[aravind511]

This is the story of a good friend of mine who has been working abroad for more than a decade now. It is about how his passion for finding and restoring abandoned vintage vehicles in India, despite being out of the country for more than 11 months in a year, has landed him upon his destiny – of finding a very rare Volkswagen Split bus and take up the humungous task of restoring it.

The love for classic Volkswagens grew in the country over the last decade and most of the available Beetles and buses were already taken. Prices started going over the roof for the beetles and the buses over this period and in the last few years it touched the moon. Split Window buses were a rare find even before 2010 and only the destined few were able to find those. My friend found an unmolested, 1967 VW Kombi which had been safely stored for over 20 years with all parts intact, and that too, in his own village. She was waiting like Rapunzel until her prince turned up in 2018.

His son christened the Kombi ‘FILLMORE’, after Lightning McQueen’s pal from the movie Cars.

FILLMORE – The story begins

My friend first spotted the bus back in 2008, during his annual vacation, in a neighborhood garage. He was amazed to find such a beauty in his own village kept away from everyone else’s eyes. He tried to convince the owner to sell the bus to him but the owner was quoting something far out of his reach at the time. Later it became a habit for him to meet the owner every time when he came home for the vacations and after ten years of persistent efforts he successfully convinced the owner to sell the van to him. In fact it was a pleasant surprise that the van had not been rescued by someone over these years, despite too many VW enthusiasts were out there chasing VWs.

These are some pics from where she was lying for over 20 years.






The air-cooled engine under hibernation




The sad state of the interiors when found

[aravind511]

A brief history

For over 60 years, Germany and India have been working jointly for sustainable economic, ecological, and social developments. For this purpose, the Indo-German Development Corporation was formed in 1958. Among the notable projects completed with the German assistance are the Rourkela Steel Plant and IIT Madras. The Indo-German Nilgiris Development Program, which started in 1967 was also one of them and it covered over 16,000 farm holdings and helped small farmers to get loans and determine favorable cultivation practices.

A number of Volkswagens, mostly buses and variants, were imported into the Nilgiris during 1967-68 for this program. The lot of the buses contained split-windows and baywindows. All of these vehicles were registered in the Nilgiris and had MDN series number plates. As far as I know, only 2 or 3 of those split buses survive and Fillmore is one of them. The MDN series number near about 8000 is an identifier for these buses. Are there any more of them hiding in some garages down south? Only time will tell that.


The MDN number plate which came on Fillmore


The old RC book mentions about the Indo-German Nilgiris
Development Project, the purpose for which Fillmore came to India

Why is Fillmore special

Usually splitbuses came with swivel opening twin doors on one side. Baywindows came with more door options which included sliding doors on both sides as well. However in 1967, just before phasing out the splits and launching the baywindows, VW sold very few splits with sliding doors. But these were produced and sold only in small numbers and only a fraction of such specced splits survive now world over.

The Indo-German Nilgiris Development project saw a few German experts with specialised knowledge and experience in various fields connected with the objective moving down to India for a few years. A fleet of 20 vehicles were said to be imported through the Cochin harbor for this project, Among these vehicles sent to Nilgiris were these split windows with sliding doors and Fillmore was one of them. As far as I know, today Fillmore is one of the only two surviving splits with sliding doors on either side in the country. A split bus with factory fitted sliding doors is quite a rare find even in the international market. Hence Fillmore is indeed a special find.

Here are some pictures of the sliding door and the channel

[Viju]

I happened to see the movie on Facebook, and was hoping the detailed story will come up on TeamBHP! Eagerly waiting for the rest of it. Subscribed!

[FuelInjector]

Am already rooted to this. Looking forward. Btw as both are in blr, we could meet up.

[srini1785]

What are the chances!.

We dream of finding and restoring one such vehicle. I am glued to this thread. Keep them updates coming.

[ajay99]

Originally Posted by aravind511

This is the story of a good friend of mine who has been working abroad for more than a decade now. It is about how his passion for finding and restoring abandoned vintage vehicles in India, despite being out of the country for more than 11 months in a year, has landed him upon his destiny – of finding a very rare Volkswagen Split bus and take up the humungous task of restoring it.
FILLMORE – The story begins
My friend first spotted the bus back in 2008, during his annual vacation, in a neighborhood garage. He was amazed to find such a beauty in his own village kept away from everyone else’s eyes. He tried to convince the owner to sell the bus to him but the owner was quoting something far out of his reach at the time. Later it became a habit for him to meet the owner every time when he came home for the vacations and after ten years of persistent efforts he successfully convinced the owner to sell the van to him. In fact it was a pleasant surprise that the van had not been rescued by someone over these years, despite too many VW enthusiasts were out there chasing VWs.T5[/ATTACH]

If i am not mistaken this must be the Split Bus which was lying for years in a workshop in a garage in Thriprayar in Trichur District.Many VW enthusiasts were aware of this for more than a decade, and many including from Bangalore had approached the mechanic(garage owner).But he used to either say that this vehicle was not his and the owner is abroad or ask amounts like 15 lakhs(in 2011) which needless to say was highly unrealistic. That was the reason why it remained there unsold. Also i think the vehicle came to that garage around 2005 from coimbatore side.Actually there was a walk thro kombi which was also there in Kerala at that time

[aravind511]

Originally Posted by ajay99

If i am not mistaken this must be the Split Bus which was lying for years in a workshop in a garage in Thriprayar in Trichur District.Many VW enthusiasts were aware of this for more than a decade, and many including from Bangalore had approached the mechanic(garage owner).But he used to either say that this vehicle was not his and the owner is abroad or ask amounts like 15 lakhs(in 2011) which needless to say was highly unrealistic. That was the reason why it remained there unsold. Also i think the vehicle came to that garage around 2005 from coimbatore side.Actually there was a walk thro kombi which was also there in Kerala at that time

It's the same bus Ajay. The previous owner very well knew what he was selling and my friend what he getting. Also, he had kept all the original parts of the van very safely. Fillmore came with more than 95% of the parts in it.

The splits prices were already sky rocketing internationally over the years when he was chasing the bus. Splits with sliding doors on both sides command a premium as well because of its rarity. The previous owner was actually not very keen on selling the bus. As you said, he was very clear on what he needed to get for the bus if he ever sold it and the quoted price kept rising over the years. It took a lot of effort for my friend in the form of chasing and convincing him before they finally closed the deal.

My friend was also aware of the fact that many enthusiasts from all over India were chasing Fillmore. That's why he was surprised to see it there every time he came home on vacations. In fact, he himself had shared it with many enthusiast friends including me. But for one reason or another, nobody was able to close the deal. At the end of the day, it was his destiny to own the bus and get it restored.

Do you have any information about the other Kombi that you have mentioned? As of now, I know of only 3 split Kombis in Kerala including Fillmore, JayD's and one more in a private collection.

[aravind511]

Fillmore and his companions enjoyed quite a few years in the Nilgiris. Their duties included estate visits and taking the officers around the estates for inspection. It is said that during the estate tours, the officers would keep both the sliding doors open for getting the best views of the estate and also take some workers along, where the workers sat on the floor of the bus while the officers occupied the rear seat.

After the service at Nilgiris was over, Fillmore was auctioned off to Tirupur and spent its life there until the previous owner bought it in 1998. The previous owner, a garage owner, was also involved in the management of a school in Kerala. In 1998, the school decided to upgrade its school bus from an HM Trekker to a Standard van. The previous owner went to Tirupur in search of a Standard 20. He saw Fillmore there liked it and tagged it along with the Standard van to Kerala. The Standard would do the school bus duties and the VW would be his personal vehicle for some years to come. The fitness for both the vehicles were renewed for 5 years and they were both driven to Kerala. Thus Fillmore reached a small town Engandiyur, near Thrissur.

Fillmore served the owner well until 2003 when the fitness got expired. Also by that time, the brake master cylinders had given up and finding an OE replacement was next to impossible. Luckily, the owner was wise enough not to go the jugaad way and parked the splitbus in a safe corner of his garage. Little did Fillmore know that it was a start of a very long hibernation.

[SnS_12]

A great find and kudos to the owner for preserving it with 95% original parts for so long and not letting it end up in the scrapyard. Just like your friend I too had to make multiple trips to the garage to get my Yamaha RD 125 and in the end persistence always pays.

I am a huge fan of the VW Beetle and the VW Bus (T1 & T2) and though I couldn't have a real one in the garage I have a few unique scale models..











All the best to your friend with the restoration and looking forward to read Fillmore's journey from here..

[akash_v12]

Haha! Made for a nice read, this thread. I believe the name Filmore has been adapted from the movie Cars and the teal VW Bus there. Brings back a lot of memories for me. Hoping to read more about this one and see it back in all its glory someday.

[aravind511]

As time passed, Fillmore became an integral part of the garage and the people around started to forget its presence there. It quietly stood at one corner and gradually turned into a large storage shelf for the spares and tools. The painters in the garage used its body as a surface to test the quality of colours they mixed. However the previous owner had taken enough precautions to prevent her from rusting away. Primer was applied to the entire bottom area of the bus before storage. There was only minimal rust on its body when it was rescued despite the fact that it laid only 2 kilometers away from the sea for all these years.

Fillmore was rescued in July 2019. It saw the daylight for the first time in 16 years and I will let a lot of pictures do the talking to show how happy a day it was for Filllmore.


First rays in a long time

Also you can see the primer running along the bottom of the bus. A clever thought by the owner before sending it to storage.


The recovery truck has arrived


Fillmore hops on with full joy


All set to roll, though with assistance, after a long time.


Fillmore had forgotten that something called water existed. First wash after 16 years.


Drying up.

Notice the various colours on the body which had once turned into a canvas for random painters


The cute puppy face


I am squeaky clean and fresh now.


The engine bay washed and dried


A motorhome?


Fillmore is excited and says "Lets go for a drive!"


Removing the seat covers revealed factory upholstery, though in a bad shape


The dashboard with original meters in place


The key to happiness


Every single piece of glass had this VW stamping.

[KPS]

Congratulations to the owner. This is indeed a wonderful acquisition, as it will never lose value.

Depending on the budget, I would dare to suggest that try and fix the bus mechanically first. Use it for at least 500-1000 kms and then do the full job. When you use the car, you will have a better idea as what is required for the final restoration.

All the best, look forward for the final outcome and many happy kms!

Cheers

KPS

[aravind511]

Here is a small video of Fillmore's journey from the previous owner's garage to the washing station after it was rescued.

https://youtu.be/hciY-DA-1kA

[ninjatalli]

Congratulations to your friend on this excellent find.

Originally Posted by aravind511

Fillmore was rescued in July 2019. It saw the daylight for the first time in 16 years and I will let a lot of pictures do the talking to show how happy a day it was for Filllmore.

The timelines of this restoration is a bit confusing. Is this purchase that happened in the past with restoration completed and you are narrating this over multiple posts to be put up soon? Or is the restoration to happen and you'll be updating as and when it happens? Some clarity might helpful, especially with folks like @KPS and others chipping in with their inputs.

Either way, looking forward to more updates on this beautiful vehicle.

[NavtejS]

An amazing find indeed !! Many people usually give up after once or twice ( I am one of them ) but here your friend has shown how persistence pays.

All the best for the restoration ! I am hooked to this thread.