getting 'hooked up' is all part of it though. Probably the most important part!

Those tires are 185/60/14 and scrub on the inner dog leg when turning and going over a bump simultaneously. See that, I spelt tire the Yank way :lol:

Just got a couple of quotes from Kingstown and CFR. They were quick too. Not much in it really. CFR are cheaper, but they want to ship from NY so transport to there bumps the price up.