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Army Brat: 1968 VW Double Cab Bus

Among the varieties of air-cooled VW Buses we see for sale, the double-cab pickup body is a rare one. This example is for sale in New Jersey and is well-traveled, having been sold new in Washington State before moving to Alabama then on to Florida. Given the military base parking stickers, it’s a fair assumption it resided in the care of a military employee who moved from base to base. Find it listed here on craigslist with an asking price of $14,900.  Thanks to Barn Finds reader Bill Walters for the find. 

The Redstone Arsenal is as clear an indication you need that this Bus spent much of its life on a base, somewhere. The Arsenal is in Huntsville, Alabama, and is a garrison for a number of tenants including the U.S. Army Materiel Command, the Missile Defense Agency of the Department of Defense and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, according to Wikipedia.  A Bus with plenty of utility space seems like the ideal accomplice for an aeronautical engineer, or an Army mechanic.

The seller says the body wears its original paint, and the interior looks highly original as well. I suspect the seat has been repholstered or replaced at one point in time, as it doesn’t match the door panels or seem like a natural color for a body wearing ivory or cream paint. The dashboard appears very clean and free from cracks, and the listing photos also shows what appears to be a minty headliner. Underbody pictures reveal surface rust but nothing worst than that.

The body still sports original paint, and while the bed is well-used, it also makes it easier for the next owner to continue using the Bus as intended. Bumpers show heavy surface rust and would take well to fresh coat of paint while the body can simply be buffed out. Hubcaps also look quite nice, but the nose of the Bus sports some bumps and bruises. Provided more serious corrosion isn’t hiding elsewhere, this is a survivor-grade double cab you won’t be afraid to use. The price, however, is still all the money for a project.

Comments

  1. Avatar craZee

    Grew up riding in one of these. Whenever we went into Mexico we would always get pulled into secondary inspection coming back into the States because of the huge storage area under the back seat.
    In a strong headwind you can walk faster than these will go LOL

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  2. Avatar Nevis Beeman

    We have the same model of double cab VW here on Nevis too.
    Sold new on St Kitts its spent most of its life on Nevis, currently owned by a Norwegian family. (It’s fortunes seem to wax & wane over the years)
    It is of course RHD & white, and just possibly for sale.Hiking the Appalachian Trail I enjoyed seeing an identical white double cab VW (but LHD of course) at the side of the road near Bethel, Maine; also roadworthy.

    Like 0
  3. Avatar CATHOUSE

    Someone must have liked it as the CL ad has been deleted by the author.

    Like 0
  4. Avatar MARK BOYCE

    probably flip it for 25k watch for it on ebay!

    Like 0
  5. Avatar Edward

    I am Brazilian but I live in Canada, this model was exaggerated in Brazil and therefore it is easy to find them for any value between 5 thousand bucks and in better conditions of body. I just needed to find a right partner to help me with bureaucracies and bring them here. Between type 1, lot of bugs and squabackers.

    Like 0

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