19?? VW Bus

After being in my new place for a couple of years, I decided that some sort of vehicle to help me carry tools and debris around the property would be a good idea. I kept a look out for old pickup trucks for sale by the side of the road, but didn't really see much of anything.

Then one day I saw an old VW bus at a gas station with a "for sale" sign on it. I inquired, and a cute hippie grease-monkey kid came out and talked to me about it. It did run, although it had a cobbed-up toggle switch and push button starter to fire it up. The frame was rusted and it would not pass inspection without a serious investment. This was perfect for me, because I had no intention of putting it on the road anyway.

The kid only wanted a couple hundred bucks for it. I paid him off and he signed over the title. I had AAA tow it to my place. There was a host of VW engine parts in the back. It was practically a complete engine, albeit unassembled. I fired up and bus and drove it out to where my old Subaru was parked. I tossed all the engine parts in the back, where they remain to this day.

The bus very quickly became a useful work-horse. For quite a while the sliding door worked, but one day the front end of it came off the body and a corner caught in the dirt ripping it off the car. Oh well. I found a piece of ply wood which fit perfectly in the opening and kept stuff from falling out.

The following spring when a tree came down in my back yard, the vehicle was indispensable in removing all the debris. I stuffed all the branches in and drove them out for bonfire fuel. I cut up the trunk of the tree into big chucks and set them up around the bonfire clearing. The thick ones I stacked two-high, and I put the skinny ones around them. They made great rustic cocktail tables for bonfire parties.

During my Summer Solstice parties I'd put the keg in the bus. Then wherever the party moved the keg could be towed along. It was also the second installment of my "paint my old car" party game.

Although I've done zero maintenance on the vehicle it continues to run and serve a critical role in the upkeep of my property.

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