As one of the most popular vehicles of its type, it is hard to find an affordable specimen of Volkswagen’s Type 2 Bus that doesn’t require a full-blown restoration. This running and driving 1963 Volkswagen Type 2 Bus that is available here on eBay isn’t perfect by any means, but it’s a solid starting point for someone seeking a project VW bus.
This Volkswagen is available in Parker, Colorado with a clean title. While it appears that this example spent time as some type of a business or work van, there isn’t too much history about this bus beside the fact that it spent the last few years in storage.
As you can see, the body is far from perfect, but it isn’t too bad compared to other VW buses for sale. There are some spots of rust on the floor, slight damage to the drivers’ side A-pillar, and some repair to the wheel wells, which underwent cutting in the past to fit larger tires.
Inside the cabin, things are pretty bare, but this makes it a great candidate for a camper conversion. Both front seats received reupholstering and there are various new pieces of interior paneling, including the door panels, kick panels, and rear hatch panel. Last but not least, the entry doors on the passenger side both work without any issues and latch easily.
This van uses a 1.3-liter flat 4-cylinder engine, which pairs to a manual transmission to drive the rear wheels. Recent maintenance items to the engine include a new carburetor, new Bosch ignition coil, new spark plug wires, and a new muffler. The drivetrain has 31,333 miles on it and the seller notes that the bus runs and drives great.
At the time of publication, bidding is at $8,600 with the reserve not met. How would you revive this project panel bus?
Contrary to the belief of some, the culture of VW enthusiasts is alive and thriving, and has been for decades. With aftermarket surplus at your disposal, it allows these relics to be revived and back on the road, sensibly or extremely…I personally have been involved with the early Type-1 aircooled splits, ovals and coachbuilts for nearly 40 years…I love every minute of it. I’m currently resurrecting an extremely obsolete 1950 Tempo Matador truck that borrowed the 25hp powerplant and crashbox 4spd. from VW before they were discontiued after 1,362 units made it through production…✌️ VW.
How did you find a tempo matador?
@Trevor
Are you familiar with this small production run (1949-52 ) of these German trucks? A friend of ours who operates one of the largest aftermarket VW Distributing outlets in Europe, had a Hot VW’s profile done on his very unique aircooled truck in 2004. He has quite an interesting collection of very eclectic cars and motor vehicles. Once I read through this very interesting article the search was on. Four years later an ad. appeared for a very rough unit located in Uruguay, S.A. The process to ship this back to the states was horrendous. Nowadays however, using an international broker and a professional shipping outfit along with a port authority attorney is essential for a smooth transition…There is good information on Google searches. Availability is extremely scarce if you’re so lucky to source one. Also expect to fabricate and interchange with VW parts, for there was never an aftermarket production of surplus parts…Continue to innovate not duplicate…
Would love to swap in a big motor, get rid of the reduction gears, put in a freeway tranny and slam it. Love these old busses
Looks like a good solid project van but at the prices these go for it’s just to rich for my blood!!
Brings back fond memories of my blue ’55. Didn’t have time to do it then but would have followed Steve Hill’s path with it. Bug transaxle with straight axles takes care of the road gears and lowering in the rear and the rest is easy. Even the stock type 4 2.0 liters have plenty of power as these guy don’t weigh a lot.
A friend of mine gave me a call about 1989 asked if I could come to his house right away he was having something delivered and wanted ,e to look it over i got to his house and within couple minutes a tow truck arrived with a dirty 1963 vw panel van it was unloaded and we washed it up i was surprised it was in good shape no rust paint faded inside looked almost like new inside paint in excellent shape seats good shape as well cleaned up inside wasn’t as dirty as outside he asked me if i could get it running told him if it turns over ill make it run but not sure how well it will run so i was able to turn over the engine i told him to go find a 8 volt battery a gas can and 6 foot of fuel line he left to get these and i checked out the wiring and pulled the carb an gave it a quick clean he got back i installed battery disconnected fuel line hooked it to carb put other end in gas can set can on roof told him to get in to try to start sprayed starter fluid in and told him try it turned over a few times an fired up turned it off and hooked fuel line to pump n turned over n started ran it until ran out of gas he told me cost more to tow than he paid for it he paid 25 bucks for it with a title issued in 62 crazy