1965 SO-42

It all started when Matt invited Bec and me to stay with him in L.A. for the VW Classic weekend. During the lead up to our visit Matt had been asking if I would be bringing a bus home with me, more specifically a Westfalia - Matt obviously knows me all to well! I had pondered over the idea and costs but decided I could not afford to do it.

This all changed however, when Matt and I were invited to Johnny 'Francis Austin Maguire' Jimenez house and his now infamous pool party!!! I got taking about buses (what else!) to Mark Rafferty and Bruce Marnell. Bruce mentioned he had a '66 SO42 Westfalia for sale, his friend had been promising to buy it for a few months but nothing had come of it. The only reason Bruce was selling the bus was he had recently bought a 1960 SO23 Westfalia. Bruce lives in Florida and had flown over to L.A. for the VW Shows. Bruce had told his friend he wanted an answer on his return as to whether his friend would buy the bus. On discussing the details of the van I indicated I would be very interested in buying it - hey I had had a few beers and Bec was nowhere to be seen!

I next caught up with Bruce at Charlie Hamill's House and again I indicated my interest in buying the bus. Bruce new all about bigbulli.com and said he would contact me once he got home and spoke to his friend.

As you can imagine I was quite excited about the possibility of owning a Westfalia and after a couple days of returning from the States I got in touch with Everett Barnes who gave me Mark Rafferty's email address who in turn asked Bruce to mail me - hey I was excited wasn't I! Bruce mailed me the good news that his friend did not want the bus which left it open to me. A few days later the arrived in my inbox. Here are just a few.

Bruce had already told me the condition the bus was in and the work which needed doing so there were no shocks when the pictures arrived. Having seen our '54 you'll know I'm not put off by a little hard work!!!

Here is a couple cool pictures with Bruce and my new Westfalia in Florida, check out that workshop, very nice!

Mike Brown who lives in Sacramento was able to tell me some of the Westy's history and sent me the picture below. 

His friend Steve bought the bus from an Air Force guy who had brought 3 buses to Florida from California. One day Steve was dropping off a co-worker in the neighbourhood the buses were in. Of all 3 buses the guy had, my westy was the only split (The guy had a California license plate that said "3VANMAN"). Steve made a deal and made payments on the bus. The guy liked him enough to let him take it on a payment basis.

Mike doesn't think Steve ever drove it registered and legal, he may of driven it from one shop to another or something. The Westy then sat in his storage/workshop for probably a year until Steve moved away from his parents home and got a duplex with a garage and there it sat and sat. He ended up selling it to Mike's friend Kevin who got it running and driving until he had motor problems,  Kevin owned it for a year and then sold it to Bruce who then sold it to me. 

Thanks to Dave Eccles book 'VW Transporter and Microbus Specification Guide 1950 - 1967', I have been able to decipher most of the Westfalia m-plate. If you haven't got this book already, go out and buy a copy, it's £20 well spent!

Here is a representation of the m-plate found behind the passenger seat in the cab of the westy.

01N - production date 1st November

425 - seat belts and mounting points
B42 - standard SO-42 with pop-up top, side awning and roof rack
002 - ???
025 - mountings for safety belts
108 - camping equipment (westfalia SO-42)

UV - export country code: USA, Boston
231 - model: kombi loading doors right
2 - nitro lacquer paint finish
5 - export model
23 - model: kombi
907 - westfalia paint code: Pearl White
6 - 1966 model year
052231 - chassis number

The Chassis number on my Westfalia is 052 231 and it was produced on the 1st Nov 1965. Interestingly according to records held at Volkswagenwerks AG the last bus produced in Oct 1965 was 052 244.

I mailed Dave Eccles to find out why my bus seems to contradict the Volkswagenwerks AG records. Dave explained there are odd anomalies like this, 

'your chassis number is right at end possibly even final day of Oct production, M plates were stamped up at the end. If there was a weekend between chassis number completion and M stamping it would explain the anomaly or the stamping guy was innumerate, or hung over. I guess that the bus rolled off line Oct 31 and parked and M plated on 1st Nov!' Thanks to Dave Eccles for bringing this update.

After a solid year of work which included repairs and replacement of various parts and panels, an engine build, a new wiring loom etc, etc the westy was road legal for the first time in over 7 years.

Since being on the road I have taken the westy to lots of shows and this will continue....

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to say a huge thanks to Bruce who has done all the hard work arranging the shipping of the bus to the UK - cheers mate, Ron Richman for his help on the wiring loom and of course my Dad who helped me make this possible!

UPDATE 08 AUG 04

I was lucky enough to receive a picture and a few details from Mike, Kevin's brother. Kevin used to own my westy before Bruce bought it. Mike found this picture of it up on the lift at the VW Dealer (Reeves) in Tampa . Somewhere Mike has more pictures of the Westy. Mike remembers one of it on a roll off tow truck after the engine gave up. Thanks Mike!

SOLD

Gone to a really nice family which is cool but I am gutted, my eldest cried as it drove off and I'm still wondering if I've done the right thing, I loved that bus, done so much work on it, have some great memories though.