Hi, new to earlybay, and a couple of pictures

[speedbuggyseb]

Hi, just wanted to say hello, and introduce ourselves on here as my girlfriend (thepennydropped not registered yet) and I have just bought our first bay window. Its a 68 deluxe Microbus freshly shipped from the dessert outside LA. We needed something that is hopefully quite reliable, looks quite cool and we can fill it with our vintage parts and go to a few of the European shows in it next year. These pictures were taken when we bought it, a couple of weeks ago, and we will try and keep you updated with our speedy progress. ANYWAY THATS IT FOR NOW AND WE LOOK FORWARD TO MEETING AND DEALING WITH SOME OF YOU ON HERE IN THE NEAR FUTURE. Thanks Seb

 

[lard]

Welcome

Certainly got something cool looking! - that's one lovely looking bus you have

Would love to see more piccies and any history of the van?

 

[speedbuggyseb]

Hi, quick response, I only just posted that. This forum moves quite fast, and I like that, as it means there is always plenty of interest to look at on here. Great! Thankyou for the nice comments.

Its a one owner bus from new, until last year or so, when a US father and son team bought it to do something with, restore, (ruin probably), the son went off to High school or college or where ever and nothing happened luckily. It is all completely original untouched with nothing to do bodywork wise. As its from the dessert though it does have the usual perished window and door rubbers and the headliner also needs to be replaced at the same time. We are planning on ordering those parts over the next few weeks so we can get it done asap. Other than that the inside needs a bit of a clean up and that is about it really. Nice and easy.

Not sure whether to lower it or not, did cross my mind that a set of JGE polished and grey spoke Radars might look good, but I kind of also like it as it is, nice and original, and its more practical when loaded with parts and camping gear. but what do you think?

Should hopefully be registered, taxed and Mot'd and ready to go in the next couple of weeks or so, slightly delayed by the annoying Christmas period. Bahh Humbug!!!

Thanks again Seb

 

[AxlFoley]

NIce looking bus, my fave coulor on a bus ( when its plished )

 

[ozziedog]

8) good looking bus. Nice to see piccys straight out of the box, what part of the country are you in?? And keep us updated :mrgreen:

Ozziedog,,,

 

[speedbuggyseb]

Hi again everyone, thanks for the comments, I like polished too, especially this colour, but not sure on this one, think i'm going to try and leave it as it is paint wise for the foreseeable future. Nice original patina and less work . I'm situated near Guildford, Surrey. I will look through the gallery and see if I can see some of your vans and hopefully as I said meet some of you in the future. Seb

 

[RICH-I-AM]

Welcome.
DO NOT REPAINT IT!!!! :mrgreen:

Rich

 

[speedbuggyseb]

Dont worry, We wouldnt dream of it, the thought of painting it would never even cross our minds :shock: We are not touching it body work wise, we bought it mostly because we LOVE IT exactly as it is. Reasonable quantities of fantastic sun bleached Patina!!

 

[bigdaz]

hi Seb and welcome
I am also just outside Guildford
this is also my favorite colour with just the roof white
At volksworld this year when i bought my bus i could see it was it was originally that colour. but had been sprayed a darker blue.
Then i saw this beauty and decided to build a bus similar to it.

looks like what you have planned for yours.

Anyway hope to see you around soon theres quite a few of us early bayers in the surrey area.

 

[speedbuggyseb]

Bigdaz, hi, I know Ripley well, i'm actually in Farnham, just the other side of Guildford, sure you know it. Look forward to meeting you sometime. I've seen that deluxe before (not in the last couple of weeks since we've had ours though so thanks) as well and it does look awesome. A lot cleaner than ours! Helps re-familiarise me as well with what the Radars would possibly look like too. Any more great pictures of early bays on Radars to get ideas from welcome.

How close to that inspirational bus is yours looking now?

 

[r73]

Welcome Seb - great looking bus - were only down the road in West End - Chobham!!

 

[speedbuggyseb]

Hi, there are certainly quite a few early bays in the Surrey / Hants area, I never realised!

 

[Danbury Doug]

Hello and welcome!

Fab bus, and I look forward to seeing more pics in due course!

 

[gninnam]

Great looking bus and I hope the registration goes OK.

 

[speedbuggyseb]

Thanks for the comments, registration should hopefully be fine, a bit easier than usual as the DVLA office at Theale is on the same business park that my girlfriend Penny helps to manage. Makes it a bit quicker to run in grab papers necessary documents, ask questions etc. Having said all that things never go quite so simply as you might think do they?

 

[steve92]

welcome to our world matey! thats one cool looking bus . love the patina.

 

[froggy]

Theres actually quite a few of us around the area, i'm from Addlestone so if you need any help with anything just drop any of us a message and i'm sure someone will come to your help
Did you import the bus yourself or have you bought via a company?

 

[sparkywig]

Hello

 

[speedbuggyseb]

Hi froggy, sparkywig. Thanks for the offer of any help, may take you up on that one day, if i get really stuck
We bought the van from our friend RetroSteve Walker of Eastfalia Fame. He had literally just imported this van and two or three other early bays, when we went to see him a couple of weeks ago. It was fresh off of the boat!

When we arrived to see ours, he collected us at the bottom of a very large field with a track through it, covered in thick 6 or 7 inch deep snow. It was way too rough and snowy terrain for our Passat saloon to go through but one of the other buses Steve had imported was a very nice original clean early bay Westfalia from Alaska with knobbly snow studded tyres on it!! Perfect. It was great fun CAREFULLY! rallying up through the fields and woods. We were doing about 30-ish and bumping and sliding all over the place. No van was harmed in the making though, its far too nice for that! Just a great fun experience for a few minutes!

 

[Guest]

welcome to EB lovely looking bus, just polish and protect it. it looks ace 'as is'.