Vintage Barn of the week #12

You don't get them much lower than this? This one was saved from mother nature by one of norways best rescuers. Morten "Crazy" saw the potential and did something about it... Respect!

VW racing mid 60ies

The first shot showing two beetles battling at Marlboro Speedway in the 1965 12 hour race. The colored pictures show the same race in 1966. I (of course) fell in love with the split window in the b/w photo. In my head it also have wider rims in the rear than at the front. Both cars have wider than stock rims it seems? As cool as it gets... (pictures from http://www.thevintageracer.com/)

Waiting for some summer luvin'

This morning the thermometer was almost down to - 20 deg Celsius again. I'm so glad my dear VW's are inside and tucked away until the summer return. I received these cool photos in my mailbox when I got to work today, and they made me dream of summer straight away. My friend Morten Lund shot these from his car driving along the autobahn in Germany this summer. They capture very well the feeling of driving an old VW on one of europes busiest highways, crowded... With only a 36 Hp engine and stock transmission we cruised along at a plesant 90 km/h, with wind in our hair and no worries =)

From green to grey

I read somewhere that the "green stuff" on the Klassicfab pieces where no good. But I tried both mechanical removing and to remove it with thinner. I think the quality of the green primer seems more than good enough. I cleaned off everything and gave it a second coating of grey 2k primer. It's easier now, rather than paint it after it's welded in place.

Vintage Barn of the week #11

The older the better right? Well i found this picture on the net, but has a feeling it went through some digital customworks. Would be cool to have a 49 (not sure about "slammed on earlies").

Musclebus delivery

I got huge package the other day containing some green stuff from South-America. I made a deal with Chris at Musclebus a while ago, and got great service from him. Now I can start to fabricate more of my own pieces, using some of the new metal as mallets. The BD is parked in a cold storage for the time beeing, so working indoors with preparations is prefered =) There is still a long way to go...

Bad ass split

This must be some of the coolest to come out in a long time. I simply love the look and stance of this split window bug, especially the small details that make it "pop". Please take me to Bonneville =) The picture is borrowed from the march 2010 edition of Volksworld magazine

Vintage Barn of the week #10

Time for a cool bus again. This time a Japaneese barndoor with lovely patina. The stance is radical, perhaps not suited for norwegian winter roads =)

Vau-Max Vintage Speed

During the Sechs Volt trip to Germany this summer, I was lucky to be picked for a photoshoot with a professional. The result can now be seen on the German web site www.vau-max.de/. A website dedicated to VW and Audi realtives of any age, and they also have a classic corner. Igor Vucinic has taken some really cool pictures and he also made a good article with a lot of correct details. I know he was a serious man when he jumped at the Shell Service sticker in the door opening. That is the attention to detail that warms a Sechs Volt pacemaker =)

For me it's hard to understand that the car can turn out this good in pictures. I have followed this car from a forestwreck, and know all the battlescars and flaws. The owner though, looks like a sunburned norwegian on holiday, not far from the truth =)

Full article

English translation

Vintage Barn of the week #9

First BD out in 2010 is a Finnish cool panel. I have seen this a couple of times at Mantorp and in Germany. I love the raw unrestored look and it even has a cool stance. Not sure if the base color is the same as mine, or if it's originally a primer van. I like it =)

Merry Christmas - God Jul!

Another year has passed, and this year as well have brought several good VW moments.My year started with sorting out the Abarth carburator kit, and after a lot of troubleshooting making it run properly.

http://52zwitter.blogspot.com/2009/06/hessisch-around-corner.html

The highlight of the year was definitely the trip to Hessisch oldendorf in Germany for the historic VW gathering there. A trip planned several years ahead, and the feeling of driving a self built car on the Autobahn is just something else. And the atmosphere in Germany was outstanding!

http://52zwitter.blogspot.com/2009/09/oslo-hessisch-roundtrip.html

Next thing out was the trip to Telemark in Norway to lift Mortens samba bus out of the water. A really nice trip, and a moment to remember for sure.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=372048&highlight=samba+norway

After waiting a long time, I finally could roll a 1953 Barndoor into the workshop this autumn. Although I don't have the time to jump right into the project, I got a little done this year after all.

http://52zwitter.blogspot.com/2009/11/pre-restoration.html

Our engagement in the SCC vintage village paid off this year as well, as we gathered a lot of quality cars, and set a new Norwegian record with 4 schwimmwagens on the water at one time.

http://outlavws.blogspot.com/2009/08/der-propellenfuhrer.html

Thank you all visitors,new and old friends for a very good year, and I wish you all a good aircooled 2010!

Vintage Barn of the week #8

The mother of all Barndoor projects, the "Kempes" van. Going into the christmas holidays you should have plenty of time to read the incredible Kempes story on the Split Screen Camper Van forum: http://www.ssvc.org.uk/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=35155

This is so inspiring reading... Enjoy!

Old Norwegian BD photo

Found this one on the web. Described to be a bakery van from the vestern part of Norway. Really cool I must say, with two tone paint and signwriting =)

Vintage Barn of the week #7

This BD I know nothing about. Not sure if it's restored and drivable, or just a mock up on wheels.Looks a little windy to drive =) I like the look of the mag wheels. Classic and simple...

Vintage Barn of the week #6

This week I have found some pictures of a swedish barndoor. It's so cool with it's unrestored looks. But technically it has to be sound, because this van is driven everywhere across Europe. These pictures were taken in Hessisch Oldendorf this summer, a long waqy from it's origin in Sweden.

Reinforcements

A little inspired from the lessions at Norwegian Hammerworks, I had to find out what we could do with the tool in our garage. Bending metal shouldn't be that hard, so I tried some easy profiles for a start. Because everything is gone in the frame of the BD I measured as good as possible and made the two crossmembers. The one in front is already on it's way from south america, but I used it as a trial piece and I'll have it as a spare. The rear one worked out OK. I made them in two pieces, and will weld them toghether when mounted. I think I will have to do the same to the top hats, as my plan is to keep the cargofloor in the van. The 1,5 mm steel was about the limit of our tool for bending metal.

As for other progress, the gearbox and rear suspension is fully removed from the car. It's a painstaking job to take a rusted out wreck apart. Evertything is stuck beyond imagination...

Things brake and fall apart, but I try to keep up with fixing it instantly, as I did to the lever shock and door hinge.

Hinge repair

When I removed the passenger door from the BD the upper ear on the upper hinge broke off. I posted earlier that I was not sure what to do; replace or repair. Given the result from the lever shock welding, I figured I would give repairing a shot. I grinded all the edges to get a deep weld penetration, as the surface of welding was very limited here. I heated the pieces and welded with the door bolt as a guide. This also turned out well, and no visible cracks to be seen. I will settle with this repair, and now proceed with the rest of the repair on this door, and keep the original hinge.The weld seen across the hinge is some old repair with oxy-acetylen solder. Will take care of that later.

Lever shocks #2

The lever shock that I welded was operating OK, and the arm could be moved up and down. The other one is siezed, and I opened it up after cleaning it. Acording to the workshop manual, the shock should be filled with hydraulic oil, but the shock was completely dried out inside. I filled it with oil now and will let it soak for a while. If that doesn't do it, I will soak the entire shock in diesel oil. The cool thing about this shock, is that some of the original paint is hidden under the rust. It will be enough to get the correct color to paint them again.

The welded shock will also be opened and oil-treated.

Lever shocks #1

As I have started to take the BD apart, there is a lot of parts that need attention. Among these are the two lever shocks, ancient rear shock absorbers. One of them was damaged and fell apart when I loosened the bolts. They are made of cast iron, and I was not sure if it could be fixed. But I followed the procedures for welding cast iron, found on the internet =). The trick, as I read, is to warm the two pices before welding, keeping it warm during welding, and cooling it slowly. I think the result look Ok, and hopefully it will be strong enough. I guess we have to find out the hard way... Covered it with some primer for storage for now.

A pinch of salt?

It's not a Barndoor I know, but still a really cool setting. I really like the vintage racing bike and the service van together. Perfect couple =)

Vintage Barn of the week #5

This is infact one of the first barndoors that really made an impression on me. It has changed a little bit in style over the years, but always had a cool stance. First time I saw it rollin, it had a set of Porsche pattern torque trust wheels, maybe the coolest ones in my eyes. A true scandinavian classic!

Swedish - UK restored BD

It's amazing to see how many abondoned BD wrecks being brought back to life these days. Another perfect example here, now ready for 50+ more years on the road. Very cool patina as well =)

1950 Barndoor

Here is some pictures of one of the best 1950 BD's on the planet. I saw this in Hessisch this summer, and the finish is mindblowing. I'm going nowhere near this with my project, but find the restoration photos very interresting and helpful. Have a look here in Axels own photo album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/axelstruwe/BarndoorBus1950#

Vintage Barn of the week #5

Cool patina-ed BD... Like the black roof rack =)

Norwegian survivors

This autumn two barndoors have surfaced almost out of nowhere here in Norway. Both being double door panelvans making them rather special. And to top it all, one of them has a rear hatch option as well. Hopefylly these BD's will fall into the right hands and become excellent projects. We need more BD's on the road in Norway!!

Vintage Barn of the week #4

Maybe one of my favorite BD's ever. So many cool details on this norwegian built panel van. Mr. Rui sure knows his stuff =)

Attention to detail #2

Having a rental contract with Oval 57 on my work shop space, means that I have to suck up to him from time to time. Bringing him coffe and always agree on how important it is to put all your love into the project is some of the trouble I have to go through. As you probably know from reading his restoration blog on the 52 "capitan" split, the other members of Sechs Volt have claimed he has been sleeping with his Kamax bolts, rubber moldings and seat covers on several occations, unfornately without having any evidence for the claim.

So to keep Oval 57 happy (and the rental contract fresh), I have decided to give the original seat covers a try. They have been resting in the forest for decades, so the softnes in the fabric is somewhat gone. But last night I carefully disassembeled the covers on the backrest, and took it inside and gave a good cleaning. And here I found another facinating detail for all the geeks out there... The little red tab shown in the picture, made from the same material as the seat cover but in red color. Sawn in at middle bottom of the backrest. A very important detail to adress if you have to make repro covers =) Here you also see a "before" picture of the seat. The main problem reusing this is a little shrinking of the material, and all the seams have rotted away. The frame is good and solid.We will have to wait for the outcome of this...

Attention to detail #1

I have read a lot of topics on Barndoor details at thesamba.com and other places. Last night I did some work on the passenger door, and found some funny details again. I knew the window frame on the door had a number punched in on top, and that this number somehow relates to the body number of the van. This means the doors were "one-of" from the factory. But what I found last night is that the hinges have the same number punched into them.This number is usually covered with metal, so you would have to remove the hinge to see it. My hinge is broken, so I had to get it out, and some old damage repair has to be redone (it has been welded at some point). The question is; repair the original stamped one, or replace it with another?

If all this numbering of doorparts should make any sense, the door it self should have the same number somewhere? Someone knows?

Vintage Barn of the week #3

This week we have a very cool BD singlecab used as they were intended. A cool parts hauler for sure =)

Someone like magic tricks

Just another unbelievable Barndoor project is started in the UK. As the rest of the RHD Samba Barndoors out there, this also come from the IKEA land of Sweden. Can't help the fact that seeing these pictures, give me motivation for my own project =) Great respect to the people digging into cars like this... Read more at the Split Screen Van Club forum:

http://www.ssvc.org.uk/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=46441

Pre restoration

Here are some more pre restoration pictures. It shows a relatively straight body, exept the roof wich is really damaged. The cargo area and cabin is in fair shape, but needs new panels in every corner. Unfornately the spare roof was needed by the previos owner, but I don't worry about the roof at the moment. That will be fixable, one way or another. But they sure look rough these forest wrecks as you pull them into the garage =)

The Oslo Lysverker Van - a real workhorse?

Oslo Lysverker had a lot to do with developing the infrastructure in Oslo. Part of the development was putting new power cables in the ground. These cables were heavy and the work of putting them in the ground was not a easy task. They could be up to over 500 meters long, and the trick seemed to be not to stop when you got the cable sliding. A known method from ancient times of making people work in the same paste, is song and rythm. At Oslo Lysverker they had their own singer, whos only job was to keep the cable sliding. His singing was supposed to keep the men pull at the rythm of his song. The movie clip is from a norwegian TV program in the seventhies. I wonder if my BD panel van was the vehicle the singer used to carry himself and his speaker kit around? The cargo area of my van is surprisingly straight for being a work horse for over 10 years. As you can hear from the clip, I recon this man in the turtle neck was not the most popular man among the dirty workers in the ditch. Singing his awful song day out and day in with his hands in his pockets. The "Oppsanger" as he was titled, got replaced by a machine who pulled the cables shortly after this interview took place. Wonder why?

If I got the "Oppsanger" van, it must have been the most hated vehicle in Oslo for many years... Now I just have to mount a speaker on the roof and fill the streets with song once again =)

Vintage Barn of the week #2

New week, new barndoor =) Love the patina and lettering on this one...