I've been looking for a van for the last couple years, but have recently 
gotten really interested. I bought a '73 about 10 years ago with a 
dropped valve seat (#3 exhaust) and fixed it up fairly nice (fixed the 
engine, replaced all the seals, paneled the interior to replace the 
damaged panels, fixed the body & painted the 'yellar', etc)... but it 
wasn't the same as the old splitty I learned to drive on.

I recently ran an ad in the Register Guard (Eugene OR), and had a couple 
offers I turned down. The more interesting offer was for a '58 panel. It 
was intact, but rusty (would require battery tray, and had rust down 
both sides and front). The floor pan seemed intact, but both bumpers and 
engine were missing/damaged (he pulled the engine to put in a beetle). 
The rear lights were replaced, but he says he has the originals, and an 
extra speedo. The dash was not too bad, but there was no glove tray. The 
floor didn't look bad, but I didn't take the stuff out of the van to 
make sure (it did look good, what I could see). It has 2 cracked 
windows. He had the tranny rebuilt before he drove it in, and he wanted 
the $150 he paid for that rebuild. He wants to see it rebuilt and I 
would NOT part it out. It's not like there are enough of these left for 
that fate to fall on it.

If anyone is in this area, and you have the what-it-takes to undertake a 
major restore, this might be a good start.
-- 
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= Looking for that "perfect" restorable bus... =
= just hope I find it before I retire.         =
= 5 years ago they were common...              =
= but that was BD (before Deadhead concerts).  =
= Buy 'em up, burn 'em out, hitch outa town.   =
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