Brasilia Restoration Story/ Page2

Welcome Back!!

As you saw on the previous page the bus wasn't that rough. This was probably because it had been lazing around idly in a desert for a long time, and those places aren't exactly renowned for heavy rainfall!

However, Britain is. It pisses down! (have you ever been to the Midlands?).

Therefore, the years it had sat in Derby had taken their toll, leading to a lot of rot around the windows and the floor. Surprisingly, the chassis was sound, with only one top hat section (the one nearest the bulkhead) needing replacement and the outer short sill.

The long side would have also been ok, apart from the fact that a tree branch had been resting against it. This lead to rot in the weird position of halfway up the side.

Fortunately/ unfortunately? the availability of Brasilia parts is very good, so therefore, I was tempted to buy almost everything. Here is a little selection of the 'goodies' available.

	Rear corners, (these are copy parts and are very thin. I have therefore ordered the originals)/ Inside of rear corner windows/ Center chassis sections/ Side window/ Front bumper blade, (a gift from Bernhard Fuhrer, what a nice man!)/ Rear bumper blade, German part '68-72.
	Cargo floor. A great part.

Since I plan to convert the bus to right hand drive and also because there are those strange rust holes in the long side, I decided to do the modification of making a double door. (And why not!) To do this I have the following parts.

B-pillar from a 70's bus and C-pillar from a '66. (Both from Wayne at Volksheaven, G.B.).
Complete Brasilia side panel (from Bernhard Fuhrer, D.).

While I'm in modification mode, I better tell you the rest of the cunning plot. I plan to add the sliding steel sunroof from a post 70's baywindow, deluxe bus. Initially, I thought this was going to be a straight forward 'grind it off and spot weld on the new one' type operation. However, in reality it is going to be a lot more complex as the Brasilia is about 10cm shorter than its European cousin.

This is the roof, (on the top of the Citroen), on the way back from Sweden...........

and this was the donor bus. Sadly, it was in better condition than I thought it was going to be......... and yes I did feel guilty chopping it up!

So, if anybody wants a complete baywindow deluxe interior for a LHD walkthrough. I now have got one. Cheap.

Screeeech !!!

Hmmmm, I have decided to cheat...yep again!!!

After browsing my page, a New Zealander contacted me by e-mail to tell me that right hand drive "Brazilian" buses had been sold in NZ. This came as a surprise to me as the only other RHD "Brazilian" buses I had known about were sold in Indonesia and in South Africa. Anyway we chewed the VW fat electronically for a bit and built up quite a friendship, (he too has lost the VW plot!) Anyroad one thing lead to another and we found ourselves attempting the impossible, where he went out of his way to locate a bus for sale for me, bought it and then we arranged to have it shipped to the UK. (A trip more expensive than the van!) Talk about wasting money on my vehicles, I now even buy them a holiday! Anyway it still amazes me that we managed to pull it off and I cannot thank my friend Rob enough. You are really one hell of a guy.
I still plan the deluxe roof swap but for now I am just enjoying having something that works!

Famous last words.

Clearly by now I foolishly scratched at some innocent looking paint bubbles and it has turned into another full restoration project!

THE RESTORATION!!

	and this was the donor bus. Sadly, it was in better condition than I thought it was going to be......... and yes I did feel guilty chopping it up!
	So, if anybody wants a complete baywindow deluxe interior for a LHD walkthrough. I now have got one. Cheap.


Hmmmm, I have decided to cheat...yep again!!!
After browsing my page, a New Zealander contacted me by e-mail to tell me that right hand drive "Brazilian" buses had been sold in NZ. This came as a surprise to me as the only other RHD "Brazilian" buses I had known about were sold in Indonesia and in South Africa. Anyway we chewed the VW fat electronically for a bit and built up quite a friendship, (he too has lost the VW plot!) Anyroad one thing lead to another and we found ourselves attempting the impossible, where he went out of his way to locate a bus for sale for me, bought it and then we arranged to have it shipped to the UK. (A trip more expensive than the van!) Talk about wasting money on my vehicles, I now even buy them a holiday! Anyway it still amazes me that we managed to pull it off and I cannot thank my friend Rob enough. You are really one hell of a guy. I still plan the deluxe roof swap but for now I am just enjoying having something that works!