Gashole garage

[BUGTHUG]

Well here are some things going on in the ole gashole garage. JB's about to get the hearse back on the road after many years of sitting. The first time I drove it since I bought it about 7 years ago. We took it to town to get gas at the convenient store/casino. It sure got some looks. But it was fun to drive, and JB had fun as my assistant undertaker It did backfire and died out in the middle of nowhere, one mile from town of BFOklahoma. JB had to make a jog to his house, several miles away and got his truck and roap.
We dragged it back to his WHH garage, and he fixed a couple more things. It should be ready to leave his shop this week end if I can get my trailer emptied again. I acquired another VW. But this one kindda found me, I would say one of the luckiest day I've had in a long time. It seems my propane driver was holding out on me. I went out to get some bottles filled and Jerry the propane guy says" what are you going to do with that old VW bus you have behind your barn"? I said, well would like to get it drivable sometime soon. Jerry says " I have a old bus sitting on a trailer that I need to sell" I said OK I'll call you tonight. Well as soon as I seen it out at his farm, WHAM BAM, OH DAMN, I gotta have it. Its a 66, 21 window bus One of my dream vehicles. The one problem it has like the other one is someone cut the rear humps out to make a 3 wheel chopper Well this is probably what saved it cause its hard to move around with no rear wheels. Here are a couple of pictures.

 

[BUGTHUG]

I also been trying to finish the wall in the smaller section of my barn. This is going to be the place I keep tools and do maintainace on the mowers and vehicle's. It has OSB, and I tried something different on the surface of it. I used some DAP caulking and a putty knife and spread it out thin to fill the big holes on the OSB. It was a lot of work but I like the looks of it, and it made painting it easier because all the holes are filled.
How many tape measure's are too many? I have 5 more in the other garage. I think the only one I purposely bought is the 30' fat max, the rest came from HF as a free gift with purchase, and auctions.
My LLamas ate a big bale of hay down, and it looks like a VW to me

 

[-Brent-]

Yeah, that bus is pretty dang cool.

 

[BUGTHUG]

Brent
YES, I'm as excited as a June bride
This is some of Jerry's other VW's . He has owned these for a very long time, some have trees growing up them. The bus was full of fertilizer sacks, probably about 500, plus other junk. I guess his brother had lived in it while working at the Everglades Park in Florida.

 

[Growlertdi]

I like the whole Beetlejuice vibe you have going on with your Garage. and wow, that 21 window is quite the find! congrats!

 

[JCQuick]

So how much was the bus, A friend of mine has 3 stuffed in the back of his VW shop. The place behind him was just torn down so we have a chance to get them out now just curious has to what people are paying

 

[jbmatth]

Herb,
That 21 window is very cool and I can almost see a drive-able vehicle there if I squint my eyes. That hay stack bug must have been made by them because of muscle memory. lol Now I have to ask, does he have any split window bugs, I have a huge soft spot for those and would love to find one.
JB

 

[Grizz1963]

Herb, you can never have too many tape measures.

Hearse looks a lot better than the last time I was it.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

Very cool find and the stack is hilarious.

 

[BUGTHUG]

Very cool find and the stack is hilarious.

I thought it was different.
Grizz, Rian that's because it got washed off by JB
JB, I wish he had a split window that's what I need is another car

 

[oldironfarmer]

Hearse looks great. I'm surprised it's a Chevy. I wonder when they started going with Caddy's?

Love the 21 window! Does it have a giant sunroof like the Beetles? Or is that a lift up top? Did you get any of the hardware with it?

That hay bale bugs me. I had to stop looking.

 

[rmalkow2]

If you can reach in any one direction in your garage and not touch a tape measure then you still don't have enough.
Love the bus and the hearse.

 

[BUGTHUG]

Hearse looks great. I'm surprised it's a Chevy. I wonder when they started going with Caddy's?

Love the 21 window! Does it have a giant sunroof like the Beetles? Or is that a lift up top? Did you get any of the hardware with it?

That hay bale bugs me. I had to stop looking.

I think that the funeral homes/director or owner is who made the decision on what type of vehicle to buy. Apparently the coach builders would offer several models to chose from. It seemed the small towns would go with a back (rear), and side loader. This means the door on the side would open up suicide style so a casket or a patient could be loaded up. Small towns (in the old days) had a double use for these vehicles, they were used as an ambulance and a hearse.
So the coach builders would offer several options and price ranges. The Chevrolets and Pontiac's, Ford's, Dodge, Packard, Oldsmobile, and some other small companys, would offer a cheaper model , which is what this hearse was used for.
Some funeral homes would have several vehicles, and of course price ranges. The cheapest would be the Chevrolet and expensive the Caddilac's, or the Fords and the Lincoln's. I think some of the Caddies were used as the earliest vehicles, 1900's. Of course they were horse drawn before that.
All of the hearses are custom made, and the funeral home would chose what options they wanted. Some of the builders like National, S&S, and others would buy a bone stock car from GM, then cut them in the middle of the side doors and stretch them about 3'. This was done in the crudest and cheapest way, and most of them would differ from the one before it.
On the 21 window, it has the slider in the roof. Some were made a 23 window, these had the 2 curved glass in the back corner. They were made from a 15 window.
The hay bale is a little buggy

 

[BUGTHUG]

If you can reach in any one direction in your garage and not touch a tape measure then you still don't have enough.
Love the bus and the hearse.

Thanks!

 

[BUGTHUG]

So how much was the bus, A friend of mine has 3 stuffed in the back of his VW shop. The place behind him was just torn down so we have a chance to get them out now just curious has to what people are paying

You would be surprised at the prices of these old dog house's and chicken coops, or storage lockers of junk. I would encourage you to buy them if they are cheap or if they are pre 1967. These are better than a 401k.
Do you know what year and style they are? The bay windows aren't worth as much as the split window, and of course the pecking order. The older the better, then the number of windows is the second thing, then condition. These 15,21,23 window are getting hard to find and if they are all there is a bonus. I see people now rebuilding / restoring some of these buses that the scrap yard would question But believe me, if you have a place to store one, and the price is really cheap, BUY IT!

 

[jbmatth]

I thought it was different.
Grizz, Rian that's because it got washed off by JB
JB, I wish he had a split window that's what I need is another car

I would even take an oval window, and it isn't a matter of needing another car but wanting another.

JB

 

[jbmatth]

Herb,
I wanted to post this hear too and am simply copy and pasting it from my thread with little editing.

All,
As I mentioned earlier Herb planned to pick up his hearse yesterday and it all worked out in the end. I first picked it up at the end of November 2015 I did a lot of work at first then just tinkered with it here and there for about a year waiting on a few things. Eventually I decided to just go whole hog and get it going. Now 16.5 months after it arrived it is back on the road with just a few things left for Herb to finish before taking it on a cross country trip.

During its not so brief stay here at the Warthog Hidey Hole I rebuilt the carb, installed the fuel tank, and ran new fuel line. I had to adjust the timing a few times, and install a battery that seemed to be hiding in plain sight. I also completely rebuilt the brakes front to back, new lines throughout for the most part, new wheel cylinders in the rear, new master cylinder, and lots of adjusting and bleeding. The biggest project was the suspension, I completely stripped everything down to bare metal, primed, painted, and installed later to grease everything I could find. I had to work over the vacuum booster for the shift linkage and adjust some of it as well. I had to adjust the clutch, reseal the trans and torque tube, remove lots of old oils and grease then pour in some fine dino oil to get it back on the road. I drove it out of the shop and snapped a few photos before Herb arrived to pick it up.

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Herb and is wife arrived right on schedule and we had it loaded in a short time:
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That is when I saw something I didn't want to see, a brake fluid drip about the size of a dollar bill. There was a cap of some kind installed from the factory on the master cylinder that was leaking. I guess I never though about having to tighten it and it was just loose enough to seep out. I got it tight enough but now Herb has some homework, he will need to bleed the brakes one more time. The other bits of homework for him will be a muffler replacement, (I didn't feel comfortable welding on a leak free exhaust plus who knows maybe he will want a glass pack or flowmaster ), and an alignment. I just hope he remember to put some lead additive in with every tank of fuel as well. We took a photo op:
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And he was on his way:
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In the end I was very satisfied to get a great old classic back on the road. Would I do it again? Maybe, but I have to get some other projects done first.

Have a great one, and keep moving forward,
JB

 

[Grizz1963]

Cool report.

Looks like the new for 2017 skinny Herb too.

Pleased for both of you.

 

[oldironfarmer]

Thanks for the details update on hearses. That was interesting!

Hearse looks great!

 

[txvwnut]

If find yourself in Texas I've got a rear frame section for a split bus, might have two actually.

 

[BUGTHUG]

If find yourself in Texas I've got a rear frame section for a split bus, might have two actually.

What city is close to you? I might have to find myself in Texas

 

[BUGTHUG]

Thanks, Andy, Rian and all the rest for response.

 

[sawduststeve]

Evening Sir,

Just read your thread , holy cow, its all awesome .
Great work on the garage, the hearse and all the VW's.
The amount of space you guys have is just amazing, I wouldn't know what do with it.
Please keep posting and I'll keep reading.
I've a VW camper if you would like to see it.

Regards
Steve.

 

[Grizz1963]

Evening Sir,

Just read your thread , holy cow, its all awesome .
Great work on the garage, the hearse and all the VW's.
The amount of space you guys have is just amazing, I wouldn't know what do with it.
Please keep posting and I'll keep reading.
I've a VW camper if you would like to see it.

Regards
Steve.

Glad you made it here Steve.

The thing is, Herb is quite reserved and quiet about his treasures and skills.

Having spent some time staying at his place in 2015, I can tell you it was still not long enough to enjoy it all.

Hope you share some more Herb.


PS. Herb is not precious about his thread, so I am sure he would enjoy some photos of your bus, inside and out, as well as the chickens and some examples of your day job........

 

[BUGTHUG]

Hell yes, this is the place to post the VW's. I love them all! Thanks Rian for the nice compliment it means a lot coming from you. Thanks, mate

 

[sawduststeve]

Here you are then, one old hippy to another.
A day out in Brighton at the Brighton Breeze, run by the Split Screen Van Club (SSVC). Always the first Saturday in October and attended by around 400 vans and beetles of all ages and some from France and Belgium. It's always a great day out and the last run out for the van before it's garaged for the winter



Regards
Steve.

 

[txvwnut]

What city is close to you? I might have to find myself in Texas

Right between Fort Worth and Dallas.

 

[HSpencer]

Grizz/Herb/sawduststeve

In that photos of the V dub buses, it would take the Federal Reserve to be able to buy one of those around here, and the FBI to find one for sale (that an average person could afford).
Thanks for posting those. They are the things Dreams are made of!!

Best to you all
Herb

 

[oldironfarmer]

Cool picture, Sawdust!!

 

[sawduststeve]

Thank you Herb for letting me post on your thread.
I ought to start my own but I do worry at times that it would be all abit ordinary.

Grizz/Herb/sawduststeve

In that photos of the V dub buses, it would take the Federal Reserve to be able to buy one of those around here, and the FBI to find one for sale (that an average person could afford).
Thanks for posting those. They are the things Dreams are made of!!

Best to you all
Herb

It's our dream bus, and they aren't easier or cheaper to find here.Most are rotten rust buckets due to our climate.

Cool picture, Sawdust!!

Thank you Sir.

 

[BUGTHUG]

Thank you Herb for letting me post on your thread.
I ought to start my own but I do worry at times that it would be all abit ordinary.


It's our dream bus, and they aren't easier or cheaper to find here.Most are rotten rust buckets due to our climate.


Thank you Sir.

So Steve is the blue split window your bus? You said you have a camper, you own other VW's? most people that own VW's always seem to own more than one.
Post your ordinary stuff here, most of us are ordinary, but most have something Xtra ordinary skills at something.

 

[oldironfarmer]

I, for instance, have an extraordinary skill at ******* people off.

 

[BUGTHUG]

Yes Andy, I think you have a Master Degree in that.

 

[sawduststeve]

So Steve is the blue split window your bus? You said you have a camper, you own other VW's? most people that own VW's always seem to own more than one.
Post your ordinary stuff here, most of us are ordinary, but most have something Xtra ordinary skills at something.

Yup, the blue one's mine, it's a camper, just the one i'm afraid, storage and weather is the issue here, if I couldn't get it under cover, it would be a problem real quick.

I, for instance, have an extraordinary skill at ******* people off.

I do that ordinarily , no extra effort required

 

[BUGTHUG]

Steve, need to see more pictures please.

 

[sawduststeve]

Steve, need to see more pictures please.

Ok Sir, if you don't mind me cluttering up your thread, I'll grab a few more tomorrow.

 

[BUGTHUG]

Waiting with baited breath Steve.
Hope all is well with your country mates, prayers to all. Stay SAFE

 

[Grizz1963]

Waiting with baited breath Steve.
Hope all is well with your country mates, prayers to all. Stay SAFE

Thanks Herb.

I think you need to motivate Steve a bit more......

 

[sawduststeve]

Waiting with baited breath Steve.
Hope all is well with your country mates, prayers to all. Stay SAFE

Thanks Herb, difficult times indeed.
Just in from the garden, be with you shortly.

 

[sawduststeve]

The camper is staying at the workshop while I'm trying to straighten out the mess in the home garage.



Full camping interior


Up front a couple of extra gauges.

A 1968cc stroker with twin 44's and automatic fire suppression.

Regards
Steve.