Haha thought I was done with the updates on this one, been focusing on other projects lately, but I have had some new developments on it.
The spare transmission is definitely a good one, no noises at all and shifts very nicely (though I'm having a pesky axle boot leak). I've been driving it for the past few weeks and going to some local town shows, everyone seems to like it. Scored a disk brake kit off of a local vw enthusiast for a great price, waiting on bearings to show up before I put them all together. Still looking for a 65/66 decklid for it, the replacement I got has a few too many issues for me to use it. Haven't heard anything new about how the car ended up where it was though.
I may have found a new project here, a guy in town has a 78 Champagne Edition bus, thinking of picking it up. Floors, frame, jack points, outriggers all totally solid, needs a dogleg patched and rear wheel wells. It will be my welding practice vehicle, then I'll come back to this bug with some experience and fix the heater channels properly.