'73 TinTop Campmobile Project

[DannyK]

Here's the orange '73 TinTop I got recently. These are the "as found" pics. Its quite solid with only a few minor rust spots in the typical areas; windshield gasket, foot steps and battery tray. It has some easy to fix dents and I'll repaint her in the original orange. I removed the sink/icebox unit and will re-upolster the z-bed and small seat plus have some new curtains made. Doc is going to help me build a fresh 2 liter motor.

[DannyK]

BTW, it had junkyard front buckets from who knows what in it, so if anyone has a pair of baywindow bucket seats to sell, let me know. Not sure if I want high or lowback so I could still use the cab-cot for storage when camping.

[ajdenette]

my parents put a cot in a 78 the headrests came out and the cot went over them.

[Sneaks]

We tried the cot in Jake and it fits ok with headrests as well.

[fusername]

a bit of emphasis on ok tho. I have never figured out how to remove the headrests.

edit: oh sneaks, i may have a gift for ya... it rhymes with eats and has armrests.

[ajdenette]

ours just pull out there are no locks that i can see i can bring one out of the seat or you to see glad to the guy without a bus knows it

[DannyK]

The seats in my '79 are stock high backs that wouldn't work with the cot in my '73. I'm considering some ProCar lowbacks from Scat, but I'd prefer stock '73 or so lowbacks. With or without (removable) headrests. I could recover them if necessary and be done without any seat mount/track hassles.

[Sneaks]

a bit of emphasis on ok tho.

I think the cot is smarter than we are and that was the issue. Remember, once I figured it out it came out nice and smoothly.

I have never figured out how to remove the headrests.

I'm going to be inside Jake tonight, if I remember, I'll check it out.

edit: oh sneaks, i may have a gift for ya... it rhymes with eats and has armrests.

you have meat with armrests?

NICE.

The seats in my '79 are stock high backs that wouldn't work with the cot in my '73. I'm considering some ProCar lowbacks from Scat, but I'd prefer stock '73 or so lowbacks. With or without (removable) headrests. I could recover them if necessary and be done without any seat mount/track hassles.

Jake has highbacks in him, that is what we worked around when we did the testfit of the cot out of my '70. I'll look tonight.

[DannyK]

I got a little work done on her this afternoon. I pulled and threw away the passenger seat. I pulled the underdash A/C unit (and boxed it to save) for access to wiring and to back up the holes when I weld the spare mount up. I pulled the driver door panel to find why the window wouldn't go down. Mighta had something to do with the chunk of 2x4 someone wedged in there to hold it up ! I just need to weld the tab back onto the bottom window channel tomorrow and it'll be good as new. While i have the welder fired up, I may delete the side power hook-up hole (for a cleaner look) and use a trailer connector underneath-out of sight. I rarely camp where there are hook ups anyway. I'm not going to use the sink/icebox combo either, but will probably leave the roof vent in case of reinstallation. I'll just block the hole so it doesn't leak. I'm enjoying finding original orange paint behind everything instead of rust, this bus is much more solid than my '79.

[Sneaks]

If you decide to not use the sink and want to part it out, I could use the faucet, fill cap and pump for Jake.

How did you find TWO buses with AC?

[DannyK]

I accidently got two Bays with A/C (79 w/ roof air & 73 w/ dash air) perhaps because I don't like A/C and wasn't looking for it ! It adds to the value though (as does the sink/icebox combo) so I want to keep them intact for the future. Does anyone have a shift knob assembly for the '73s automatic?

[fusername]

I looked at ACs a while back, ahrd to find all the parts at once, but fairly cheap cause it cools you down whle it bakes the engine, conservation of energy and all that. I wouldn't run one unless I built the motor to be a gentle cool running beast.

[DannyK]

My dog and I don't need a/c, one of us likes to hang our head out the window !

[Sneaks]

My dog and I don't need a/c, one of us likes to hang our head out the window !

You know I'm going to have to go there...

...but what does the dog think about you hanging out the window when he's trying to drive?

[DannyK]

This project is not dead. I have been collecting parts for it as I work on other projects and will get this Tintop back on the road in due time. (Plus I'm tired of mowing around it)