Anybody remember TonyW??

How can I help you?

Tony W

AKA Anthony W or Geezer

OH! It's YOU! I now have that bus ya sold to Jenn. Got a little problem that is likely un-solvable... Do you think there is any possibility of coming up with the original dashboard? I realize it's a remote chance, but if other people are like me, it could be in that pile out behind the shed...(!) If it happened before you, maybe you could aim me toward the person you acquired it from?

It's likely it got tossed, considering there was apparently a fire. I can make it work without it, but it limits my options. As it is, the policy of the WSP is that if they see that a VIN# is incorrect or has been tampered with, seize the vehicle immediately!

Did the paint stripping occur before you? I've been only casually looking at it and I haven't yet figure out the means used to strip it. I assume it was sand blasted. I also thought it might have been a body repair job started by the prison system but never finished?

Any info you can supply is much appreciated.

You can still e-mail me at snipped-for-privacy@worldnet.obvious.att.net by removing the obvious. Thanks. -BaH

It was replaced before I got it. I mostly worked on the engine and about the time I got the engine going, I needed the garage for my Baja bug. I decided that I couldn't do both so I pulled the engine and sold the bus to Jenn. The buss went through 2 owners before me as a project. The engine is still going strong in a friend's bus. I don't remember the name of the guy I got it from and he was going through a divorce and isn't living in the area any more.

Since the VIN is on the body too, I'm sure there is a way to get around this problem. Talk to the WSP and explain the problem. Years ago I had a theft recovered bike and it had a WSP tag on the frame and engine. Maybe they could do something like that for you...

Anyway I'm happy to hear it's going back on the road. If I'd had more time, I would have gotten it on the road years ago. The body was very tight, I was sure sorry to have to let it go.

Tony

Yes, there are ways around it. If it is to remain the identity it was, there is apparently no acceptable way around it! When they re-number, it is no longer a VW bus VIN# it is a generic WSP VIN# and relates only to the WSP database (DOL). I'm considering the possibility of placing the # that is on the passenger side seat back on the dashboard position as the seat back will be removed. The bad part is, I would normally remove the part of sheetmetal where the # is in the engine compartment for the engine conversion. It would be in my best interest to preserve that if I keep the bus as what/who it is. Otherwise I just pull the dash out of my current bus when I'm ready to make the switch as it's body will be so bad in 2 more years (my estimate of how long it will take!) that it will not even be roadworthy.

Another possibility is to remove only the pieces that my bus needs - but that really isn't reasonable and WTH - as long as I have a blank canvas, I might as well get creative and do all the stuff I've ever wanted to do!

There will be tracking of the project at

new there yet - just the Subey conversion album, the bus tech album with side window latch rebuild (only) and the late bus tech album with only the "coming soon" promise & the one-man bleeder kit shootout)-BaH

I hope it all works out for you. I would have liked to put a Sube engine it it too. That was the plan for down the road anyway. I drove a Sube wagon for a few years. It went like stink and I can see why the conversion is popular.

T> Yes, there are ways around it. If it is to remain the identity it was,

un-solvable... Do you think there is any possibility of

What year is this bus?

Vin numbers are elsewhere on buses.

Hi Karl. It's a '74. They have a VIN # in the "typical" location on the dashboard visible through the windshield and that is the first one that gets looked at in event of something being suspect. That is the one that is incorrect. The other three are correct and match each other and the title. There is one on the driver's door pillar, one on the sheet metal where it rises just inside the engine compartment door to the left, and one on the seat back on the passengers' side.

Certainly somebody must make them for restorations?? One would think!

-BaH