Formula One – ’65 Split Screen Bus

Adrian Lynch is no stranger to the VW scene. In fact, he has been involved with it for more than 20 years since he bought his first VW, a 1971 Beetle. Since then he has gone through a '68 Beetle, a '58 Beetle, a '74 1303S and an '86 Mexican Beetle. But when the time was right to move to something bigger after he got married to Donna and they needed more space for three-year-old daughter Jessica and two-year-old son William, the hunt was on for something air-cooled and roomy, and a Bus was the logical solution.

It was in 2003 that Adrian took a spin to Graham at FBI VWs in Swansea where, looking very sorry for itself, was a very unusual Bus. It had double doors and a folding sunroof, which fitted Adrian's desire to have something a little bit different. A deal was struck and Adrian loaded it onto the flatbed.

Like many restorations, the easy bit is buying the project. Funding it is another story, which is why this Bus sat for a year and a half while Adrian saved his money and gathered the necessary parts.

The Bus was originally ordered by the Scandinavian Army and had a ridiculously low mileage of 42,000 kilometres but it had been left outside once it had come to the end of its life with the Forces. During the stripdown, Adrian removed the bellypan to discover that rodents must have been living in it at some point as it was full of nuts. The bulkhead had been cut to make it a walk-through and the middle seat was missing. Being a trained motorsport fabricator, Adrian tackled all the metalwork - no mean feat when you take into account the panels replaced (both sills including reinforcers, bulkhead, new floors, front and rear wheel arches, front lower panels... the list goes on).

For the full story on this car make sure you pick up a copy of the June 2010 issue of VolksWorld

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