IS it possible to make a 1970's or 1960's VW bus a safe car for under $6000.Can it even be made a safe vehicle

Question

I just want to know if it is possible and around how much would it cost. I am a new driver who doesnt want to get killed driving.

Answer 1

Safe for what? There must be over 50,000 of them still on the roads and I haven't heard of a VW massacre on the highways. I suppose you could install a full race roll cage and five point harness plus wear a safety helmet but -- why? The whole point of owning a microbus will be lost if you have to worry about being slaughtered everytime you drive it.

Maybe you should just buy a Volvo. A nice shade of off-brown -- yuk.

Answer 2

If you already have the bus, then yes it is. You can install a water pumper engine (I run an Eco Tec 2.0 supercharged in my VW) like a pinto or Chevy 4.3 to keep it reliable. As far as safety, disk brakes all the way around will make it stop great. A roll cage will keep it from crushing in an accident. Sway bars will keep all 4 on the ground.

Stick with the split window micro bus. They are sweet. I have a 1961 Micro bus in my tree. It is my son's tree house!

Answer 3

As former owner of a 62 bus- possible, but cost may be a bit higher if you want it to look close to stock. The old offroad safety cages were external tubed and extended a foot in front of body and windshield, side bars for side collision and rollovers also extend out a little from body, internal tubing conected and braced front bumper area that had extended large tubes and sides. Air bags wern't used at the time but the safety harnesses were copied from NASCAR and Airforce designs- double shoulder belts and strong connections. Mexican shops working with Mexican built bus's or the US registered early bus's used to charge about $1500.00 to $2000.00 to make them capable of passing 1990s standards for front and side crash protection. Similar cost for the late built Mexican Beetles- the Mexico City compressed natural gas/LP gas conversions got by the EPA pollution laws and the roll cage -SCTA standards- and added bumpers/side running boards gaurds got by the highway safety standards.

Answer 4

I used to own one, and the only way to be safe is to not hit anything in fornt. There is nothing there to protect you.

Most drivers are hippies from the sixties who are driving slowly anyway. You can't drive fast uphill in those.

I sold mine and bought a chevy van with a honking great engine and transmission between me and the rest of the world.  

Answer 5

As stated before you cant really do anything for these vehicles to make them safer, they were poorly desiged.......