A few years ago I was at a friend's grandfather's farm who has been collecting vehicles in his fields since the early 60s, and took a few photos. I posted a few VW ones on thesamba.com, including one of a mangled VW Microbus. Private messages started pouring in but I was sworn to secrecy on the location. It IS a goldmine of rusty classic cars, but even as a VW lover, I thought this van was just scrap. If that. Turned out it was what's called a "Barndoor"- big engine lid and no rear access into the interior. Rare as rocking horse poop.

One message around Christmas of last year caught my attention- it was polite. It explained why he wanted this van so badly and the rarity of the van. So I gave him an address, but no phone number because I know Bill is picky about dealing with people.

Florian (guy interested in the bus) found Bill, and after months of negotiating, he actually agreed to sell it. The price Florian offered was about 20 times what I thought this bus was worth and the fact that Bill had to think about it is insane... especially considering he's about 200 years old.

So here is the bus, which Florian had to built a wooden frame underneath to pull it out of the vegetation from. As of today it should be in a shipping container and headed to France where he is going to restore it.





The plastic wrap is structural...

I'm pretty excited to see what becomes of this beast, I've seen Florian's work before and it's incredible.

The bus has a cool history, too. It was shown at a VW booth at the 1952 Canadian National Exhibition, before VW of Canada even existed. I was provided with a list of VIN numbers at the show, and sure enough, it's there. Bill bought it in 1953 and was hit head on in '61- the bus has been sitting in the weeds ever since.

Anyone ever see anything this bad get rescued?

Wasn't there a VW bus brought up from a lake that is suppose to be restored?

it seems like its mainly VW guys that do crazy ridiculous restores / rescues
this one isnt insane but is one of my favorites
http://www.ssvc.or...ic.php?f=8&t=35155

Not insane, per se, but still very effective.

my father's Thunderbird was kind of a retarded restoration project... the frame on one Bird was good, but the body gone. The other one had a good body, but shattered/rotted frame... so... they built this:

click to view

the restoration started in 1994 and went on as just a car for my brother to drive. It had a boat-anchor 351M under the hood. Jason started a family, bought an F150 and Mercury Topaz and sold the car back to my father who started to go whole hog on the project. Finally, 2008 or 2009, the car was repainted properly and looks really sweet. I mean, come on, when was the last time you saw a 1979 Thunderbird street rod? Personally, I never thought it was worth it until the the car started to come together. Also, doing research for the car, I found out how damn few of these cars were left. Most had been destroyed in demolition derbys, wrecked or just rotted to nothing and scrapped. Also, you'd be amazed at the subtle differences there are in the years of these cars. Although 76,77,78 and 79 look almost identical, nope. Body panels, lights, trim, are almost all model year exclusive.

(and the scoop is functional... the hood won't close over the 429CJ without it)

sam, as much as i hate those t-birds i have to attest to the rarety, as a kid i remember it was the car of choice of the welfare crowd, and lord knows they take good care of them!

I want to restore this. 1963 1/2 Ford Galaxie 500XL.







Pics were taken almost 10 years ago. Not in the best of shape...at least it isn't sitting under a bunch of trees in underbrush any longer. Interior is absolutely decimated and will need 100% of everything inside replaced.

Currently being stored at my brother's place in TN. If I ever get the time/money/motivation, I'll post new pics of a restored Galaxie in this thread. lol

Posted by jeepdave Wasn't there a VW bus brought up from a lake that is suppose to be restored?

http://retrorides....print&thread=67766

There's also an assortment of Volkswagens that have been pulled from the water here in various stages of restoration http://www.thesamb...topic.php?t=422454



I'm pretty excited to see what Florian does with it. Too bad you didn't get any interior shots of the bus (and neither did I).

Posted by jeepdave Wasn't there a VW bus brought up from a lake that is suppose to be restored?

Yep, and it wasn't even a barndoor...

The neat thing about the lake bus was the transmission acted as sacrificial metal- the entire case has vanished away, but the guts are still there, and everything surrounding it has survived.

Posted by bandi Yep, and it wasn't even a barndoor... The neat thing about the lake bus was the transmission acted as sacrificial metal- the entire case has vanished away, but the guts are still there, and everything surrounding it has survived.

Proof enough for me that sacrificial anodes work.

Posted by WarBird69 I want to restore this. 1963 1/2 Ford Galaxie 500XL. http://i24.photobu...Bird69/Galaxie.jpg http://i24.photobu...69/galaxierear.jpg http://i24.photobu...9/galaxiemotor.jpg Pics were taken almost 10 years ago. Not in the best of shape...at least it isn't sitting under a bunch of trees in underbrush any longer. Interior is absolutely decimated and will need 100% of everything inside replaced. Currently being stored at my brother's place in TN. If I ever get the time/money/motivation, I'll post new pics of a restored Galaxie in this thread. lol

next the the Thunderbird in the garage is a 1964 Galaxie 500 convertible.

#7 on this list is Florian's bus.

It was fresh off the boat!

I love finding the history of your vehicle!

Posted by wannabeotaku http://burlington....to/3090183042.html

typical vermonter.

Posted by Samurai typical vermonter.

montgomery ctr! thats where i used to have land!

Posted by wannabeotaku http://burlington....to/3090183042.html

Still in better shape than Florian's I think.

Oh, I agree with you completely that the crushed one is in better condition. I can straighten metal more easily than cutting out rust and making new metal.

http://cgi.ebay.co...6623c#ht_594wt_968

That looks pretty cool, too.

Posted by wannabeotaku http://burlington....to/3090183042.html

A barn claims another VW...