A 1967 VW T1 Crew Bus is Reborn

Why I bought this car: I always wanted a ‘splitty’ double cab. They are quite rare, but were not as desirable as campers, buses and Sambas. Daisy, as I call her, was bought as a farm truck for a sheep farm in Oudtshoorn in the Eastern Cape. She was used to transport sheep, the farmer, his works, and the sheep dog. I bought her in 2013 in Brixton, Johannesburg. She was very rusty and banged up, but she was running and road registered.

I drove her occasionally over the next year, but her motor was very tired. I always planned to restore her, so took her to Ernst van der Toon of Classic VW in Benoni. The plan was to restore the body. I would swing spanners to get some life back in the engine. I agreed with Ernst to pay monthly for work completed. I really expected the restoration to take a year or so, but between Ernst getting busy on other projects and my life happening Daisy got pushed to the back of his workshop, and lay unattended for a few years.

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Common issues with this model: As she was used in the Karoo, she picked up a lot of sand in hidden areas. Add sheep urine, and that was a recipe for rust, of which she had plenty.

Major repairs I’ve conducted: I got married shortly before Covid. During that period we decided to immigrate to the Netherlands, so the Daisy project was reconsidered. I thought I might sell her as a project, but saw that so many car projects quietly died, and I wasn’t going to let that happen to Daisy. In 2022 I arranged with Ernst to make Daisy his top priority. Over the next year and a half she was completely restored, with new and repaired panels, engine rebuild, gearbox rebuild, underbody corrosion treatment, and a complete respray.

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She was originally white, then blue. I wanted to have a smart new look. So I selected black and ivory, both original VW colours, for the exterior. The interior was dove grey. Only the rear bench seat remained in the original vinyl. It was in a horrible state, and the front seats were covered in blue curtain fabric. The seat frames were in a bad state. The frames were restored and repainted, the springs were refreshed and new padding used. The new vinyl is original VW, but from a Karmann Ghia, in red and coral.

The best thing about my car: Her personality. She is so much fun to drive, especially with the safari windows open. At the end of 2023 Daisy was collected from Benoni and shipped to The Netherlands. She arrived in Rotterdam in January 2024, cleared customs and was then transported to me. She arrived in her new home on Valentine’s Day 2024; she is my Valentine – ha ha ha.

The next hurdle was to get her registered in The Netherlands. I was expecting a painful registration process as she was a foreigner, but she is regarded as an ‘old timer’ in The Netherlands, so registration was fairly smooth. She qualified for an old style Dutch registration plate, as seen in the photos. We have enjoyed driving her over the last two years to get reacquainted. I recently had her interior reupholstered, and plan on a few more cosmetic updates.