[b-man]

Originally Posted by 67drake

I don’t see too many around here, but was just behind one yesterday after reading this thread.

That’s what’s referred to as a Bay Window bus, 1968 and later.

The front windshield is curved one-piece glass, the single side cargo door is a slider unlike earlier buses that had 2 separate hinged cargo doors. Some later splits did have a single sliding cargo door option but it’s extremely rare. The bay bus has longer front doors and more foot room up front and has roll-up windows unlike the sliding windows on split buses that only open up for half the window size.

Also note the long rectangular side windows. 1967 and earlier buses had multiple square side windows for passenger buses.

That particular bus is 1968-1971 which still retains the oval ‘canned ham’ style taillights used from 1962-1967 on split buses.

In my VW club the bay buses vastly outnumber the split buses by about 5 to 1 because bay buses cost only about one half to one third of a split bus.

The somewhat ratty black and white 1966 21 window pictured belongs to a friend who threw down 40k to buy it and then spent probably another 5k and a year of his spare time to get it in the road. It’s a European spec bus that didn’t come with bumper guards or overriders and has extra long Deluxe trim on the bumpers because of that. It still has a few rust issues but not enough to not be roadworthy.

[MarkS57]

A little off topic but my first boss at 17 was a guy that exclusively repaired VW's. This was 1974, he was The Man when it came to VW repair, made a fortune doing it. Appointments only. He owned at least 8 antique cars. Some typical like Model A's, some high buck stuff like a beautiful Packard for one.

[SD73]

...and this is where Corvairs come from.

[Dave R]

Is it the photo angle or is the VW Bug in the back oversized?

[b-man]

Originally Posted by Dave R

Is it the photo angle or is the VW Bug in the back oversized?

Photo angle I’m sure.

Or more likely the iPhone I use always takes sort of distorted pictures like a fisheye lens would depending on how close you are to the subject.

[71GP76TA]

Back in the 50's when my mom was a kid (she's 78 now). Her parents.. (my grandparents) had a 23 window with a sunroof. My mom thinks it was a 1955 or 56. There were 5 children so they needed the seating. Around that same time my grandpas brother had a split window bug... I think it was a '50 or '51 IIRC. When I was a little kid (I'm 56 now) back in the early 70's. My grandpa had a '59 single cab truck. I remember riding in it and thought it was a weird vehicle at the time. I'm not a VW guy... never understood why people are so into them. They are kinda neat little cars.. but not my thing.

[b-man]

They have universal appeal.

They were really the first small imports that actually made an impact.

The early split buses are a very hot commodity now, buy as many as you can even if you don’t care for them.

Money in the bank.

My pickup gets more looks and thumbs up from more types of people than anything I’ve ever driven. My panel bus gets its share of love too, especially when it was rocking the wide whites.

People really take notice of the funky old VW buses, old GTOs and Trans Ams not as much. I think because most people just don’t know what they’re looking at when it comes to old muscle and they’re just not all that different from a regular car in most people’s eyes.

[71GP76TA]

Originally Posted by b-man

They have universal appeal.

They were really the first small imports that actually made an impact.

The early split buses are a very hot commodity now, buy as many as you can even if you don’t care for them.

Money in the bank.

My pickup gets more looks and thumbs up from more types of people than anything I’ve ever driven. My panel bus gets its share of love too, especially when it was rocking the wide whites.

People really take notice of the funky old VW buses, old GTOs and Trans Ams not so much.

If my grandpa was still alive.. He'd be blown away at what that bus would be worth today.

[b-man]

Originally Posted by 71GP76TA

If my grandpa was still alive.. He'd be blown away at what that bus would be worth today.

In pristine condition and especially if it was an unrestored survivor you’d be looking at a quarter million.