1967 Westy Project
From GermanRetro
This locked by a User:Pjpalm08 and can only be editied by that User and the Sysops.
See what else links to this page >>
Contents |
The Find!
This is a story about my family’s 1967 Volkswagen Westfalia Campmobile. About me, my name is Paul Palmer and I live in Round Rock, Texas (near Austin) and I am an avid Volkswagen fan, owning many VW’s over the years. I am always game to own yet another VW, well as long as there is room! I found this 1967 Type 2 in the Sacramento Bee Classifieds in 1998. After reading in the advertisement how original the Camper was and thinking about fixing up yet another VW camper, (this would be my 3rd), I had to see it. I frequent San Jose, California often for work, and I made my way to nearby Sacramento to inspect the van. The vehicle was all that I hoped it would be, and that summer day in ‘98 I became the proud owner of my fifth Volkswagen. I was smitten with both the van and the van’s history. This 1967 VW Campmobile was sold by the family of the original owner and was special ordered. It was picked up in Germany in August 1966 on a "VW Tour Europe" package offered by the Volkswagen factory in Hanover Germany. Included in the deal was all the paperwork, owner manuals and import documents, a very rare find. The M-Codes indicated it was a special order camper, fully loaded and one of the “reserved” units from the factory. It was born on July 6th 1966 the 1265 unit built for the 1967 model year. The best part, the van had a loving family who wanted the van to live on after its owner’s death.
I had been searching for an original VW Camper for under $2,000 and found it; however it was a long way from Texas to California, so a road trip was planned with my oldest Son. The van needed some help to get back on the road. The seller was very cooperative and offered to help get it to a local VW shop to have the brakes overhauled and made road worthy. The van had sat for 10+ years in a field, so it needed some attention. After I laid out another $500 bones, the VW mechanic reported back “it is drivable”.
The Road Trip
My son Jordan (8 years old at the time) and I flew to San Jose and got a one way rental car to Sacramento. We were on our way to pick up the 67 Westy and drive the beast back to Austin, Texas. The Van drove well, plenty of power and good brakes and two willing passengers to make the 2,000+ mile journey. How exciting! The first night was spent in a hotel in Bakersfield. A good 275 miles was covered the first day, and she rode, drove and stopped wonderful.
Up early the next day, Jordan and I aimed the van to Las Vegas to visit some friends and family, and show off the VW rat rod. We called it at rat because it had very ratty curtains, 10+ years of dust and some rust. The van had to climb the Tehachapi Mountains we prepared for some 3rd gear driving at 40mph and lots of zoom-by's at 80+. Sadly the van started making scary noises near the top of the hill. I stopped to see what was making the rattle from the rear and found the little engine that could, 40hp of love, was leaking oil bad, really bad. Jordan offered to push, but it was clear that the van needed a doctor. The prognosis was near death by oil cooler seals. Sitting for 10 years those oil seals popped and leaked all the blood out of the heart of the beast.
This old German machine was in need of a name, so we decided on 67Westy. A call for help was made, and my brother in law came to the rescue from Vegas with a tow dolly to get her to a doctor.
The Doctor is IN
A long time VW mechanic Jose’ Meyers, who I bought my first Camper Van from in 1982, was called upon to Frankenstein the engine. With 30 years in the VW business and the long time owner of Meyers Automotive, Jose’ was very qualified to bring 67Westy back to life. Jose’ promised to keep our find original, and do the rebuild right. The engine case was kept, and all original parts were used in the rebuild to keep it as stock as possible. Jordan and I caught a plane back to Austin, without the quarry we set out for, but lots of memories and the suspense and anticipation of getting 67Westy back to Austin, Texas, her new home.
Meyer's Service Center
3552 Boulder Highway
Las Vegas, Nevada
702.457.1252
Once the motor sparked to life again, my brother’s father-in-law, Jim, a long time Vegas resident and VW lover, picked up 67Westy from Jose’s shop. Jim put 300 miles on her per Jose’s instructions. Jose’ insisted that he must do the first oil change and valve adjust before I could drive her to Austin. Busy times in Austin made flying to Vegas and driving her back impractical, so I laid out $600 to have her trailered to Austin from Vegas.
The Austin Story
The van arrived in early 1999 into Austin, Texas and I was too busy to give her the immediate attention she needed, so a few trips around the block with the family, and away into storage until some real quality restore time could be spent on this rare find.
In late 2001 I decided to fix the van’s rusty spots, and get her painted with the original Pearl White that was very faded. Austin VeeDub’s John Martin was called upon to do the task. John did his magic and in three months, she was beautiful. All interior panels and cabinets were carefully removed, and she was painted the original color, painted inside and out and all rubber seals were replaced with new from West Coast Metric, who provides quality reproductions of everything you can imagine for these cars.
John did a beautiful job on the paint and body of 67Westy, she was sexy (can VW's be sexy?) and new again. I took delivery on December 2001 and 67Westy looked brand new minus an interior. She was the hit of the New Years Eve party I held at the house in 12/31/2001. I gave rides in his back yard to our guests and a good time was had by all. Jordan, now 11 could not believe the transformation.
The VW Car Show
Once again, the “tyrant of the urgent” took over and the van was put in my garage to wait for the interior to be refurbished. Four years passed. In 2005 I got married and my new wife, Pam, insisted this beautiful van be “finished”. Pam learned the vehicle had a name, 67westy, and everyone in the family participated in putting back all the little things that make 67Westy so cool. The Z-Bed, the Ice-Box, the Pop-up tent and many many other comfort features make these Westfalia campers a joy to own.
The Texas VW Classic, a popular VW car show in Fredericksburg, Texas gave the us all the much needed motivation and deadline to finish 67Westy. She had to be ready for this show and the entire family helped get her ready. Pam wanted to make new curtains and researched everywhere to find fabric to look just like the original. She scored by finding a high end German table cloth, and cut up three of these table clothes to make 7 curtains. I wanted to find the closest match I could for the original flooring. I found some quality linoleum for the floor that is not a bad match. My three boys and two girls of our blended family all helped polish and reassemble the van. New birch panels from Cara, a craftsman in Washington State who specilizes in VW woodwork, were ordered to replace some of the old worn out wooden panels. These are high quality wood panels, an exact match to the originals. All the cabinets were polished and re-glued to look as new and original as possible. Wolfsburg West mail-order website was called upon to get all the little pieces needed to complete the job. I can not rave enough on Wolfsburg West, great restoration products and very helpful folks! Our new family member, 67Westy, was looking good.
The weekend of April 23rd was coming close and Pam and I were busy up to the last minute getting all the details in place. They went to the show still shining and polishing our baby up to the last minute. A hippie flower power theme was used and psychedelic colors placed 67Westy back in time at the show. We won 2nd place in the 67 and earlier camper category among some very stiff competition. There were over 240 VW cars at the show and it was a blast to see all this history and great people in one spot. Our winning a prize was a nice icing on the cake. Pam wisely entered a raffle for a beautiful home made quilt and, you guessed it, she WON. Pam is now a hooked VW nut, just like her hubby. We returned with a 2nd Place award and custom made Volkswagen quilt, what a great weekend!
 Paul wins 2nd |
 First Place Winner |
 Table decorations |
 Quilt Pam won |
 Pam unpacking |
 Looking good |
 Ready to Camp! |
The Long and Winding Road
The fun is in the process, and 67Westy and the our family could not have had more fun getting this piece of history back together. We continue to enjoy 67Westy on fishing trips to local parks and drives to the local Sonic Drive-In eatery. 67Westy has been a great addition to our lives and she gets lots of looks from the locals whenever we take her out on the road. Come on, join the fun and get into German-Restoration!
--Pjpalm08 17:34, 10 May 2006 (UTC)
