As for the period correct mod.
It has been hanging on my conscience for a while. I must have changed my mind about it 100 times. But it's done now and I love it!
BARNDOOR WALKTHROUGH!!
I have always owned walkthrough buses and absolutely love the fact I can slip in and out of the cab. Especially with kids in the back. But I had excepted the fact that it wouldn't be correct for my 52 so therefore a no-go. Well, that was until it was discovered that a walkthrough panel was displayed at the Frankfurt VW show in March 1951 right alongside a 51 samba!
Now a walkthrough was period correct! It is possible (however small) that a walkthrough samba may have been available from the factory in 52.
That's when my head started spinning. So I sat down and wrote out the pro's and con's of each a walkthrough and the original bench.
The obvious plus for the bench was I had half an original bulkhead in original paint with the body number stamped on it. But it was only half and only hanging on by a couple of spot welds and the original paint would all be hidden behind a repo seat and new bulkhead interior panel anyway.
It may have also been nice to do a Westy style seat back hammock. But that was about it.
Pro's for the walkthrough were that except for the half a bulkhead everything else was either missing or to far gone. I had no usable seats, no decent tool box, no central floor panel and no hard to find grab handles. And as the bulkhead remains would fall out with a stif breeze, no hack was necessary.
A walkthrough is great with kids, a more practical camper with access to the front even with a hammock up and more cab space.
And the way I see it is it is all fairly easily reversible.
Plus it worked very well with my plan to hide the tubs and seat belts.
I also quite liked the fact that a repo Barndoor walkthrough had never been done before. (Gerson did make one for an Australia double door fake Barndoor samba but it was sooooo wrong in so many ways it's not worth mentioning). So I have spent the last few years finding everything I can on the Barndoor walkthrough. Collecting pictures and measurements when ever I could. I sent some of these through to Mark Spicer who made the toolbox and walkthrough side plate for me out of original Barndoor steel.
I had already edited the KF side plates for the new chassis shape and raised beam way back when.
Then Jeff used the rest of the pics and measurements to complete the rest. And I believe it's pretty spot on accurate with the exception of a few minor bits here and there which are due to the custom chassis. It just needs the bulkhead supports and the seat mounts and it's all done.