For the modern hippie: a new VW Bus

[MillCreek]

http://www.seattlepi.com/photos/gallery.asp?SubID=6453&page=1&GTitle=Volkswagen%20bus%20through%20the%20years&pubdate=3/1/2011

An interesting reinterpretation of the classic VW Microbus.  I actually learned to drive on a 1969 Microbus.  It was an experience driving that thing in a crosswind.  Even on a good day, it was 0-60 in about a minute.

[Regolith]

I don't really see the point except to sell to those who are nostalgic over the old buses.  It's only got two rows of seats, it's boxy as hell, which means its aerodynamics suck and it will be less fuel efficient because of it,  and it doesn't look like it has very much cargo capacity. Basically, almost everyone would be better off getting a regular mini-van instead of this, or if they don't need the space a four-door sedan.

[Jamisjockey]

I'd love to have a westy.

[RevDisk]

VW products used to be preferred because they were cheap, reliable and easy to maintain.   Now, they are expensive, not extremely reliable and hideously stupid hard to maintain.  Brilliant. 

[mtnbkr]

Actually, the prices are coming down or are already in parity with other brands.  Can't speak to the other points beyond to note my friend's Passat was far from reliable.

Chris

[HankB]

VW products used to be preferred because they were cheap, reliable and easy to maintain.   Now, they are expensive, not extremely reliable and hideously stupid hard to maintain.  Brilliant. 

I remember reading that when the current "Beetle" was introduced, after allowing for inflation, the price was about 3x that of the original when they began importing them here.

They also have some odd little quirks - back in the '70s a buddy's brother had a VW 412 station wagon, and the air pressure of the spare tire was tapped to power the windshield washer.

[Ben]

I'd love to have a westy.

You'll first have to go bald, grow a ponytail, and learn to drive 50MPH in the fast lane on the freeway. :)

[French G.]

So what are the odds of fixing this new one on the side of the road? My grandparents last bus went to the neighborhood yout who paid a princely sum of $25, freed the brakes and dragged it away. It was intact, not on the road for 20 years, but intact. $25 Oh well, my grandmother wouldn't sell me her Bug, but ten years later she gave it to me, that being last Thanksgiving. It was only off the road since '92-3, close to having it legal now, it was fired and driving the next day. Crappy little thing, little rust issues, but let a new car sit for 18 years and then try to get it going and let me know how that turns out.

[charby]

I don't really see the point except to sell to those who are nostalgic over the old buses.  It's only got two rows of seats, it's boxy as hell, which means its aerodynamics suck and it will be less fuel efficient because of it,  and it doesn't look like it has very much cargo capacity. Basically, almost everyone would be better off getting a regular mini-van instead of this, or if they don't need the space a four-door sedan.

It's more aerodymanic than you think it is.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

my first real car was a 1970 camper.  i would love another one. was slow as heck, then i put a corvair motor in it  was less slow then. but i loved that bus. what other car could you swap motors on the side of the highway outside york pa by the light of a troopers head lights. and take less than an hour for the whole deal, from blowing it up  putting out the fire to swapping it out and driving on.

[Ben]

As much as I make fun of old hippies driving them, in a post Zombie Apocalypse, post EMP Apocalypse, post whatever TEOTWAWKI Apacolypse, I'd probably trade my right arm and my M1A for a pre 1970 diesel VW bus and a few spare parts. :)

[MillCreek]

My very first car was a '67 VW Fastback.  Yes, the windshield washers were powered by using a bicycle pump to pressurize the washer fluid tank.  The heater/defrost did not have a fan, so if you were driving slowly, there was no air flow.  You had to crack the wing window to create a flow through the vents.  The engine was in the back under the trunk floor, so it was a bit of a pain in the tuchis to access.  

But on the upside, it was cheap to maintain, and a poor college student like myself could do almost all my own work, since everything was mechanical, and there were no electronics on the car other than the AM/FM radio.  I owned that car from 1978 to 1986, and then sold it to a nursing student for the same amount that I paid for it.  All through college, it reliably got me to work at the hospital and the fire department.  For several years after, I would still see it on the road around town.  It was a good car. 

[lee n. field]

for a pre 1970 diesel VW bus and a few spare parts. Smiley

Was there such a thing?

I had a '70 bug for a couple years, 30 or so years ago.  Fun.  I still, literally, sometimes dream about it.  Floorpan rot doomed it, as I had neither the money nor skills to repair such.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

don't look brad!


we use real estate signs to fix floor boards

[AZRedhawk44]

New one can't store two surfboards inside while the hipsters/surfers are sleeping on deployed sleeping bags.

Fail.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

my 70 slept 9 one rainy nite on a camping trip

[Harold Tuttle]

[roo_ster]

my first real car was a 1970 camper.  i would love another one. was slow as heck, then i put a corvair motor in it  was less slow then. but i loved that bus. what other car could you swap motors on the side of the highway outside york pa by the light of a troopers head lights. and take less than an hour for the whole deal, from blowing it up  putting out the fire to swapping it out and driving on.

That is one heck of a state trooper.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

it was late 70's and he took pictures and laughed a lot

[RevDisk]

That is one heck of a state trooper.

Yes and no.  All of 'em tend to be good troopers.

"I am a Pennsylvania State Trooper, a soldier of the law.

To me is entrusted the honor of the force

I must serve honestly, faithfully, and if need be, lay down my life as others have done before me, rather than swerve from the path of duty.

It is my duty to obey the law and to enforce it without any consideration of class, color, creed or condition.

It is also my duty to be of service to anyone who may be in danger or distress, and at all times so conduct myself that the honor of the force may be upheld."

They mean it too.  They're very decent, as police departments go.  They run an illegal handgun registry, but haven't made any usage of it as far as anyone knows.  Aside from that, I've never heard anything negative of them other than that they tend to enforce the laws to the letter.  There's a good chance the trooper in question was from the Barrack right down the road from me.  Good folks, and pretty decent neighbors.


Saw a VW bus on the way home.  Pretty good condition, though an ugly yellow and white.  If I had a house with a decent sized garage, wouldn't mind owning one just to practice mechanic skills on it. 

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

he was sure nice to the boy from md.  he did do the usual questions and asked for id.  i think he was surprised/bemused by a vw van with an onboard extinguisher system and a spare motor ready to go in the back. i think he  also thought i was not gonna succeed in getting going and he was gonna have to call a wrecker to keep me from freezing to death on the side of the road

[RevDisk]

he was sure nice to the boy from md.  he did do the usual questions and asked for id.  i think he was surprised/bemused by a vw van with an onboard extinguisher system and a spare motor ready to go in the back. i think he  also thought i was not gonna succeed in getting going and he was gonna have to call a wrecker to keep me from freezing to death on the side of the road

Extinguisher system?   And uh, why exactly did you have a spare motor in the back?   If I may ask, how did you go about swapping out the motor on the side of the road?

[Viking]

That license plate - I see what you did there.

[Harold Tuttle]

I could drop the Thing motor, shove in a replacement and drive away in 45 minutes.


I think I still have Muirs Idiots guide stored in memory

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

vw van motors had a disturbing tendency to go all fiery when they go kablooey .  after my first fire i drilled a hole through under the pull out bed in the back. mounted a big co2 extinguisher under there with a hose to a nozzle mounted in the engine compartment. pull the safety pin squeeze handle and it blew out the fire(s).  it beat the heck outa opening up the engine compartment lid and losing your eyebrows when the fire flashed up as the air enters , apropos to nothin at all did you know it takes almost 2 months for eyebrows to grow back well? i put 5 motors in that van i was pretty quick at swapping and building them. 4 bolts to transaxle and 2 on the member that supported the motor at the rear. one short section of rubber fuel line joining the 2 metal fuel lines together and one wire. I once removed one alone in less than 10 mins in the middle of the night without waking anyone up in the house . (i built him the motor he never paid) once i got it out i waved to my 2 more timid/wiser friends and they ran up helped me lift it into my van.vans are even easier than bugs the vans had a panel that unbolted under the bumper and you could slide the motor straight in. not that funny angle it in you did on bugs.  back then you could rebuild a motor for 200 bucks