Our DoubleCab's History:

We are trying to find the total history of our DoubleCab.

We don't know who the original owner of the Doublecab was. We would love to hear from anyone who might know.

We do know that in 1975 or 1976, the owner of the Doublecab went into a small business in Newport Beach, Ca. The business was owned by Bill and Patti Clover. Bill and Patti were interested in special, unique cars. They noticed the Doublecab and talked with the owner about the Doublecab. By the end of the conversation, they told the owner that they would be interested in buying the Doublecab if he ever wanted to sell.

About 3 weeks later, the DoubleCab owner called Bill. He said that if Bill and Patti were still interested in buying the Doublecab, he would make them a great deal. After some talking, Bill and Patti discovered that the Doublecab had a blown engine and was sitting in a mall parking lot in Gardena.

Bill and Patti made the deal, bought the Doublecab, and had it towed to a local VW repair shop. They had the engine rebuilt and then drove the Doublecab for many years. As Bill and Patti say, "they enjoyed every moment".

In the early 1980's, Bill and Patti had the Doublecab painted from the original off-white to the factory blue.

In 1983, Bill and Patti sold the Doublecab to Bill's brother and sister-in-law, Bob and Lauren Bennett of Long Beach, CA. The paper trail picks up at that point. We have lots of receipts for work done through 1995 by Bob and Lauren.

We've spoken with Bob about the Doublecab. He said that they very much enjoyed the vehicle for about 12 years. They hated to part with it. They were happy to hear from us about the Doublecab and to know that it was still well cared for and still on the road.

While owned by Bob and Lauren, the Doublecab was also used by their son, Brian Bennett. Brian took a great interest in the Doublecab. He had a lot of work done on it including the shiny red paint that it apparently still on it today.

In mid-1995, the DoubleCab was sold to Kent Thorpe. Mr. Thorpe lived in the Phoenix/Gilbert area of Arizona. We haven't spoken with Mr. Thorpe, but we understand that he towed a small sailboat with the Doublecab. We do know that there are still the remains of the tow hitch that was welded to the rear engine mount. Mr. Thorpe apparently added the chrome wheels, new transmission, and the 1904 cc engine.

In mid-1997, the DoubleCab changed hands again. It was sold to Anthony [Tony] DiPiazza of Tempe, AZ. Tony is very active in the VW scene in Arizona and still has a couple of Volkswagens including a very nice 1957 Deluxe Oval with a Judson supercharger.

Tony and his sons worked on VW's as a family hobby. They did a lot of work with the folks at Competition Engineering. Tony and his sons continued to add finishing touches to the Doublecab - chrome bumpers, chrome latches on the gates, oak strips on the bed, all new rubber everywhere, and braided steel fuel and breather lines.

If any of the previous owners of this DoubleCab want to, we would love it if they would contact us and fill in more of the history.

Thanks

Anyway.......to our end of the Doublecab history......

Back in about 1997, I decided wanted a VW DoubleCab Pickup.

To justify buying one - both to my wife and to myself - I used the excuse that we needed a lighter tow car for the RV.

We were towing one of those old, full sized Jeep Grand Wagoneers that weighed over 5,000 pounds. We wanted something different to tow. But we also needed a tow vehicle that could seat 6 people and that would be light enough that it wouldn't require a separate braking system from the RV.

The VW DoubleCab Pickup seemed perfect - it seated 6 and only weighed about 2,400 lbs. At least that was my excuse to buy one. [As they say, it's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.]

The only problem was, we couldn't find a VW DoubleCab.

Not only were there not many DoubleCabs ever made, but the ones that were made were usually used as work trucks and just beat to death. We talked to people at the shows and clubs. Everyone agreed that it was a great vehicle to have, but "they also had been looking for 10 years and couldn't find one".

Seemed that the Doublecabs that we could find had been all cut up, lowered and "customized". Nothing wrong with that if that's what you like, but it wasn't for us.

Finally, in about 1998, at one of the shows, we met Kevin from BusBones in Ocala, FL. Don't know if they are still in business. Their web site is gone. Anyway, at the time, BusBones specialized in rebuilding VW buses. Kevin seemed to know what he was talking about and could show me other projects that he had completed that seemed to have the quality of work that we were looking for.

We started pricing out what we wanted on the DoubleCab.

Originally, we wanted an early split window. But we wanted the later 2 liter motor and IRS suspension so that the vehicle would have sufficient power and handling. We wanted the disk brakes front and rear. And it had to have A/C. We were told that A/C in the front only would cool the car "sort of" and that if we wanted to be comfortable, we should plan on front and rear A/C units. New paint, carpets and interior were a must.

By the time the smoke cleared, we were probably going to be looking at "over" 18 months and "around" $40k.

And those were just the initial estimates. You and I both know that stuff always costs more and takes longer than the original estimate.

It didn't just look bad, it even sounded bad.

Man, that's a whole lotta money!!

I didn't even tell my wife.

I figured she had bought into the concept of getting a VW DoubleCab, why burden her with the details. But I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

Then, in mid-1999, in our constant perusal on the Net, we came across this 1968 Doublecab. The ad in Trader-Online said it was in "great condition", but we had heard that too many times before. [Other folks seem to have a different opinion than we do about what constitutes "great condition".]

Besides, not only was it not exactly what we wanted in a Doublecab - bay window, no 2 liter, no disk brakes, no A/C - it was all the way out in Arizona - and we live in South Florida.

Of course, the bay window DoubleCab is even more rare than the split windows. And it does have a better suspension - and better brakes - and is more comfortable............

But even still - Arizona? We live in South Florida. That's just way too far to go just to look at a car - even a DoubleCab.

Well, maybe not.

A couple of months later, in late December 1999, a short business trip came up that required us to go to Phoenix - and I was supposed to bring my wife on the trip. Is this part of a greater plan or what!

When we got to Phoenix, we gave Tony DiPiazza a call. He was the owner of the DoubleCab and still had the car for sale. My wife and I immediately drove over to see it and it was just beautiful! All of the body including the rocker panels were clean as could be.

Even after a lot of negotiating, Tony wanted a little more than we wanted to pay for the DoubleCab. In the end, my wife said "just buy it" - so we did. [How's that for a terrific spouse!]

We had to head back home to South Florida before we could get the money available and wired, so we gave Tony a deposit and told him we would be back in about a month with a cashier's check to pick up the car.

I had business in Texas about a month later.

On Friday afternoon, in early January 2000, I jumped onto Southwest in Dallas and caught a ride to Phoenix.

Tony picked me up at the airport. He had changed the oil in the Doublecab, adjusted the valves, and checked the air in the tires. All of the paperwork and manuals were in a nice carry case. He even had 4 extra quarts of oil "just in case". What a terrific guy to buy a VW from.

I gave him the check at about 4 pm and headed east.

About an hour outside of Phoenix, headed towards Tucson, I finally looked at the gas gauge. Opps. It was almost empty.

Now I thought that Tony had told me that the gas tank was full, but I wasn't real certain of that fact.

I also didn't know if the gauge worked, if it was accurate or even how much the tank held.

What's that boy scout motto again - be prepared? I think not.

Of course by that time, I was way past any gas stations. You know the sign that says "last gas stop for the next 200 miles"? Well, I was 50 miles past it. Nothing to do but continue on and pray.

I made it. Stopped at the first place that sold gas - who cares the price. Put in 15.7 gallons. I think the tank holds 15.8.

Ended up driving until midnight. Spent the night in El Paso. Man, that's a long drive at 60 miles an hour!

Sure is fun when you are driving in the right lane at 60 MPH and a big semi goes past you running 95. Sort of blows you over a few feet. Ah, what the heck, keeps you awake and paying attention.

The next day, I got up early and headed for Dallas. After 14 hours of driving, I stopped on the east side of Dallas in the town of Rockwall. The car never missed a beat. I averaged 20+ MPG.

Every time I stopped for gas, someone would come out and talk. One old fellow turned around on the freeway and followed me into the next town so he could admire the car and tell me about all of the good times he had in his VW in the past.

The only problem I had during the trip to Dallas was that I was throwing oil into the engine compartment. It didn't seen to be a lot of oil, but then again, a little oil goes a long way.

I couldn't figure out where it was coming from. And while I had brought a whole mess of tools with me, I didn't have the tools to strap on that sort of job. Besides, from Phoenix to Dallas I went through less than a quart of oil. I didn't think that was too bad with what was going in the engine compartment.

In Rockwall, I turned the car over to a guy who sort of specialized in putting A/C into strange and unusual cars. The DoubleCab seemed to qualify. He did a great, thorough, and clean job - but he was not cheap.

I went home while he did his work. While he was at the A/C installation, he also figured out that the breather filter was clogged. That apparently causes pressure to build up in the engine crankcase and forces oil out through the rear seal. He simply took the filter out of the breather box. That must have been it because it didn't throw any more oil on the rest of the way home. It also didn't use any oil on the rest of the way home.

He also apparently drove the DoubleCab into his garage to install the A/C without opening the garage door completely.

I didn't notice until I got home and started cleaning the car from the trip that there were a couple of 18" long scratches right in the middle of the roof of the car. Not real bad scratches, but it still sort of pissed me off. Of course, the DoubleCab is so tall that you can't see the top of the roof while you are standing on the ground so I didn't notice the scratches while I was picking up the car.

2 weeks later, I flew back into Dallas and picked up the car. I headed out bright and early the next morning for home.

I made Tallahassee that first night. I finally had to stop because I couldn't feel my feet anymore. Yes, the Doublecab has heat, but it's the standard old VW bus heat and it was late January in Northern Florida.

You know how it is in a VW van - you can either have warm feet or a clear windshield. But you can't have both.

I chose a clear windshield.

It was warmer the next day so I made it on home without losing any digits to frostbite.

Once home in South Florida, we had a couple of real challenges getting the DoubleCab certified for the new Florida license plates.

On the first trip to the DMV, I forgot to take my wife. Since the title is in both our names, that mandated at least a second trip.

On the second trip, I had my wife with me but no one - including me - could find the VIN.

Unlike new cars, on the older VWs, the VIN isn't in the windshield. I didn't know where to look!

Back home, I looked it up in the manual so I knew where it was supposed to be in the car, but I still couldn't find it. It turns out that carpet had been glued over the VIN plate which is on the bulkhead behind the passenger seat. Once I pulled that carpet away, it was right there for anyone to see.

Of course, the next challenge was getting the state employee girl at the DMV to get up off her fat butt, go outside into the heat and humidity, and look. Seems they had already made a notation in my file that it had to be inspected by someone from the state police!

Well, we got around that issue finally and got the license plates.

The DoubleCab runs and drives like a new car. Every time we stop, people come up to talk and ask about it.

I doubt that you will find another DoubleCab that looks and drives like this one anywhere in the US.

We have kept up the tradition of enhancing the Doublecab. Besides adding the A/C, we have changed out the exhaust and had some of the bits and pieces re-chromed. We also have added a 96 plate, mesa style oil cooler and an oil filter.

Hey, I warned you that I like to tell stories!

Oh. By the way. After all of that, we decided that this DoubleCab was just way too nice to use as a tow car behind the motor home.

So we bought a tow dolly and use my wife's mini-van as the tow car.

I recently mentioned to my wife that we should think about buying another VW to use as a tow car.

My wife said that if I bought another VW I need to be able to sleep in it.