Heat, Dust & Flies' 61 23 window Samba

[Gunther]

Great find mate.
I don't know if this any great revelation but, my mate pushed a deflated soccer ball into a bashed in nose panel & it popped back into place beautifully.
Good luck (as if you need any more)
Gunther.

[Longrasser]

The sunburn express got dragged out of the shed and had its belly scrubbed this weekend. I hooked the old pressure cleaner up to the hot water and after a good liberal dose of home concocted degreaser, went to work. resulting in three things; a very clean underside, a dead patch of grass and a damn short shower at the end of the day.
Another bucket of red mud dropped out of the belly pans and a good kilo of solidified grease off the front end. I checked through the belly pan offerings with no real trace of rust.... a good thing too, as they seem to be a mongrel to remove (with the bus sunny side up).
The bus sits in full view every time I walk into the shed... so with all the nagging, I whipped out a selection from the paint reviver closet and went to town. This paint is good stuff !! where-else could you sit a paint job out in a 40 degree summer for 20 years and come up with a shine like this.
The top surfaces have been baked, sanded, baked again... etc etc, but the sides came up like new ( with a few thin bits showing the underwear). I recon I could just about polish the wheel arches too. The paint is just as bright under there as well.
I went down to the wire this week on Eeek-bay for a 74 Superbug, hoping for a 1600 and gearbox... (it went for $950) but the wire was too thin and my bid was too slow... next time Gadget.... Next Time ! !



Now com'on Volksy people... you could have painted the underside properly too... It must have been a Friday arvo' job..



Smoooth........ wax on... wax off Grasshoper.

One last thing.... thanks on the inflatable sports gear tips for the nose. I have had the offer of some very select advice from a fine panel-beater friend... so I'm leaving the nose alone till he can get and rub a knowing hand across the surface... If he picks up a hammer and dolly, I'm not going to stop him. (good steel artisans are far and few).

[Ian 68]

Great work mate, this is solid gold, love it !

[bleiner]

That's incredible...look what a bit of elbow grease can do...

[kombi1976]

This just gets better and better, LG.
Keep up the hard work.

[morts]

Sensational - just keep going...

[067DUB]

Feckkin hell that's tidy. Shweeet bus man

[jvm]

Seriously nice.....liking that verrrry much

[resol]

One word


WICKED!!!!!!!

[Longrasser]

That wind messing up my hair was the weekend flying by !! Weekend ? There was a weekend ?

My projects Rule # 126 states 'always do something to move the job forward, no mater how small or menial the task may be.' .... So with a tall cider on the work bench and a buffing cloth in hand, I finished cutting back the rest of the chalk off the body of the bus. I've left the roof alone at this stage and will probably do a small test patch in case I rub out too much of its time & trials in the outback. I DO like that 4 tone sunburn look and don't want to mess it up.

12.00 Saturday night and the local FM station was beginIng to play some good music at last, but I was shot and the dog (my only late night shed companion) had been out to it for hours. I came in for a late tipple and a browse of the DSK site to find the All New Lookatmoi layout. ! I thought the contrast in my eyes had gone on the blink !

I've been onto the door latches as well and getting the reddust out of them so they work smoothly. Everything has come up really nicely and all doors and hatches now close with a satisfying clungggk! I think I will be investing in some of that body insulation. The doors closing on the 23 sound like you are hitting the side of the water tank with a cricket back. Admittably there are no cards or seals on either. can anyone tell me how many years the outside handle for the side doors remained for my style of bus. (referred as 'ice-pick handles??). Did that style stay around for a while?

The last of the Delux trim is off too. Every screw came out like a dream and I found that the inserts were once red rather than black. (red is my future choice). Wish list includes passenger rocker spear... That list is almost onto page two.

Just so it seems like the resto is going somewhere I took a few more pics tonight to show whoever is interested in the Heat-wave Housebrick around the next corner. (and the inside of the shed belonging to a chronic old-stuff horder).












Now where did that battery go ??? The hole in the batt tray couldn't be neater.

P.S... I wandered down the road and bought a $200 Type 3. (1970?) this morning too. I'm told that some extra VW bits might help on the bus project. Don't fret Type 3 people, it's DAMN rough. I might have paid $150 too much..... But that is for another week.

[MID WEST DUBBER]

Looking good mate, cant get over how good it is!

[63 left hooker]

Yea like Rusty says, looking great!

Look forward to he next update

[chappy]

Where do you guys find such awesome old treasures? Looks amazing

[KombiMadness]

You've had a heap of 'awesomes' so I'll go with Wow! Wow! Wow!

That bus is so clean in the funniest places where you'd think it'd be rusted out. Waiting all those years to nab that 23 puts a new twist to Yoda's "patience, young one..."

All the nose dents + shotgun shells found = bashing into Roos, wild pigs, etc????!!!!
You have an amazing bit of 'rare' Aussie history there. Beautiful!

[FrankenCab]

really great project and glad your leaving og paint .