Much More Than a VW Campervan
Kaspar is much more than simply a 1970 VW Westfalia (campervan). He's my spirit animal, soulmate, confidante, sidekick, and beach buddy.
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When first acquired, he resembled one of those sad, abused puppies depicted in the horribly heartbreaking TV ads. His eyes begged me to take him home. His rescue cost me far more than his market value considering his long neglected, rundown condition.
Once at home, a serious bumper to bumper inspection quickly disclosed just how sickly he had become. With no exaggeration, it became painfully clear that every inch of him needed attention. Though I named him Kaspar, I began referring to him as Frankenbus (Not to his face, mind you!).
Frankenbus was a patchwork quilt of panels and parts, with many not those of a VW bus. Kaspar had missing or wrong parts, wrong or missing hardware, as well as, bastardized, rerouted wiring. He didn't even have a genuine VW bus engine! He came powered by a barely held together 1973 VW beetle engine that was missing most of its cowling pieces, and what was there was incorrect, or installed incorrectly. The list goes on and on, but I'm sure you’ve gotten the picture by now. In short, Kaspar was a hot mess!
The first step toward restoration was tearing out his entire interior and scrubbing it down a couple times. I then rust treated and painted everything metal, replaced the flooring, and refurbished all the removed cabinetry. After much sweat and elbow grease, his interior went from utterly disgusting to looking practically new. And, of course, it all now smelled so wonderfully pleasant.
The mechanical work was more extensive than a hobbyist like myself could ever hope to tackle on their own, so I outsourced it to a highly reputed VW mechanical wizard. For a handsome sum, he worked his magic on the pathetic engine, transmission, CV joints, shifter, the entire braking system, the whole front end, gas tank and all venting, and to replace missing stuff, like cowling pieces, heater boxes, ducting, and whatever was needed to make Kaspar whole again and dependably operational. The magic took over eight months to complete.
Once more back at home, I removed Kaspar's pop top, ripped off the old canvas, cleaned all surfaces, replaced rotted wood, and repainted the two fiberglass halves. That done, I installed a new canvas tent and replaced the canvas on the fold down cot. In the process, I also redid the luggage top carrier, replacing the rusted, pitted, iron cross bars with oak slats. By now, he was beaming with pride.
Restoration/renovation of Kaspar has been an ongoing, massive labor of love. Hey, what can I say? I’m a hopeless vintage VW bus lover, and by no means, a level-headed, profit-driven, businessman.
