Body Dropped Bay

Uncommon double door model, original paint, patina and signwriting, slammed, Porsche Type 4 motor … what’s not to love here!

- David Eccles

This 1968 Double Door Panel Van (215) was ordered by the Deluxe Dry Cleaning and Laundry firm in New Orleans, Louisiana. Finished in Neptune Blue, as it was a US export model it featured bumper over-riders and side reflectors. The company had it sign written to advertise its cleaning and alteration services; interestingly one of the specialty services advertised was laundering of fatigues, making the most of the local Military Base customers!

The bus saw service with Deluxe Dry Cleaning until the early 80s, when an employee reversed it into a post and bashed the back corner and it was retired as not worth fixing up. It then sat for over twenty years in the laundry owner’s back garden until a VW enthusiast Denny Pittman got to hear about it. The conversation went something like, “I like this bus but it needs a helluva lot of fixing up. Do you want to sell it?” To which the owner replied, “If you buy me a log shed to replace it it’s yours!” After getting it on the road Denny ran it for a couple of years before it was imported into the UK in 2007 and ended up in the hands of Dean Bradley.

Dean repaired the back end damage but kept the original paint, faded signwriting, patina and body the same, as it was all part of the bus’s story. He then decided to radically alter the stance, with a 4” body drop, tubbed front arches, narrowed front beam, and new Kingpins as well as fitting a Rayvern hydraulic suspension set up, meaning this bus sits low – really low, even the ants get scared!