Blue Marley - 1973 Safare' Tin Top Camper

Great looking van. Never seen this conversion before with the seats facing each other.

 

Love it, Love it, Love it!

 

Lovely van and tintop

 

Very nice indeed

 

First ride in the bus today; grabbing lunch after playing at the park.

 

a long overdue update:
Took the 73' out on our maiden camping trip to Jellystone Park near Clearlake, CA. I drove alone and the wife and kids followed in her Rav4 since I haven't found a safe way to secure their car seats...yet.
The Bus was a million times more comfortable than the tent at night with the mattress from my son's bed. I think I'm going to buy another from Ikea since it fit great and was not too bulky and had better support than any futon pillow I've slept on. http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00139752/




Cooking on the range beat bending over the campfire or camp stove, and the AC outlet was perfect for charging the phone before heading back home.
It was 105 degrees out so the night before we left I sewed a new windshield privacy cover/sun shield using the original as a template. Since I didn't have AC on the ride up, I was much more acclimated to the hot weather than the rest of our group.

Not everything is peachy keen; I still have to figure out why the sink pump doesn't work, why the oil cooler is draining the battery, and remove clean and inspect the propane tank...but there's no hurry.

...Old blue has been good to me despite the multiple oil leaks, jump starts, and other quirks of owning a 40year old vehicle. It even earned a small win for all the Safare's out there by winning 1st place at a local event a few months back.

 

And one rear shot for the butt enthusiasts out there

 

where is yogi bear?

The van is still lovely, I love the seat arrangements ,1st place is well deserved...

 

Hadn't seen this thread before! Lovely looking bus

 

fantastic conversion...

thanks for sharing it ...

 

Dashing through the snow
In a 66 horse powered Bay
O'er the hills we go
Gassing all the way!

So many thumbs up, honks, waves, and smiles since hooking up the christmas lights!
Merry Christmas TLB'ers!

 

Nice bus, looks like the kids love it, mine love our bus.

 

It's been a few months and I am due for an update...

This year Marley took 2nd place at the Kelley Park Spring show! Beginners luck, again!

Unfortunately a few weeks ago the oil cooler was leaking like crazy... again. The oil light came on after a short drive and I discovered that I was a quart low. I filled it up and went about my way. The next day I found the entire back of the bus was covered with oil spray and I was a quart low again!
He was running rough, and needed to see the 'doctor' so I took him to Bus Lab in Berkeley. Not only did they fix the leak, but they also installed a fresh set of baby Webers, adjusted the valves, and cleaned up some of the rats nest of wires in the engine bay.

Here's the before/after shots.
While the new Carbs don't improve power much if at all, the engine is running smooth and they should be dependable and need little tuning.
2 happy campers here!

 

Way to go! looking good back there.

 

Nice bus

Weber 34s on mine, dyno'd at 67.5bhp so no more than factory stock. Pulls nicely though...

 

Great looking bus - just saw it on The Samba and PM'd you there lol

For the rear seats, I was thinking maybe some more middle-row seat mounts welded into the back row position, maybe with a metal frame inside the seat boxes. Not sure, but needs some thought..

 

Hi dreday, very late on this thread so don't know if anyone will pick this up but hi anyway, this is also my first comment!!
I cannot believe your bus, amazing! We also have a Safare' custom camper but ours is a '77' and was done by Spirit campers in Paramount, Cali. We have the bubble top with pull out sleep platform, the interior has been changed over the years before we came about her but we would love to put the seating back to the original plan like yours. It is so nice to see another in such good condition and with such a wonderful family.