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This
is Lola Granola. A work in progress. VW Deluxe Microbus. It's really a
blast to drive. Walk-through 23-window deluxe, sunroof, safari windows
up front, ambulance fans, all the goodies.
I bought this bus about 5 years ago or so. It had a camper interior in it and it had an 80s shocking blue color scheme up front. I took the tint off the back windows, and found all the odds and ends to make it back into a passenger van. The kids really, really enjoyed the camper interior, but I just could not bear the thought of all those windows being covered up with panels. Off they went. Maybe I'll pick up a camper bus at some point! :)
Restoration begins! The bus was picked up early in the morning for
a trip to Johnny's shop. We'd been waiting for this day for what seemed
like an eternity, but you know how it is with buses. You can't just do a
quick and dirty job. If you want anything worth it, you have to really do
it all the way. Take all glass off, which means all rubber has to be changed,
which means that you'll also want to rechrome all the stuff outside, which
means that you'll probably want to do the inside as well, panels, seats,
headliner, sunroof, just tons of stuff. An that adds up to a pretty penny.
By the way, did you notice the tires are different? The really cool super skinny 15" whitewalls just exploded one by one due to old age. One day I was driving and one just blew a huge hole on the side. That was fun. I put the spare on only to see it go two days later in the same manner. Then I looked closely at all the others and they were so cracked that it was a matter of time before they went to. I tried to find another set of the same but every 195/75-15 that I found was wider. Bummer.
Off
it goes to Johnny's.
At
Johnny's shop
The changes began almost immediately. The roof rack was the first thing to go.
One
last parting shot...
Most
of the stuff is stripped off already. The trim and glass is gone as are
the seats, gauges, and sunroof. Bumpers, bottom trim, sunroof and other
stuff still there. No, engine lid is not for sale. Yes, I know it's not
the right year but I love that 3rd brake light.
I'd
not seen this interior in ages! The last time was when I removed the camper
interior that was in there when I bought the bus!
We
went to pick up some additional things to begin that refurbishing.
I have all seats, panels, accessories, chrome, trim, etc. That alone should
be pretty interesting to get going..
Yep.
We found some bondo in the front. I'd never known this, but apparently there
was some damage to the front end which was covered by the bumpers, paint,
and more bondo. This will be taken down to the metal and a new bottom
lip will be put on.
The
interior is all gutted out... yikes.
So,
the removal of paint from the front began in hopes of correcting what appeared
to be a small rust spot, which had already revealed a generous amount of
bondo underneath... and you know where this is going...
...
of course. It turned out to be a lot more than just some bondo. It was full
of holes from a previous repair of some sort.
Here
is a close up to give you an idea of where it's at now. To be continued
I'm sure. 
Well,
thanks to thesamba,
I was finally able to locate a replacement skin which looks like it will
work.
Back
to work on the bus! The nose skin was cut out and the new one is ready to
be grafted on.
These
are some of the combinations I'm considering. While I absolutely love the
classic red and white, by pure happenstance, we have a red and white Mini
Cooper and Travelall at home, so one more red and white would be crazy.