It’s funny how the VW hobby tends to drag us back into it, even after a few years of hiatus. Take Patrice Gangnant, for example, from Caen, in Normandy, who built a couple of highly-regarded Beetles in the ’80s and early ’90s. I first met Patrice in the late 1980s and was very impressed with the car he drove back then, a black ’61 sedan. This featured a wide variety of aluminium accessories fabricated by him, including flush-mounted bumpers and air filter covers. His next VW, an Oval Ragtop, typical of the early ’90s, proved even more impressive. Yet, family became a priority and the ’53 soon changed ownership.
Patrice then disappeared from the scene for almost a decade. During this lapse, he worked on his house, had two children, and simply got on with his busy life. However, as things settled down, he felt the urge to build a new project car. Initially, he envisaged building a street rod, but his wife convinced him that a family vehicle might be more appropriate, so they ultimately settled on a Volkswagen Bus.
Fast forward to 2001. Patrice was looking high and low for a 23-window Bus all over Europe, but none seemed to fit his price range. However, an interesting alternative appeared in the shape of its younger brother, a nice 21-window. This ’67 had already been partly restored, although it was lacking its seats and interior trim.
Patrice bought it and, after an extensive tune-up, our 42-year-old enthusiast drove the vehicle in stock form for a year, while he searched for various bits and pieces for his dream Bus: a custom 25-window, built to drive like a modern car! Through judicious swapping of parts and thanks to the Internet, Patrice’s stash of parts was finally starting to take shape. A good friend even sold him the main element missing from his project: the rear section of a 23-Window Bus.
Due to the quality of his previous VWs, it’s no surprise to learn that Patrice’s Samba features a high level of detailing, mixed with a ton of unique attributes. In September 2003, he took the Bus off the road for a total rebuild. It would soon receive a complete facelift – to look like a late ’62 Samba, except for those extra skylight rear windows which (as far as we know) never came as standard equipment on any Volkswagen....
