Hey gang, have met several of you, and been in the Texas scene only a couple of year. I own a 1966 Green/white bus, and a... 1963 Double Cab, now at Caney Creek for final paint/body. Thought it might be interesting to give the back story.

Traded my 65 beetle for a project 63 Double Cab, seemed like a bad deal at the time, but in the current market, it would be a great trade.


2010
Picked up a 63 Double Cab in October. Drive train, brakes, transaxle, and motor are all solid. Needs rust repair to rockers, roof above drivers head, front floor, and lower nose. Accident damage to right rear. Suprisingly rear floors, and cargo bed are solid.

Picked up a bunch of "funky green" rockers, pillars, etc.

Started stripping the 6 layers of paint and primer to find trashed OG Grey

Bondo using a fiber mesh hid the real story of the rockers.



Pillar between cargo bed and rear seat.



Rocker, pillar below cargo bed, fuel dividers.



Directly behind driver's dog leg. Closeout and rocker are rusted, but suprisingly dog leg is solid.

Early 2011, I started digging in with my first delivery of "Funky Green." Pillars, doglegs, floors, etc.


Offending metal removed.





Inner rocker welded on.





Wasn't happy with my long body panel welds... I eventually got pro help...





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By May 2011, I was getting in deep, rust continued to show up, more metal was being cut and replaced... By now Klassic Fab was on speed dial and I was questioning the project...

Replaced corners of the front floors. PO or PPO had fabricated a patch...




Driver's side looks good from up top... but bondo can make even a homely girl look like the prom queen. High beam switch is about to be pushed through the floor.



Replaced... still need to clean up some of the welds, and patch a couple more holes by the pedal assemblies.





Outriggers and jack points... passenger side... so pretty, looks like the jack point got hit from underneath (4X4?) and crushed the outrigger and B pillar...rusted out from the backside, more bondo...



Driver's side, hole in the B pillar, when I removed the inner rocker, I found the out rigger rusted out from inside the jack point... even some areas that look good needed replacement.



Replaced... gotta love that Funky Green!! 8)

Project stopped for a year as I tried to decide if I needed a different project. March 2012 before I decided to continue... found an Old School metal fabricator in Seattle, and started the gate project... original gates were redone, or at least the outside skin was saved.

Once the gates were blasted, the rust was very evident and the bondo was covering many additional PO gate "modifications." Gates were also pretty warped.

Looks like you have a great project on hand

About this time, work was getting crazy, I was working in two states, and unhappy with some of the work I had performed...

I tracked down a Seattle pro Bus body man... Cameron at Volksfab... maybe you have seen some of his work? The Tillamook buses being the most popular.

https://www.facebook.com/volksfab

Now things really get moving, rear replacement, corners, frame repair, roof sectioning... Cameron does awesome work...

Rear body damage, pasenger rear corner, and both rear frame members.

Original sail with Vin reworked and saved. Frame repaired. Corners fitted.