Here's my VW Kombinationswagen born June 30, 1959 at Volkswagenwerk in Wolfsburg, Germany. It was delivered from Wesfalia-Werke as an SO-23 camper to the new owner (a San Franciscan who took tourist delivery) on August 8, 1959. I found it only a few blocks from my home tucked behind a rental house in the carport hiding under a big tarp and surrounded by a lot of junk! It's supposed to be Seagull Grey over Mango Green, but a former owner painted it white over Bahama Blue. The interior 100% original. It has the original tent and chemical toilet. Notice how the tent has a "bathroom" built into it!

I am trying to complete the ownership history of this 4-owner bus.  Unfortunately, I discovered the original owner died last year.  He sold the bus to a guy around 1990-91 whose name I believe is "Lance F."  According to the third owner (the person I bought the bus from) Lance only had it for 4 to 6 months.  Apparently, his daily driver car was in a collision, so he had to sell the bus to raise cash for another car.  I would like to find the second owner to add to my knowledge of the bus' history.

The bus below is not mine, but shows the proper color combination of Seagull Grey over Mango Green on a 1960 SO-23 Wesfalia.  My bus does not have the bumper guards and overriders like you will find on other busses.  The factory called it "ram protection" and it was available as an optional extra on non-US vehicles, but US-delivered vehicles had them.  Since the original owner of mine took factory delivery from Westfalia-Werke, I guess he opted to go with the European-styled bumpers.  The Mango/Seagull Grey is a cool color combo, no??

You can see the proper yellow curtains in the windows of this "show" bus.  While my bus does not have the proper curtains hanging inside, I was very fortunate to find a set of spot-on reproduction curtains from a guy in the UK.  (Thanks, Alex!!)

Loads of Type 2s, in their various incarnations, suffer from rust/rot issues in the floors and doglegs.  I got really lucky here with no hint of rot whatsoever anywhere, and only minor surface rust here and there.  Fortunately, the original owner lived in California and later moved to Florida.  As such, did not suffer the ravages of road salt.

The original rubber floor mat is still in good shape (actually, it's VERY good shape for its age.)

From these interior shots of the cab, you can see the original "Mango Green" paint color.  The seat is showing quite a bit of dirt, but still it's in amazing shape for its age.

 The headliner board is in amazingly good shape.  It's nearly flawless.  The rearview mirror was added at some point, since the '59 Westys didnt come with an interior rearview mirror.

These funky curtains are NOT original!  (Matter of fact, I have since tossed these, but don't get upset if you like them... most of them were dry rotted and falling apart.)  I have a spot-on perfect reproduction set of lemon-peel yellow curtains, which is the original and proper color for the Mango colored Westys. 

 100% original-to-the-bus equipment and finishings.  This Westy has the typical storage cabinets on the right and the optional icebox cabinent (on the left).  The "marble" mat is in excellent shape. 

Look ma, no rust! Not bad for a '59 VW.  The footwell areas and door thresholds in Type 2s are notorious for rusting out.  Original paint on original sheet metal in this area VERY rare!

After a bit of elbow grease on the passenger side, it looks like the original interior paint will buff up nicely!

All five wheels (inclusive of the spare) are date-stamped 6/59.  The original build date of the Kombi bus (before it was sent to Westfalia-Werke for the camper conversion) was at the end of June 1959.  This is stong evidence that all 5 wheels are original to the vehicle.

In 1959, the VW logo was painted black.  Judging by the faded condition of the paint, I would suspect these are original hubcaps.

This is the water spigot. A large water tank is hidden under the bench seat and a water pump switch is on the side of the pedistal.

Here's the infamous SO-23 "subhatch" (aptly named because it resembles a submarine hatch). This is the predecessor to the pop-up roofs of later Westfalia camper busses.