This 1966 Volkswagen Bus is a desirable early model Type 2 with the split windscreen and “Campmobile” configuration. This version is also known as a Westfalia S042 package van, which essentially amounts to being a designation reserved for the earlier-style Buses with the pop-top roof and clever cabin featuring ample storage and living spaces in a very compact size. This particular Bus has been hiding out for quite a few years and turned out to be in very respectable condition underneath a light coating of dust. Find it here on craigslist near San Diego for $35,000.
The seller is keen to show off how nicely the forest green paint is already coming back to life, and I don’t blame them. You have to love early single-stage paint, but sometimes there’s still plenty of dent damage or other work to resolve before you stand back and admire the shine. Not here, as the Bus looks like it benefits from largely straight body panels that look even better when a good buffing takes of years of faded finish. The early Westfalia Buses are recognizable for those interesting windows with a grid pattern of sorts going across them and the more compact pop-top mechanism, along with the obvious cues like the split windshield.
The interior features the same clever packaging we’ve come to expect in Westfalias, with a bed in the rear and plenty of handsome cabinetry. The walk-through design is a big reason today why I own a 2003 VW Eurovan – it’s simply the best way to travel with kids if you’re committed to a road trip. Obviously, if you can swing a fully kitted-out Sprinter van, that’s the preferred way to go, but the walk-through cabin design is still an innovation that the VW Bus made mainstream and it’s unfortunate so many van designs today still prioritize a gigantic center console storage bin rather than free-range walkability.
While it appears the engine is removed in this photo, the seller claims the Bus runs and drives well. If you’re a seasoned air-cooled VW expert, it’s no big deal to pull out an engine for a re-seal or just to see how things look inside. In this case, the engine compartment looks quite tidy, and the seller notes just a small amount of rust in the right rear corner of the battery box. This cool Campmobile was originally from Florida and now lives in southern California, so it’s had a good life. The Bus will come with a healthy assortment of spare parts as well, which is always a good sign of long-term committed owners.
Will sell fast.
Great find. Will be gone soon if legit.
I think the “grid pattern” on those “interesting windows” represent louveres.
They’re called Jalousie windows.
Red Riley got it. The windows have screens on the inside and crank out to get fresh air.
we had those in our house … they were fairly popular in the South in the ’50s … didn’t seal well though, cold air would come in in the winter and they rattled when hurricane-strength winds came around …
That van probably had solid window’s and they replaced them with the Jalousie windows I worked for a place in St. Louis called turtle top and we installed thousand’s of them in V.W.’s
He’s thinking about all the good times he had in this in 1966.
Those windows are part of the Westfalia package and were installed from new.
The lack of an engine MIGHT be a problem but it would hardly be faster with one……
Look..I love VW campers and I have over 400K miles on my 84. HOWEVER…the kind of money they are asking (and getting!) for the early buses is silly for something that is really a toy. With a Subaru engine in mine, I just clocked 22.4 mpg on a trip from VA to upstate NY, Cape Cod and home. I can set the cruise on the interstate and roll right along with the “big boys” No amount of rework is going to make this van a useable vehicle for today’s roads and traffic. 35 grand..Uhhh….no….Yes, that’s the “market” but no….no no no…
If someone is going to drop 35,000 on this VW do yourself a favor and build a decent upgraded engine for it. Reliability and about 75 hp is easily achieved, and a freeway flyer transmission completes the package. One must remember this is not the 60s anymore, but then again 35 would have told you that. I’d love to have one again, but I need to at least buy a lottery ticket.
We had one like this in the early 70s. Living Laurel Canyon at the time. We’d take it down to Mexico and up the coast when our schedules permitted. It had a tent like setup with green and white stripes that extended over the barn doors. I replaced the front bumper with a 2X6. Man, the trips that I remember were great. Definitely another time.
Jeff Lavery, a Sprinter Van? Really? I have yet to hear any owner of these to be happy with them. And once over 75,000 miles and the front end needs rebuilding, I would not be a player. (I have talked to at least 6 owners of Sprinter conversion vans and they all said the same thing. “They expected to have issues with the conversion.” (RV companies tend to be in the low end of the quality department) But all were very disappointed with the issues of the chassis. (I worked in a facility where we did maintenance on these and reliability was not what one would expect.) If you want to go first class as far as quality goes in a “no-frills” camper van. Get a Sport-Mobile conversion on a Ford Transit. However, be careful in choosing one of these as their trailer towing capabilities are not what you would expect.
Well..As an owner of both a VW camper and a Sprinter I have to say “YES” to the Sprinter. A bit over a week ago I was on Cape Cod with the Westfalia. Great trip, had fun. Home to VA and a day and half later I fired up the 06 Sprinter and headed out. I’m currently in Albuquerque and I turned 418,000 miles on the way out. Slightly better fuel mileage than the Subaru-powered vanagon. (let’s not talk diesel prices please….) Smooth, quiet and much better AC. Have I had problems with the Sprinter? yep.. A blown injector 8 miles from work was a problem. However, compared to the LONG list of things that have gone wrong on the VW in roughly the same miles? Wow….
If I couldn’t afford either if I couldn’t do the work. I would avoid any vehicle that required DEF so the later diesel vans are out. I love my VW camper. But if I’m just GOING and not CAMPING? nothing wrong, and a lot right about T1N Sprinters.