Date:         Wed, 30 Nov 94 11:50:44 PST
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Dave Kautz <dkautz@hpsidms1.sid.hp.com>
Subject:      Re: Interesting Bus conversions

> John Tauxe writes:

> I have often thought of combining two busses (the front and rear 2/3 of
> each) to make a stretch bus.  There is some talk here lately of one of these
> having been sighted in Palo Alto, or something.  It seems that it would be
> rather straightforward sheet metal work.  Has anyone else done this?
> 
> I did see in Los Alamos a '63+'64 stretched by one window panel, and a tall
> roof out the top.  This guy is a hermit electrical engineer for the Lab
> there, and has the whole thing instrumented to the hilt, with propane
> heater, stove, tanks, and even a shower inside.  Pretty neat.  
> 
> Another dream I have is to plant a bug top on the roof of my Westfalia, so
> that you'd have the windsheild like those old Greyhound busses, and more
> glass all around.  I just can't give up the upper bunk, though.
> 
 
 The Palo Alto double bus was built and is owned by Otmar Ebenhoech, who is a
 young and somewhat migrant crazy. He is VERY talented with the welding torch
 and has built some other cool stuff besides the bus. The bus was built by 
 cutting a '72 just behind the sliding door and a '73 just ahead of the
 sliding door and welding them together. He later built a high roof  of his
 own design for full stand up headroom through-out. Originally, he powered it
 with a two liter bus engine from a '78 but later adapted a small Ford V6. He
 let me drive it once and it is a CHORE to steer and stop. Originally he kept
 the separate colors of the two buses - the front one was blue/white and the
 rear one red/white but last time I saw it, he had painted the entire bottom 
 half green.

 Dave Kautz