1953 Barndoor DeluxeThe bus that started it all!This is my old 53 Deluxe that i purchased in its former pimp glory back in 1998. Over the next 2 years i worked on it almost every night after my regular job. This would be my first actual full restoration and i feel the results were very good. Enough to launch myself into restoring as a career.
unfortunately i didnt hold onto the bus very long.I always had my heart in a Standard Micro,of which i could not find at the time of this purchase. in a roundabout way, this bus was somewhat of a stepping stone into what i am currently doing.
Anyway,the 53 was a typical 80s bodywork job, cave and pave! to my surprise as i was chipping away on this bondo castle,the bus was quite dry.
over the course of the resto,i had to search for basically everything as the bus was pretty much a shell ,drivable but not much for interior or parts which are special to the deluxe bus.
it came down to the wire as i neared completion,but i ended up getting pretty much everything i needed. in some cases i may have had to fabricate some of the parts or substitute for the next closest thing.
once the bus was finished, the California Classic/OCTO was coming up shortly. i drove the bus out there to attend these shows and spend some time on the west coast. what a blast to do this in such a rare and unusual bus.
after a month or so out west i finally made a deal on the bus and it went to its new owner who kept it at his home in Montana.
just recently it finally came out of it hiding for the past 7 years and now resides back in Cali. i hope to see this thing in person once again,hopefully next summer!!
enjoy....
