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Mon Jan 01, 2024 12:28 am

Late last week I picked up my first split bus, a rhd 11 window barndoor. It has taken nearly 12 months since discovering it on a cattle station to be able to buy it. I believe that it is an unknown/newly discovered bus, I feel pretty lucky to have found it. I’ve dreamt a long time of buying a barndoor to join my 54 bug, considering how rare barndoors are in Australia I never expected to own one.

Below is the story of how I came across this bus and how I bought it, it’s a bit of a write up.

In January of 2023 I was talking Volkswagens with a visiting farmer friend from Goondiwindi, I mentioned I was looking for a split kombi, specifically a barndoor. He told me one of his neighbours had one. He showed me one photo, I expected to see a 60’s or later bus, Instead I was surprised to see it was a barndoor, I told him it was exactly the van I’d dreamt of owning. He told me he could get more pictures, and would work to introduce me to the farmer who owned the bus.

It was 7 months later, in August, 2 days before my wife gave birth to premature twins, I received photos and a message saying the owner of the bus was not exactly interested in selling it, but he was happy for me come look at it. Once the babies were discharged from hospital and settled at home in late September, I was able to travel 4 hours to look at the bus near Goondiwindi.

From what I understand the bus was already on the property not far from Goondiwindi in south Queensland, it was in much the same state you see when the property was bought in 1994. It was more complete then it appeared in the photos I was sent. It still has a front beam, spring plates and lever shocks. It also has the fuel tank plus all its tags and numbers. I told the owner I would love the opportunity to get it on the road again, I asked him if he’d consider selling it. He said he didn’t really want to sell it, but would consider a sensible offer. I made an offer I thought fair, to which he asked for time to think about it, he assured me I would have first refusal when he’d made up his mind.

In mid December I received a call from the farmer saying he would be happy to see me buy the van. I arranged to collect it between Christmas and New Years, It was our first overnight trip away from home as a family to go pick up the barndoor. We lifted the bus with slings and a forklift, before backing the trailer under it. Everything went smoothly taking it home, I’m now working to get it onto a frame with castors so I can roll it around.

Mon Jan 01, 2024 12:45 am

The bus in its resting place of the past 3 or 4 decades.

Mon Jan 01, 2024 12:48 am

Loading it up.

Mon Jan 01, 2024 12:50 am

Some more detailed photos once we were home. It needs a fair bit of love.

Mon Jan 01, 2024 6:40 am

That is an insane find, congratulations ! It looks pretty good, considering that it was outside in the bush for decades. You are also very lucky that most of RHD specific parts seem to be all there, pedals, Steering gear and even most of the front axle ! Great rescue!

Tue Jan 02, 2024 5:05 am

what a find!!!

Tue Jan 02, 2024 6:59 am

good contition to start with!

good luck with the repair!!

-Christian

Tue Jan 02, 2024 12:19 pm

Good for you Mitch! This is a very epic first VW Bus. Congratulations on the Twins and on the Bus

Tue Jan 02, 2024 3:41 pm

Congratulations! Always great when someone with a passion for buses lands one and when the seller realizes he probably will never get to it and it's better that it goes to someone who will give it new life. =D>

Tue Jan 02, 2024 9:50 pm

Great find mate!
You and I bought ours at almost exactly the same time! *check my post Iin the barndoor thread posted yesterday* best of fortune for your ownership.
Cheers
Matt

Wed Jan 03, 2024 4:56 am

Thanks for the kind words everyone. I’m very excited to build this bus.

While it’s been on the hoist, I’ve pulled the beam, rear Torsion bars & spring plates. I’ve welded up a 3 piece dolley and bolted it in to get the bus movable.

Wed Jan 03, 2024 8:35 pm

What an amazing find! Or did this Barndoor find you, after you asked for it...?

It does look pretty solid, considering how long it has been sitting outside. I guess lots of the rusty spots are mainly surface rust, although it needs floors of course.
I love your dolly, a nice design and it looks very well made, like something you buy from a specialist shop. Your skills look very promising for the work that is needed on this bus. I wish you all the best with that and I'm looking forward to the progress.

Thu Jan 04, 2024 3:38 am

Had some time this afternoon to remove the old roof liner. It’s not original but has been in the bus a long time, unfortunately it was in a poor state so it came out. I discovered maybe a dozen old newspapers dated June 1956 being used for insulation, which was pretty cool.
All this revealed some pretty awesome paint inside the roof.

Thu Jan 04, 2024 10:19 am

I always find old newspapers to be very interesting. I have found quite a few in construction over the years. Maybe I'm just a nerd when it comes to that.

Fri Jan 05, 2024 3:37 am

What a cool project, well done for getting it !

Antoine

Sat Jan 13, 2024 1:45 am

What a sweet score :) looks like a few good parts are on it too.

Sun Jan 14, 2024 9:19 am

:popcorn:

Mon Jan 22, 2024 4:16 am

I bought a backrest for the front bench seat last week. It arrived this morning and went straight into the bus.

Thu Feb 29, 2024 5:16 am

Over the past week, I’ve spent an hour or so each night scrubbing the bus with oven cleaner. I wanted to see how things looked under the multiple repaints, so far it looks a whole lot better than I expected! Still a lot of small sections to go over though.

Thu Feb 29, 2024 5:32 am

WOW ! That comes out nicely !
Who'd have thought that this was a candidate for an OG paint patina bus.... :o :shock: