30th blog – date: February, 24th 2026
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After the last few posts were about various VW meets and adventures we attended – including in Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden – we’ll finally be focusing on our T1 again in this blog.
At the end of July 2025, we reached a real milestone in our classic car restoration. After taking the bus to a workshop for the final touches, we were finally able to pick it up at the end of July and drive it home for the first time. You can see our arrival back home in the video below. It was an extremely hot summer day, and combined with a certain amount of nervousness about our first real drive on the road, Sascha was feeling the heat in the bus.
Even though you can hear in the short clip above that the shifting wasn’t quite familiar yet, I can put your mind at ease. With the „blue plates“ from the workshop, several rides were undertaken in the following days, and very quickly it worked perfectly without any shifting problems.
As luck would have it, Sascha also encountered another VW bus from Germany coincidentally during a drive in Langenzersdorf. A 1966 VW Splitbus, to be precise. They pulled over to the side of the road, exchanged a few words, and then each went their separate ways.
Then we continued working towards our main goal: obtaining „Einzelgenehmigung“ (individual vehicle approval). Since the bus, being a US import, had never been registered in Austria, we had to present the vehicle to the authorities for inspection to ensure it was roadworthy. Only after a vehicle passes this inspection and receives individual approval can it be officially registered.
After submitting the application to MA46 (Traffic Affairs), we were informed that, in addition to the data sheet from Wolfsburg, we also needed a noise assessment report for the bus to obtain individual approval. Therefore, we first had an appointment in southern Vienna to have this report prepared.
At this point, I remembered a building facade not far from where the report was to be prepared. I had only learned about this building a few months earlier when I was researching a pickup truck for my friend Martin. He was about to buy a 1956 T1 pickup truck with original Goodyear logos from Germany. However, given the numerous inquiries he received, the seller ultimately decided to keep the truck for himself.
Anyway. Since I knew my father had some time to spare and wasn’t far away, I asked him to stop there and take a few photos. Here’s the result:
When temperatures soar above 30°C, the pop-out windows in the bus are quite practical – as are the ventilation windows in the front doors. We also quickly hung a fan in the bus – that makes the heat even more bearable.
There was also a delightful reunion. A few years back we were still on the look-out for a nice VW bus and drove quite long distances to take a look at some buses in person with an old BMW. Back then we had never seen Eve in person, but we drove to the Netherlands to see the T1 in 2017 in this very same E30 325 Touring. In March 2018, we reluctantly sold the BMW. Now – a full eight years later – the E30 has found its way back to us.
With our appointment at the state vehicle inspection office at the end of October for the individual approval, we continued working diligently on the final details of the bus throughout the autumn, especially regarding the interior. We finally finished the headliner. Photos will follow as soon as the weather improves – we promise!
And then the day finally arrived! On a thankfully mild October morning, we set off at 6 a.m. to have the VW bus’s roadworthiness inspected at the state vehicle inspection office in Vienna.
We waited anxiously for the results: three minor defects. An additional wiring harness in the engine compartment wasn’t insulated, the battery wasn’t properly secured and was therefore moving around, and the handbrake on one of the rear wheels needed some adjustment. But nothing that couldn’t be fixed within the allotted time. On the one hand, we were slightly disappointed that a follow-up appointment was necessary, but on the other hand, relieved that „only“ these three things had been found.
These defects were rectified extremely quickly, and so we were already looking forward to the follow-up appointment with the authorities at the beginning of November 2025. A few days earlier, this video was filmed when the T1 came back from the workshop. This time I (Alex) was driving – accidentally with the high beams on, as the video shows. 😉
On the finish line to individual approval
The follow-up appointment at MA46 took place in the first week of November. Again, it started early in the morning; this time Alex drove because Sascha wasn’t yet allowed to drive after eye surgery. The inspection was over much faster than the first one. And the result was positive: individual permit granted! 😀
We’re absolutely thrilled that we’ll finally be able to officially drive the bus soon. We can hardly contain our excitement for next spring. Then the VW bus will finally be registered and ready for tons of new adventures!
And now a small premiere: in light of this completed stage of the bus restoration, Sascha has written a text and requested its publication on the website:
Dear visitors to our website,
thank you for your interest so far.
For eight years now, we’ve been working to get Eve back on the road. A long time – but better late than never, right?
So, we’ve finally arrived in the present, even though the pictures here are already quite old (some even several years).
We’ve had a lot of fun tinkering with our father-son project. Of course, you know how it is when you’re restoring a car; it’s often just those last few finishing touches that get stuck, and then your motivation suffers. And sometimes life just gets in the way.
Our wife, or rather, our mother, also enjoyed watching the progress of our bus restoration.
Sadly, she passed away unexpectedly in 2024, and not a day goes by that we don’t think of her and miss her.
The bus, however, passed its inspection at the state vehicle testing center in November 2025 and has been officially licensed for road use since February 2026.
Now we’re looking forward to many enjoyable trips, whether with a specific destination in mind or just for the road, and to chatting with people.
…and of course, to uploading more great photos…
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