New to EarlyBay ? Say Hi here ...

[ratty1959]

Hi All,

Just sold my Lowlight Ghia, gone all practical and bought a '69 Montana Red Microbus, a few plans for it over the winter: Machine polish the tired paint, some different wheels - possibly some 15" slotted steels if I can find some (anyone!?) Toying with the idea of dropped spindles to drop it a bit more but not priority. The interior isn't really to my taste but shall more than likely build something to suit our needs once we have a few camping trips under our belts. Ultimately she is very good and solid unlike 99% of buses I viewed for my circa £10k budget, it has a fairly new motor and needs nothing immediately. It has some curious reinforcing plates on the cab floor which I've not seen before and the italian spec side repeaters are a cool little oddity.

All in all very pleased, and a good antidote to seeing the Ghia drive off into the sunset yesterday! I'll do a gallery thread at some stage when I get time. Just looking forward to making it 'my own'.



Take it easy,

Steve

Hi mate, hope the twin is all good?? Need to come see you ASAP!

 

[Sixtysixsteve]

Hi mate, hope the twin is all good?? Need to come see you ASAP!

Yeah man, Soz not been in touch, been flat out working to enable having 2 weeks off over Xmas, truth is I've barely been able to look at the bus myself yet, can't wait to have a good look at evil twin too. I'll be in touch Dude.... 8)

And thanks for the other welcomes folks....

 

[TooLow&NotEnoughGo]

Hi all! Im new to the forum and this is my first Early Bay.

I've started a build thread over in the gallery so check it out and come say hello!

Joe

 

[ozziedog]

Hello Jo,, looks like a decent sort of bay. Is that the remains of a DV 27 on the nearside rear ?? Or something more sinister ?? UFO hunter perhaps :mrgreen:

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,,,,,, And Welcome Mate :mrgreen:

 

[TooLow&NotEnoughGo]

Hello Jo,, looks like a decent sort of bay. Is that the remains of a DV 27 on the nearside rear ?? Or something more sinister ?? UFO hunter perhaps :mrgreen:

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,,,,,, And Welcome Mate :mrgreen:

Thanks Ozziedog,

If the two grateful dead stickers are anything to go by then yeah possibly so haha :lol:

Yeah seems to be a cb aerial base, the wiring is cut off inside. Gonna leave it where it is as it seems to be a talking point. All part of the Buses history too! 8)

 

[shiplee123]

Hi ya we will look after u here

 

[TooLow&NotEnoughGo]

Hi ya we will look after u here

Good to know, I'm gonna need it :lol:

 

[toffo24]

Oz yer showing your age had a K40 myself back in the day

Jo welcome to the madness hope to see you at a show next year :msn4:

 

[TooLow&NotEnoughGo]

Yeah will do indeed, the bus is pretty recognisable, but I guess they all say that! I love it and actually can't wait til the summer 8)

 

[VanAid<3]

Hi all,

Thanks for having me!

I'm a complete newbie to the vw community. I have just had my 69 Westy (named Vanessa) imported from California to where I live in SW Devon and am totally smitten!

I'm looking to get some work done on her interior this winter (need new upholstery courtesy of my sister's labradoodle!) and really want to go on a course for air cooled engines (if there are such a thing?)

So any newbie tips are really appreciated!


Kindest,

Aiden

 

[ozziedog]

Hi there Aiden, what a Christmas present you have chosen for yourself this year, an Early Bay 8) There are quite a few knowledgeable ones on here (not me by the way), also every now and then there is a weekender type of event where you can get to know the inner workings of your bus and learn how to do basic maintenance, I believe it`s called Techenders or something similar. Willingness is the most important thing in bus maintenance, that and regularity :mrgreen: So get some piccies up of your machine as we loves them piccies so we do :mrgreen:

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,,,, And a mahoosive welcome and Merry jingle bells to you :mrgreen:

 

[RichardAlexander]

Hi all,

Thanks for having me!

I'm a complete newbie to the vw community. I have just had my 69 Westy (named Vanessa) imported from California to where I live in SW Devon and am totally smitten!

I'm looking to get some work done on her interior this winter (need new upholstery courtesy of my sister's labradoodle!) and really want to go on a course for air cooled engines (if there are such a thing?)

So any newbie tips are really appreciated!


Kindest,

Aiden

I was a newbie 2 years ago (excluding part ownership on a bug ) it's amazing what you pick up in such a short space of time and loads of help on here. As ozziedog says there are th weekend thing but you can't beat a good Haynes or Bentley manual and the god that's is John Miur to help you along the way. Thoroughly recommend the Miur book and it's a good read with some great do's and dont's to help keep the bus running

 

[Kosytoes]

Hello Folks
Thought I would introduce myself. I'm new to the scene having just got a '70 Bay in October. I live in Northern Ireland and Early Bay's are like hen's teeth here. My wife is as keen as I am (steady!) and we looked around for approx 6 months before we spotted one on a well known auction site, flew over and drove it home. Pretty happy as it's as solid as described and made the 300 odd mile journey to the ferry without a hitch.
I haven't owned an aircooled for quite a few years and never a bay so you will be seeing lots of questions from me on here!
The bus has full mot and tax and was ready to go, not mint by any stretch but usable. The plan is to have her done to our spec by the end of May. As an extra incentive we booked tickets to Camperjam in early July.
I will try and figure out how to post some pics soon.
Ta
Jon

 

[aogrady]

Hi all,

Thanks for having me!

I'm a complete newbie to the vw community. I have just had my 69 Westy (named Vanessa) imported from California to where I live in SW Devon and am totally smitten!

I'm looking to get some work done on her interior this winter (need new upholstery courtesy of my sister's labradoodle!) and really want to go on a course for air cooled engines (if there are such a thing?)

So any newbie tips are really appreciated!


Kindest,

Aiden

Hi Aiden,

Welcome along! You're in the best place by far, very friendly forum, you really have all the info you will ever need about a earlybay on here.

Get some pictures up of your ride - we love pictures on here! :lol:

Any questions ask away, do a search on the forum, there is a mass of stuff here.

I'm in North Devon, Barnstaple BTW.

Cheers,

Alistair

 

[gas1man]

Hello Everyone!!!
Have been lurking on the forum for a while and feel its time we introduced ourselves.

I am Jonathan and my wife is Pippa. I am the vw nut and have always for the most part had the right vehicles. A few indiscretions along the way but now thankfully in the past.
We are both South Africans - now permanently settled in Britain.

Because I have had such an array of VW's and always loved Bays I have managed to get Pippa to accept
the inevitable. We are now in a position to acquire an early bay. Now the hunt starts.
I am pretty handy with the tools, but am not into restoration so am afraid we will be buying a "done"
van so as to put our stamp on it.
We have seen the camaraderie on the forum and are blown away by the assistance and the decency of the people. It is a credit to you all and we are very glad to have found the right site.

As we live in the South West ( Somerset), it would be preferable to buy one in our area. So if anyone is in the know of a van on sale, we would love to hear about it.

Looking forward to speaking to everyone soon.
Have a great New Year.

 

[ozziedog]

Hi Jonathan and Pippa, Welcome to the friendliest forum out there. You seem to have selected the Vee Dub of choice and the forum to go with it. Maybe you could use your links with S.A. to get you a less rusty one,, possibly ??? Picking a gem locally may be a little more of a challenge but there are quite a few importers and enthusiasts on this very forum mostly dub nuts also If you find `The One ' then pop up loads of piccies so we can point out what we can. Maybe if you get us some notice, someone of us may be able to pop along and have a quick squiz at this bus before you commit

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,,,,,, 2014,, Summers nearly here,, Find you in a field somewhere ! :mrgreen:

 

[andywedge]

Hi guys, been on here a couple of months, hopefully the links work but I'm not good at this kind of stuff. Anyways this is Betty Blue 71 Dormobil, got some plans, mainly tidying and lowering - not too much but some. Great forum and met up with some of you at the American diner. Cheers Andy

 

[andywedge]

As it seems to work and I know you guys like pics here's another.....

 

[ozziedog]

Hey Andy,, Nice of you to pop up some piccies for us, Betty Blue is looking real good, are you all set for the best summer this decade matey ???????????

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Come on down 2014 and bring some sunshine :mrgreen:

 

[andywedge]

Hi Ozzie, man am I ready for some sunshine!! Got 3 weeks booked in France in the summer but will be going in our T25, not confident enough to do a 2,000 mile round trip in Betty Blue yet!!!

Ps did you get that fence post out of your van :msn4: