My 68 Bus. Project "BUStin' Loose"

Here is my newest aquisition, a 68 Bus.

No interior except wood paneling on the roof. No engine. No front windshield. No bumpers. No light lenses. Missing some other items. Some bad rust in the front clip.

It has: Good transmission. Not Bus, previous owner thinks it's Type 3, 4, or Thing. Chrome wheels with good tires, brakes work, Steering is tight. Good glass, windows work. Good base for a build. It was cheap. Good patina.

Here you can see the rust....







It is bad, but I know I can fix it.

Washed all the dirt off.



I had this old 80s Ford van seat laying around. It's not bolted down, but it works for now.

Rust repair:

Starting point.



Donor 74 Super Beetle Roof. Sorry Cliff but it's being cut up.



Cut out. there's one of the patches.



Welded up like a jigsaw puzzle.



Just making that little section fitted to spec took about 4 hours. It will be fine.

The plan.

Exterior: Fix the rust. OG paint is in pretty good shape with decent patina, so it will stay like this for a while. Eventually it might get painted. Get all the lights, bumpers, glass, etc.

Interior: Paint all interior metal black, Grey carpet, and wood paneling to replace all the panels. Two front seats, a removable rear seat. Curtains on the windows.

Motor: Whatever I can get my hands on. Probably a 1600 of some kind, I have a longblock that needs a rebuild, so it might be that one.

Everything else pretty much the same.

The theory is for it to be a clean driver that I can haul a group of people in, then take out the rear seat load up the gear and go camping.

Good luck with the project. Why did you change your name?

We are an ever changing group. Or are we evolving.

Great plan, great bus! I look forward to watching your progress. Corey should be able to hook you up on a lot of your parts. It's in about the same condition as my Velvet. Good foundation to start with.

Not a bad place to start. It will be nice to see it get fixed up a bit.

Rusted area fixed. Came out pretty good. Naturally there are still a couple low spots, which will be taken care of tomorrow.

Bolted on some lights and the vent grill.




The rust along the bottom edge will have to wait a few weeks before I can get that taken care of.

I stopped by Pick n Pull on thursday to scope out the rumored 2 Baywindow Buses that were there. I will be heading back tomorrow for some items.

RuddzRodz wrote:

I stopped by Pick n Pull on thursday to scope out the rumored 2 Baywindow Buses that were there. I will be heading back tomorrow for some items.

Was that white one ( think it might have had some pink on it, can't really remember) more your year bus? I know the other one had the bigger tail lights but wasn't sure on the white/pink one.

Also, don't know if you know this but you can put in what model car you are looking for on PnP's website and do a search of what ever PnP's ( as far as miles from your zip) you want to go to. It will list what year and how many each PnP has. I love this feature.

There was a 74 and a 78.

This is going to make a pretty clean looking Bus when you're done.

Windshield area looks great now from the photo. And isn't it amazing what a difference a "face" makes? Velvet had such a cadaver look until I got the headlights and turnsignals in, then she came to life.

Picked up a motor for it last week. I plan on getting it in Monday if I get off work early enough. I still need a Mustache Bar though if anyone has one? After that I will get a front windshield to seal it all up so i can start on the interior.

Here is the new name for this project:


Project "BUStin' Loose"

I like it.

Who wouldn't?

Type 3s and now buses

When's this one going to head down the quarter mile? Good work on the rust repair.

That I'd love to see.

a shot of NOS and away you go