"Also known in the United States as the Sunroof Deluxe, the Volkswagen Samba was the most luxurious version of the T1. Volkswagen started producing Sambas in 1951 and in the USA, Volkswagen vans were informally classified according to the number of windows they had. This particular model has 21 windows including panoramic ones in the roof. To distinguish it from the normal Volkswagen van the name Samba was coined. Instead of a sliding door at the side the Samba had two pivot doors and also featured a fabric sunroof. At the time Volkswagen advertised with the idea of using the Samba to make tourist trips through the Alps. Sambas were usually painted as standard in two colours with the upper part being white and the two coloured sections separated by a decorative strip.
An early and desirable 'split-screen' model, this example of Volkswagen's ever-popular Samba microbus left the Wolfsburg factory and was dispatched to Salzburg, Austria in 1967 where it remained until the late 90’s, as corroborated by an Austrian stamped registration card in the history file. Dated by the Split Screen Van Club chassis number 1256281 was manufactured on 20th February 1964. In 2002 and in need of restoration, it was purchased and shipped to the UK where the then owner undertook a significant restoration program, all of which is documented in a photo album. All of the rust and weak spots were cut out and replaced before a full body repaint to a very good standard.
With a fully restored Samba bus, and the seating in place, the owner decided to fit a bespoke Volkswagen camper interior including table and fold down seats that create a bed so he could take it on camping trips. The van was then toured and frequented many a VW show, all the while keeping up with a fully documented maintenance schedule which can be found in the history file. In 2016 the bus was purchased by our vendor who then had a full vehicle test and service carried out, details of which are also in the file and since then it has been used sparingly and dry stored. Offered in good order throughout, unsurprisingly given the period since restoration and care of ownership, this is a very well priced Volkswagen Split Screen Samba, an extremely special example and fantastic for family camping trips or trips to the coast with surfboard in hand.

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