“Oh Sandy, Maybe Someday...”

‘A friend of mine from ‘Dubs in LAW’ (Leigh & Wigan) had heard on the grapevine about two split-screen buses stored in a barn up in Lancashire’.

- DAVE RICHARDS

It was only a rumour, but keen to get started on a split-screen project, David Lloyd discovered that the owner was none other than Steve Gilbert at ‘One on One Restoration’ in Burnley. He arranged to visit and was shown a ‘67 bulkhead and this ‘67 Walkthrough. “Steve had taken the bus in part exchange from the chap who had imported it from New York in 2012. It had been completely stripped by its last owner apart from the very badly worn front seats. This was to be the first project that I was involved in. To be honest, it was my first project that involved lots of metal fabrication and bare shell restoration and it had been buzzing around it in my head for years. I had been tinkering with cars and bikes previously, but never in as much detail. Because I knew I was going to go down the fabrication route, I probably spent more time looking for the right person for the job than looking for the actual VW to buy. I was working in Manchester and called in on a VW specialist I found whilst trawling the internet. Little did I know we would end becoming really good friends. I drove to the industrial estate and saw a bay hanging out of a unit whilst a chap was sat having a brew. John Keelan offered to come to see both buses with me before I handed over my money, so that we would both know what we were getting into. And when I bought the ‘67 Walkthrough, John went back for the bulkhead model and bought that. It was a great day for both of us.

“The bus was delivered to VW Welding Services at the end of January 2013. John was kind enough to let me join in and I set to work, stripping the bus down, although there was no interior to speak of, so it didn’t take long.