Official SO42 Details and Changes

[von_hansel]

With the SO42 having so much information scattered in the forums, I figured it would be great to have one thread dedicated to SO42 details and changes. This way, anyone who is researching SO42s can find all the information they need in one location.

Below is information off the top of my head. Please respond with any information you have or please let me know if I have any of the information wrong.

Warning: I do not claim to be an expert.

Let's start from the basics and then get down to the nitty gritty and everything you ever wanted to know about these campers and more!

SO42 Resources:
1965 VW Westfalia Campmobile Marketing Guide
1966 VW Campmobile Parts List
1967 VW Campmobile Parts List

Background: In 1965 Westfalia came out with a new kit called the SO42 that lasted until the end of the split bus era. The first SO42 was most likely built the week of January 11, 1965. All SO42s were built out of Kombis

Options: The SO-42 officially came in 4 different “versions”; A,B,C,& D. The version of the kit is typically designated on the m-code plate.
A: standard equipment.
B: standard equipment plus pop-up top, awning tent and roof rack
C: standard equipment plus pop-up top
D: standard equipment plus awning tent and roof rack

The SO42 also came with 4 different roof options;

Hard top/ tin-top

Pop-top

Dormobile

Sunroof.

Configuration: The layout options were either LHD walk-thru, LHD non-walk thru/ bench seat, and RHD bench seat. I have yet to see a RHD walk-thru option. If you have pictures of one, please post it.

[von_hansel]

Paint Options: We have seen buses painted originally in several different color options.

Solid color options:

velvet green

pearl white

dove blue

light grey

and Ivory

Two-tone color options:

sealing wax red and beige gray

velvet green and blue white

velvet green and pearl white

sea blue and blue white

sea blue and cumulus white

And titian red and beige gray

If you have seen an OG paint SO42 painted in another factory color, please post the pics in this thread

Paint Codes:
All SO42 converted at the factory came with a paint code that starts with 523. You can find more info about Westy paint codes here.
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[von_hansel]

Fabrik Number: Each kit was assigned a fabrik number. The oldest kit known is fabrik 14 which was built on Tuesday January 19th, 1965.

The youngest known fabrik number is 12792 and it was built on June 19, 1967

If you have an earlier than 14 fabrik number or later than 12792 fabrik number, please post it in this thread
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[von_hansel]

Differences between the walk thru kit and the bench seat kit:
Walk thru have a smaller rear facing seat as well as a jump seat between the rear facing seat and ice box. The ice box on a walk thru latches to the back of the passenger walk thru bulkhead.

Walk thru:

Walk thru jump seat:

Walk thru kit does not have a corner cabinet in the rear left hand corner or molding as the spare tire is located there with a tire cover.
Walk thru spare tire with cover

Walk thru fridge latch:

Bench seat models have a larger rear facing seat than a walk thru and they do not have a jump seat.
Bench seats have a small closet in the left hand rear corner near the rear hatch. It also has a molding with a striker plate and hole for a rear hatch latch.

Bench seat ice box pictured on the right with the cut out for the spare tire well on the bulkhead. The ice box on the left is a Bay window

Bench seat:

Bench rear facing seat:

Rear cabinet bench seat:

Difference between LHD and RHD kit: The RHD kit has the same configuration for bed and closet with a side door on the closet as the front closet door would not open due to the big table. The ice box is on the left hand side (reverse from a LHD bus). The ice box does not have a table attached to it like a LHD. There is no spice rack on the cargo door as the bed would not be able to layed down as it would hit the rack.

RHD closet:

RHD ice box and cargo doors:

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[von_hansel]

Detail Changes:
There are several changes that accrued to the kit over its 30 month run of production. Below details some of the changes.

Fabrik tag location:
The first 21 kits had the fabrik plate on the closet

By fabrik 22 it had moved to the bottom of the bed

Rear facing seat:
The early kits had rear facing seats that were slanted on the seat stand. We do not know when they changed to a straight seat bottom.

Below is fabrik 350 which has a slanted rear facing seat.

Anyone have a fabrik number later than 350 with a slanted rear facing seat? By 405 it was no longer slanted (see pics on page 3 of kit 405).


walk thru rear facing seat: The early walk thrus had extra wood support for the jump seat. Does anyone know when this ended?

walk-thru rear facing seat with extra wood support for the jump seat

Interior Wall Lamp:
There were three different types of interior lights along the long wall; early clam shell that ended at Fabrik 1049, later style that started at fabrik 1050, and European style

Clam shell seen on fabrik 82

-

Later style that started at fabrik 1050

European style:

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[von_hansel]

Cabinet Handles:

Super early cabinet handles had bakelite push buttons, the youngest known kit with bakelite buttons is fabrik 82

If you know of a kit after fabrik 82 with bakelite push buttons please let us know

By fabrik 194 they had moved to metal push buttons.

Fabrik 655 does not have metal push buttons on the handle but 405 does. Does any between 405-655 have metal push buttons?

After the metal push buttons they changed to black push buttons.

In late 1967, they changed the cabinet handle to what we know as the Bay window style. The oldest known SO42 with the Bay window style is built April 17, 1967 and is fabrik 10789
Later style handle:

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[von_hansel]

Ice Box/ Fridge:
There are two different types of ice box; walk thru and bulkhead style and several style water tanks. There are different types of water tank, neck filler locations, water pumps, water tank drain plugs, and ice trays.

Fabrik 1-850 have the filler neck come from the side and has the gas tank style cap. It is 58mm from the right side edge of the ice box.
Early style filler location

Early tank

Fabrik 851-5399 has the filler coming from the top with the gas tank style cap. from 4350-5037 the third style is sprinkled in. This particular style has the filler hole 112mm from the right side edge of the ice box

filler location

water tank

Third style is 5400-End of SO-42. This has a smaller cap and has a different drain plug.

filler cap and size

later style water tank

The water tank drain plug for fabrik 1-5399 “early style”

Later style water tank drain plug on the right

Water Pump: There were two different water pumps. Early style made by Whale is until fabrik 5399

Later style from fabrik 5400 until end of SO42

Ice tray: There were two different ice box ice trays/ grates

flat with no sides/ no basket is seen on all kits up to fabrik 3220

3221- end of production with basket on the grate

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[von_hansel]

Curtains:
The first 667 kits came with the early style curtains, which are seen below on number 665.

At 668, they switched to the style most commonly associated with the SO42

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[von_hansel]

Cargo table leg: There are two different style cargo door and ice box table legs.

The earlier style changed in very early 1967 at 6967.

This pic shows the early style on the left and the later style on the right

Bed Bracket Bump stops:
This information is not exact but so far we have seen bump stops on an Nov 65 with fabrik 2858 until Feb 66 with Fabrik 4164. By April they were no longer present. Any Fabrik before 2858 or after 4164 please chime in if you have bump stops on your bed bracket.

Childs Cot:
From fabrik 1-8186 child cots were held in by a leather strap above the closet. At Fabrik 8187 the strap was traded out for a canvas boot that is screwed in to the top of the closet

Strap:

Child Cot boot:

Flooring: There were several different linoleum flooring options used.

White and grey:

Checkered:

Darker:

The youngest SO-42 with the dark linoleum that I have found was built on August 1, 1966. Fabrik 6732

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[von_hansel]

Electrical Outlet: For North America buses they came with a Leviton outlet. Before reverse tail lights were added in 1967, it was located above the left side taillight.

At Fabrik 8731 they moved it to the left side long wall due to the reverse lights being above the tail lights.

European models got a euro outlet located above the tail light. Not all euro
models have electrical outlets. Euro models with reverse lights do not have the euro outlet on the long wall.

Long wall outlet with reverse lights:

Euro outlet:

Pre backup lights location:

Close up

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[von_hansel]

Big Top Tent: TUS spec buses that came with tents came with a the big top tent/ circus tent. They came in three color schemes

Yellow with orange, red, and blue strips:

Yellow with blue stripe:

Yellow with red and blue stripes:

Tent tag:

Tent bag:

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[von_hansel]

Rear molding striker: This question was recently asked about the latch plate and striker plate on the rear right molding. Does anyone with a sub 600 confirm if there SO42 has the striker plate on their rear molding?

Early style with no striker plate:

molding with striker plate

hatch latch for reference

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[von_hansel]

No Port Code SO42: We have seen no port code SO42s that were destined for North America. They typically have no SO42 version on the m-code plate, locking ignition, solid windows instead of louvered windows, and 523 paint codes.

Here is an example of one with a typical no port code mcode plate

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[von_hansel]

SO33 Campers Built After the Start of SO42 Production:
I know of four SO33 that were built after the start of production of the SO42:

AS35Driver’s:

Recently for sale:

Yanmori

The fourth SO33 I know about that was built after the start of SO42 production was built on 2.4.65. However, like AS35Driver’s it has no destination code or Westy paint code.
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[srfndoc]

Great detail Johnny, thanks for consolidating all this stuff. A few more details:

There was a very early clamshell version with no front switch and the left edge scalloped to allow you to reach around to pull the switch on/off:

There were also some SO42's delivered with early tent mounts. Usually either German delivered and/or no port code/westy code:

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RPM=(MPH*336* (R&P*4th*1.26))/Tire Diameter in inches

[scvw]

That’s some great info Johnny!!
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58 Coral Red ragtop(Diana's car)
57 PG/SG standard
63 Ruby Red SC
SOUTHERN INTEGRITY AIRCOOLERS


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[von_hansel]

[von_hansel]

[srfndoc]

[srfndoc]

Most SO42's were delivered with mustard yellow vinyl but some early/German delivered SO42's were built with similar cloth material to earlier SO33 Westy's:

Susan's 66 Dormy:

Mark's sunroof so42:

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RPM=(MPH*336* (R&P*4th*1.26))/Tire Diameter in inches