Aircooled VW South Africa

So this past weekend turned out a lot more exiting for Myself and Oliver (East Coast classics) than we could have imagined....
on Thursday we received a tip off regarding a bus near the Namibian border, once we received the pics couldn't believe what we were seeing ! rusty, covered in zink sheets ...with an unmistakably large rear engine lid ! We immediately secured the deal and mobilized a recovery team to go and collect the bus 1380 km away ! The trip took two and a half days and everything went off very well.
The bus needs a lot of TLC and parts! but hey its rare so we will fix it to the best of our combined ability !!
here are some pics .....













On our bucket list of Busses to find we have now found and recovered examples of the following specimen :

Samba 23 window
Samba 21 window
Barndoor single cab
Barndoor 11 window
Double door panel van
Double sliding door panel van
11 window double door factory spec.
Split Double cab
11 window bus
13 window bus
15 window bus
Early single cab
Panelvan
factory high-roof panel van
Westfalia camper (split)
Ambulance split
various Bay windows

who knows what we will find next ! .......ps if anyone has any barndoor parts lying around please let me know !

WOW That is a Great Find Good Luck with the Restoration hope to see it Running in the near future

splitbusahollic wrote: Mon Sep 11, 2017 9:58 am
On our bucket list of Busses to find we have now found and recovered examples of the following specimen :

Samba 23 window
Samba 21 window
Barndoor single cab
Barndoor 11 window
Double door panel van
Double sliding door panel van
11 window double door factory spec.
Split Double cab
11 window bus
13 window bus
15 window bus
Early single cab
Panelvan
Westfalia camper (split)
Ambulance split
various Bay windows

So do you have the buses in this list going/restored yet? Or are they all projects?

Nice find!

73type2 some of the rare buses have been sold to fellow forum members who are serious collectors, some have been restored and sold, others are in the process of restoration and some are in our private collections

Amazing find, was just reading about the Hebmuller found in Namibia years ago and this thread popped up Seems like Africa still has one or two rare beasts left...

I hope that this thread on this Barndoor stays on the forum....there was another one found a while back but it seems like the threads have been deleted

Great find!,........🛠g'na need it,.......but then again you have the exp and skills
Haans

HI JAQUES.
WHAT IS THE CONNECTION BETWEEN VINTAGE AND EAST COAST?

I really can't believe this. Such an amazing score. It shows you, there are still some very rare busses on our doorstep.

I'm sure that poor guy sleeping in this "Hokkie" didn't know what he had.

This really is unbelievable !!! What a lucky find.

That upper rear hatch - it it hinged ? Can't make out in the pic if there is a handle there ?

Cyndi Kritzinger wrote: Mon Sep 11, 2017 6:54 pm HI JAQUES.
WHAT IS THE CONNECTION BETWEEN VINTAGE AND EAST COAST?

Mark, i don't quite understand the relevance of your question on a thread about one of 5 Barndoor buses being found in SA,other than looking for some sensationalism. I recall you asking Me this same question when you traveled down the coast to CT and stopped over at my shop for free T shirts and pics.... and i recall you said you didn't like Oliver for some reason.....i will once again explain this to You , but please pay attention in class this time as i am getting tired of telling the story by now.

Oliver and i have been friends for roughly about 6 or 7 years trading and discussing busses and spares as a common interest.... 5 and a half years ago i discovered a collection of splitties in storage in Zimbabwe that were for sale, at the time Oliver was planing to go visit his wife's family in Harare and we decided to do a joint venture buying splitties in Zim and other African countries as an adventure !... one thing led to another and we ended up buying over 170 buses in Zim over a 5 year period and storing them in various storage yards in Zimbabwe, we have legally imported and restored a number of buses and either sold them into the local SA market to serious collectors or restored and exported them to clients in the UK or Australia (as they were imported into SA from Zim by Us and not local buses, it took us 9 months to do the correct paperwork for the first load).

We have contributed massively in the search and availability of new parts and development in the split window kombi market in South Africa and introduced many buses onto the local roads to build the fellowship in aircooled VW's.... We do what we do with love and passion like all other VW fanatic's!

Oliver like quite a few other Commercial restorers (like Pierre from VDUBtech to name but two) buy parts from My company Aircooled spares for their restorations. Should i explain my relationship with Pierre too ? Happy Now ?

Now let's move on and get back to the reason i first posted this.....the importance of the actual Barndoor Bus we found !

here are some pics of our yard in Harare :

jolas wrote: Mon Sep 11, 2017 8:57 pm This really is unbelievable !!! What a lucky find.

That upper rear hatch - it it hinged ? Can't make out in the pic if there is a handle there ?

Thanks Paul ! no it's fixed , can't open.

THANKS JAQUES.
WHY WOULD YOU HAVE TOLD ME THIS ALREADY? I HAD NO IDEA THAT YOU HAD ANY CONNECTION WITH OLIVER.
THE REASON I ASKED WAS THAT UNDER NORMAL CIRCUMSTANCES OPPOSITION RESTORERS WOULD BE COMPETING FOR A VEHICLE LIKE THIS.
SO FOR ME, A LEGIT QUESTION.

AS FOR THE FREE T'S AND PHOTO'S...... PLEASE EXCUSE ME. I DIDN'T REALISE THAT YOU ALSO CHARGED FOR PHOTO'S OR I WOULD HAVE PAID AND I OFFERED TO BUY A "T" FOR CYNDI BUT YOU INSISTED THAT I TAKE ONE FOR HER AND ONE FOR ME ( I THOUGHT AS A GOODWILL GESTURE ). I WAS OBVIOUSLY WRONG. PLEASE SEND THE BILL AND BANKING DETAILS. I'M CHEAP BUT HONEST.

I THINK THE QUESTION NOW IS; WHAT WAS THE PHONECALL ALL ABOUT?

No idea what you are on about ...

Nee man, go and take your concerns with Jacques and Oliver elsewhere. This forum needs more threads on salvage missions and restoration/project topics, it seems we have too many threads with transport and jaffle iron issue lately.

I on the other hand would like to see more pictures of this very rare bus found in South Africa.