1961 Microbus

[Mike Kever Kombi]

Hello all

I picked up a 1961 Micro bus last weekend to keep my 71 Super company in the driveway.
The bus was originally from Portland, driven here by a student attending Oberlin, then sold before he left. this was back in the 90s, and has been here ever since. (so the story goes)
I bought the bus from a guy in Berea (thanks Patrick B).

This is the info decoded from the M Plate

Model Type 2 (T1) mod. 221 :
- Microbus
- 8 seater
- Cargo doors right
- Full middle seat
- LHD

Modelyear 1961
Planned production date December 12 ,1960
Paint color SK633 - Unknown special color
Interior color (doorpanels and seats) SK633 - Unknown special color
Destination USA, Portland

I Plan on keeping a detailed journal of the project

I am not trying to bang this out, so it may take a year or 2 before it is fully complete. I will update as time allows, but cannot make a commitment to post at set intervals.

for those like me that like ACVW porn, I will try to include lots of photos.

here is the van at time of purchase.
ignore the date stamps on the photos...they are wrong....technology scares me or I would change the settings on the camera.

front interior

There is a lot of sheet metal to do, then on to mechanicals

[WideFive]

Caramel interior, that usually came with a Mango, not sure what else. You have a picture of the M-Code plate?

[tferr]

Congrats!! Looks like a great start Tom

[WideFive]

Looks like thin lip dog legs which didn't start until '63? High hinge too, which stopped in '60. Interesting Bus. Will be cool to see what you find once you dig into it.

[Mike Kever Kombi]

Caramel interior, that usually came with a Mango, not sure what else. You have a picture of the M-Code plate?

m code pic is blurry, had a link to plate in sig, but it is not working

color code is sk633, which is a custom code, and cannot find info on it anywhere, if anyone else could that would be great. options package 372, US Portland Destination.

12/12/1960 birthdate

m code on plate
12 12 0

372
UP 221 sk 633 698989

The dog leg on passenger side is a thin lip, and not installed very well, as the PO said "it was just tacked"

the dog legs will be replaced when I start on the front door and floor repairs.

right now my focus is on the cargo area. Long rocker, pillars, cargo doors and floor.

after that area is finished I shall move forward.

Thanks for the comments, keep them coming....I like people who know more than I do.....which is mostly everyone.

[Mike Kever Kombi]

The Interior panels have been stripped out, bagged, tagged, and put into deep storage. I never throw away anything I find in the vehicles, no matter how crappy or garbage like it appears.

this weekend I plan on getting the rest of the top hat sections in, the out riggers on, the jack points on, the B pillar sorted out, and the bottom radius pillars on the long rocker side welded in. I would also like to get the long rocker and cargo does squared away if time permits. I will have to order a rear cargo door inner, but the other parts are already here. Then I can start on the cargo floor.

for those who like pictures, this is where we stand now.

rear cargo door. still need to order this piece

Have this inner piece, B pillar needs some lovin' below the hinge

Interior panels coming off, every last piece is catalogued, wrapped in plastic, and put in storage

Panels gone, my brother in picture has been a big help with everything

door skins off, forgot how hard these can be, definitely a 2 person and clean sock job

[Mike Kever Kombi]

with the door skins off, you can see that I will need new lower inners and door skins on both doors, as well as A pillars below the hinge

also need to address the front floor, as the previous repair is not so much

The entire cargo floor is out also. I don't seam to have any pictures of that, just video, which I may post later. I will post pictures of the missing floor before I start work on it this weekend. I also have the seats out, and will work on getting those down to metal frames for paint before being upholstered. Most if not all the material is still there, just tattered and torn.

as for the original color of the van, I cannot say as the PO stripped it down to bare metal and sprayed it with Krylon. There are some warp and wave marks from the heat (sanding I am guessing) that hopefully will come out in body prep. that is still a ways off yet though. My wife wants to go with a 2 tone mango paint scheme. only she doesn't want "true" mango, she wants it a shade or 2 off......IDK yet....that is too far away

[SlashKirk]

Looks like a great project Mike!
Mango colors are wonderful on these early models.
When you choose the metal to use on the repairs...I recommend a quality product like the ones Tferr sells. If you have any questions, please ask since many of us may have already been in your shoes at least once (or maybe many times like Sean ).

[Mike Kever Kombi]

Thanks for the reply. The metal that I have for this weekends projects was already purchased from WW, AC and Bustoration (Gerson). I honestly did not even know about ECC until after I joined this forum and started reading some posts. Can guarantee that I will be throwing some business ECC's way in the coming months though. I have a whole laundry list of sheet metal that I still need.

[Mike Kever Kombi]

not much to report, just wanted to keep track of this for myself.
Covered the glass after work getting prepped for tomorrow. Used some thick clear visqueen plastic and duct tape in an attempt to keep sparks and splatter off of glass. Raining pretty good out so I could not do a lot of work. Inside of the van is leak free though (mostly). I also got all the bits and pieces, as well as sheet metal together so I wont have to do that in morning. I wanted to get some perforations punched in the rail sides of the out riggers so I can do a corrugated weld, but didn't get to it, so I will have to do that in morning.

I guess the whole purpose of this post is just to remind my future self to cover the glass so it doesn't get pitted by sparks.