'62 Split Screen Double Cab

Thursday, 19 June 2008
Jon Gilbert
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Fed up with stories of rust-free Californian Buses that simply need paint and rubbers to turn them into show winners? Take heart, here's one that was every bit as bad as its European counterparts, but just look at it now...

What is it about old Volkswagens that people become so attached to? Is it the smell, the familiarity or the memories they evoke? Let's face it, there are plenty of them out there, yet more and more these days we're hearing stories of people buying back old VWs that they previously owned and then cherishing them like their own children. Even our illustrious Ed, Ivan, has recently bought back his old Westfalia Camper, claiming that going to VW shows in a Passat just isn't quite the same. And it's the same the world over. Last month we brought you the story of Angela Tagge-Perry's long lost love affair with her '63 15-window, and this month we've got a similar story - only this time it's Marc McGuire from Patterson, California who has at long last realised the dream he's held since his 19th birthday.
Back then, Marc was just a frisky young buck and his equally frisky girlfriend Jennifer bought him a '62 Split Screen Double Cab as a present on his special day. As lovely as the thought was, the reality was that the ex-workhorse had seen better days - very much better days in fact. It had stood for 20 years in a barn, which sounds ideal, until you hear it was used as a platform to store drying fruit. That, and its previous even harder life as a plumber's mate, ensured it was, well, pretty mullered in the bodywork department. Guess that explains the $75 purchase price, huh?
As much as Marc loved it, he didn't have the time or the skills to undertake the extensive repair work that was needed so, when he went away to college, he sold it to a fella by the name of Rich Cantu of Mid-Valley Motors in Fresno, who began to do the very necessary restoration work. The two kept in touch and when Marc came back from college in New Jersey to California, he did a deal to buy his old truck back from Rich. But only once Rich had finished the bodywork and painted it in Marc's chosen colour of VW Ruby Red.
So extensive was the work that needed to be done that it took a further two years and in that time the Bus received a new passenger side front floor, inner and outer sills, wheel arches, engine bay sides, doors and cargo area. So extensive was the rot that it was deemed easier to source a donor vehicle, which willingly gave up its whole under-bed cargo area and engine bay, to finish the rust repair. And that's before we get into the accident damage... eBay provided an NOS offside rear corner, while a whole section of the driver side of the Bus was fabricated from scratch. There, doesn't that make you guys out in the garage welding up rotten UK Buses feel better?

For the full story check out the August 2008 issue of VolksWorld magazine. On sale on 13 June and then available through back issues.

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