Project Westfakia

[nmshaikh]

It all happened in December last year. I was visiting Lahore and driving around with a friend who had seen a white VW parked for ages in DHA. We found the bus and it was surrounded by mounds of garbage. We waded thru to take a closer look. There were no seats inside except for an attendants seat. This particular bus was actually an ambulance (we found out later) and had been auctioned off by the health department. The person who bought it intended to restore it and did some initial work (that i wish he had not done) and then parked her at the spot we found her. The tires were flat and the insides had a few inches of dirt covering everything from the dash to the sides. The headliner was in tatters and hanging. It would be a challenge but I had plans for this sad looking bus. My three children have grown up Maashallah and we need a bigger vehicle. I refuse to buy a Corolla or a Civic as being too expensive and not worth spending the money.Plus there is the added threat of them being stolen. The bus would fit the bill nicely.

A meeting with the owner was arranged and price negotiated. The best thing about the bus is that it still appears as an ambulance on papers. Ambulances as you may know are exempt from payment of road tax. Therefore when I do bring her back on road and change her status to a 'non-ambulance' there would be no back taxes to pay...Yaaaay!!!!

I came to Islamabad leaving the logistics of moving the bus to Rawalpindi, in the capable hands of my friend Dr. Tausif (himself an enthusiast) who mobilized his slaves to get the bus loaded on a truck and sent to Khalid's workshop in Westridge.

I will be posting pictures here but you can check those on the Volkswagen Club of Pakistan facebook page
Volkswagen Club of Pakistan (VWCOP) | Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151168793069530.470195.599234529&type=1

[aliusman420]

tough project, i hope this beauty gets as good as brand new in your use sir
best of luck for the restoration, thread subscribed

[hash4u]

wont the final cost of this project equate to a decent honda or toyta cost eventually?
plus as you plan to use it regularly for family use, will it have a working AC in it

[levin]

wont the final cost of this project equate to a decent honda or toyta cost eventually?
plus as you plan to use it regularly for family use, will it have a working AC in it

Back in childhood days , do you remember getting a plastic car kit to build and all the details you used to put in it not to get glue at wrong places, and painting it, putting stickers. and finally the look of satisfaction you had when the final project looked great, compare it a built toy, ready to play . both toys had their diffirent fun.. but the time you put on building the kit stays in yr mind for a longer period and you wanted to repair if anything broke on kit

just like building a old car or buying a new corolla civic, whatever.

Iam surprised after putting the effort on VW, the only thing thats making the owner happy is he doesnt have to pay tax. thats really a low level priority.

[Salarzae]

Back in childhood days , do you remember getting a plastic car kit to build and all the details you used to put in it not to get glue at wrong places, and painting it, putting stickers. and finally the look of satisfaction you had when the final project looked great, compare it a built toy, ready to play . both toys had their diffirent fun.. but the time you put on building the kit stays in yr mind for a longer period and you wanted to repair if anything broke on kit

just like building a old car or buying a new corolla civic, whatever.

.

I still have 4 or 5 Airfix aircraft models lying in store which I never was able to even start with... the rest of them got screwed by my li'l sumo

[Durrani_45]

Bol bro

[FarhanAnwarKhan]

This is gonna be one hell of a project...best of luck to the restoration..

[hash4u]

@levin

sadly u and i both sold r project cars at scrap metal rate eventually
for me it was a very big turn off specially since i am not loaded with cash and properties
when u go to sell such stuff, it goes down the drain

[nmshaikh]

Back in childhood days , do you remember getting a plastic car kit to build and all the details you used to put in it not to get glue at wrong places, and painting it, putting stickers. and finally the look of satisfaction you had when the final project looked great, compare it a built toy, ready to play . both toys had their diffirent fun.. but the time you put on building the kit stays in yr mind for a longer period and you wanted to repair if anything broke on kit

just like building a old car or buying a new corolla civic, whatever.

Iam surprised after putting the effort on VW, the only thing thats making the owner happy is he doesnt have to pay tax. thats really a low level priority.

The bus, as I mentioned, has been off road for about 2 decades. if there were back taxes, combined with the penalty for not paying them on time the project may never have been acquired by myself in the first place. So yes I am happy that I would not have to pay monies that are not due in any case since the bus was off road anyway. (try explaining that to the ETO requesting him to waive off just the fine.)

[nmshaikh]

wont the final cost of this project equate to a decent honda or toyta cost eventually?
plus as you plan to use it regularly for family use, will it have a working AC in it

The final cost would be a lot less than buying a Corolla or a Civic, besides you cannot beat the feeling of being surrounded by some real steel (as opposed to plastic and tin foil.)

[nmshaikh]

Odometer

[nmshaikh]

Rust problem

[nmshaikh]

Dash panel

[nmshaikh]

a few more pictures of the interior to demonstrate the horror story

[nmshaikh]

The sliding door..

[nmshaikh]

the inside was all dusty and dirty.

[nmshaikh]

The bus was sent to the car wash for a no holds barred wash and scrub, inside and out, over and under

[nmshaikh]

more of the same

[nmshaikh]

after the wash the windscreen was removed to uncover the horror of the rust hidden under there.

[nmshaikh]

after the repairs