1959 Panel Bus, Walk Thru, Original Paint with Company Logos! is a early 1959 "High Taillight" Panel Bus, an early Walk Thru, with beautifully faded original Dove Blue paint and original company logos from Muskogee Mobile Homes in Muskogee, Oklahoma. I personally get a kick out of the Mobile Home Company logos.  This Bus literally came fromConsider how cheap a Mobile Home must have been in Oklahoma in the late 1950's...  Definitely a rare and unique early Panel Bus with an awesome look, and loads of character. features include all original paint inside and out, very legible original company logos with old telephone numbers and even a old school telephone receiver on the decklid, very early Walk Thru model with the early walls and seats, high mount glass taillights with "K" logoed Harp mirror arms with dealer oversized industrial mirrors, correct early "thin shaft" wipers, early original HWE full length industrial roof rack, original slash cut bumpers, new Sprint Star

wheels, super low stance with a narrowed adjustable beam, dropped spindles, a straight axle rear, all new 1641cc engine, new tires, new brakes, new interior panels, new body rubber, mostly new window rubber, everything works, it fires right up, runs and drives excellent, sounds absolutely evil, and gets loads of positive attention everywhere it The body is in nice unmolested original shape, all original Dove Blue paint inside and out, and all of the grey primer in the rearcheapest belt drive garage door opener is clean and original as well.  frameless shower doors ft myersIt is an early 1959 so the taillightsold windows for sale winnipeg

are in the high position just the same as late 1957 and 1958 Buses had. Another cool thing to note is that since it's a factory walk thru it lacks the upper rear vents you typically saw on bench seat Panels.  looks super cool since it's just smooth back there.  All of the doors are correct, icepick handles, high hinge cargo doors, early eyebrow decklid, correct and original crank start apron (couple pea shooter notches in it), etc.  There was a small small inspection hole cut in thegarage doors lima oh rear engine deck above the engine but that has now been repaired withgarage door opener prices liftmasterThe body is extremely straight, all of the doorslambo door kits for mitsubishi eclipse

line up very nicely, and there are no major dents anywhere.  obviously rust in the rockers, the jackpoints, some in the outriggers, front cross member, a bit of perforation on the driver's side front floor, and in the passengers front cab floor there is a decent sized hole, and a small spot at the tip of the "V" in the lower nose.  been enjoyed as it is for a long time and could continue to be so as is or you could patch those areas and have a great and solid early Bus. interior is in great shape.  All of the paint inside is the original, Dove Blue and the light grey in the rear.  The dash is in excellent cuts, strong and shiny original paint, original radio block off still intact and a very nice original 70mph clear needle speedo still inThe front early walk thru seats have been completely restored with painted frames, new padding, and a very good match and exact pattern seat covers in the correct light grey.  and headliner cards are also all new and look excellent. 

early chrome ribbed cab handles and black Bakelite escutcheons are alsoThe original pressboard sunvisor is also there and inOverall, very clean, very correct, and very much the way it was when the Bus was new 52 years ago. Bus features a all new 1641cc engine from VW Paradise, narrowed beam, dropped spindles, straight axle trans, recently rebuilt brakes, new Sprint Star wheels with low miles on new low profile tires, 12 volt electrical conversion, and all electrics work!  Here are the specs on This one has a cool factor of 10, is definitely about as cool a Panel as you will find, and is fully turnkey, ready to cruise Please visit my website at to see the full album of pics of this early Panel Bus, more interesting Vintage VWs, Classic Cars, and Parts for sale. * Please note that this Bus is located in San Diego, California.She would learn that Rose, who had designed the home, was a pioneer and a leader in the modern American landscape architecture movement.

The house, which he built in 1953, exemplified his hallmark of integrating structures with the natural setting. A renovation in 1969 added a rooftop garden and a zendo for meditation. Rose, an avid traveler, bought his camper at a northern New Jersey VW dealership in 1977 and drove it to Mexico that year. A turista sticker remains on a passenger side window.Known formally as the Campmobile, the model was a factory-contracted conversion of the Type 2 van, popularly known in the United States as the microbus or just bus. Westfalia, a German company, performed the conversions. More a mobile campsite than a mini R.V., the outfitted van has sleeping for up to four, a sink with a hookup for running water and a 120-volt connection for campgrounds.Through the mid-1980s, Rose drove his camper to schools around the country, lecturing on landscape architecture. Several visits took him to the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, to address students of Dean Cardasis. Mr. Cardasis, who is now the graduate program director at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., recalled riding in the camper.“

Rose loved to travel, but he was very frugal,” Mr. Cardasis, whose book about the architect will be published next year, said in a telephone interview. “He didn’t buy it as someone who liked to camp, but as a practical vehicle for his travels.”Before Rose died, Mr. Cardasis and others helped to establish the James Rose Center for Landscape Architectural Research and Design to preserve the Ridgewood home. The property was gradually improved, and it opened for tours and to support educational programs.The camper, however, sat unused and deteriorating for the next decade. By the time Ms. Fowks’s son developed his fixation, it looked forlorn, sitting on four flat tires. Rust spots had broken out over its body, and seedlings were growing in the drip rails that surround the van’s roof.“I had seen it when growing up,” Ian Brady, who is now 24, said. “There was something about it being parked there for so long. I knew my mom was wondering about it as well.”Before the barter deal was struck, Ms. Fowks had asked about buying the VW, an idea that didn’t seem far-fetched, as camping had long been a part of her life.

Mr. Cardasis told her that the camper was not for sale; she felt it needed too much work anyway. “I told my son, ‘It’s a wreck. The man doesn’t want to sell it, and you’re only 12,’ ” she said.Refusing to take “no” for an answer, the boy hounded Mr. Cardasis to sell the camper whenever he saw him at the Rose house.“He so impressed me with his passion for that van,” Mr. Cardasis, who became the center’s director, said. “From the beginning, I had a sense that there needed to be a way for him to get it. So we made the deal for him to work in trade for it.”The agreement called for the boy to spend an hour a day after school raking leaves and cleaning the fountains on the property, among other tasks. The camper would be his at the end of the school year.After completing his day’s tasks, Ian would clean the camper.“He spent hours with Windex and mildew remover, and used steel wool for the rust spots,” Ms. Fowks said. You could barely see the plaid pattern on the driver’s seat.”

When Ian had fulfilled his obligation, the camper, which he nicknamed Earl, was towed to his house. A local shop got the engine running, but it took extensive work at a VW specialist, Wagon Works in Englewood, N.J., to make the van roadworthy.At the first opportunity, Ms. Fowks took Ian and his sister, Jesse, now a sophomore in college, camping.With flower magnets covering the rust spots, they hit the road. “Compared to a tent, it was a luxury,” Ms. Fowks said. The original engine gave out in 2006 and was replaced. In 2009, Ms. Fowks had the body repaired and repainted for what she called a bargain price. Her bills for the “free” camper eventually tallied $9,000; she now considers it a family treasure.The factory color, called Marino Yellow, appears to be the same shade used for school buses. Ms. Fowks would know. A 1975 graduate of Parsons School of Design in Manhattan, she briefly drove a school bus before starting a 30-year career in fashion and merchandising in New York.

Today, she teaches fashion and design at Westwood Regional High School, and the camper sometimes serves as a prop for student projects.The Westfalia camping equipment remains intact. The pop-top roof is a highlight, providing stand-up room and a fold-down double bed. The back seat folds into the somewhat narrower lower bed. A mosquito screen was provided so the rear hatch could be left open.There’s a built-in ice chest, but this van was not equipped with the optional refrigerator and propane cooktop of the Deluxe model. Ms. Fowks uses a Coleman stove and a hot plate when camping. A wood-grain table installs in front of the rear bench seat, and the front passenger seat swivels 180 degrees to face it.The van has no air-conditioning, and the heater, typically weak in the old air-cooled VW engines, is barely functional because ducts are missing from the engine compartment. Ms. Fowks said she uses the camper only in warm weather.A short ride revealed the van’s relaxed manner. The 2-liter, 4-cylinder engine, with just 67 horsepower, labors to push it to 40 m.p.h., but settles into the familiar VW “putta-putta-putta” once cruising.

The ride is fairly comfortable, with some wallowing over bumps.A petite and fit 59-year-old, Ms. Fowks wrestles with the unassisted steering, and it’s a long reach to shift the 4-speed manual transmission. “There’s a trick to getting it into fourth,” she said, twirling the gangly shift lever until finding the slot.“Even though it’s a lot of work to drive, it’s an instant stress reliever for me,” she added. “There are no gadgets, not even a radio. You’re just watching the road, looking out the windshield.” The owner’s manual lists a top speed of 75 m.p.h., but Ms. Fowks and her son agreed that for the sake of stability the comfortable limit was considerably lower.“You really can’t go over 50 or 60 miles an hour,” Mr. Brady said. “It’s a project to drive long distance.”In August, Ms. Fowks and her sister, Lauren Fowks, who lives in Connecticut, took the camper to the Great Divide Campground in Newton, N.J.“We always put Christmas lights around it, and we’re always the only VW camper there,” she said.