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Date:         Mon, 1 May 1995 17:44:39 -0400
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "David Easterwood" <deasterw@st6000.sct.edu>
Subject:      Old Westy Saga (Bus Vulture)

Well, here's the report. I got to the guy's place in Alabama about 4:30 in the afternoon & said "Hi, my name's Dave. Where's the bus?" He took me around back & said "there she is, look her over & see if that's what yer lookin' for."

Good points: Bus is practically rust free. Two rust holes in the entire bus. One next to the brake fluid resevoir, barely more than a pinhole, the other in the rocker under cargo doors, about the size of a quarter. Crawled underneath & it looked almost like new. Original paint & the asbestos wrap around the heater tube looked as if it were put on there last week. It also had an ambulance fan.

Bad points: The guy was absolutely not shy about cutting the bus. Additional brake lights above originals. Additional front turn signals above bullets. Engine cooling vents cut out & idiot air scoop installed. Two guages (fuel & oil temp) cut into dash. Dent in driver door & dogleg. Missing cabinet directly behind passenger (where tumblers would be stored) & rear cabinet on driver's side. Missing one rear lamp cover. Must have started leaking at some point because submarine hatch sealed with tar. Front seat from a ford pickup.

All in all about half as nice as he described over the phone. I agreed to his asking price ($650) & paid him. Then things got ugly. Remember in the previous post I said someone else had put a deposit down & couldn't pay it off? He showed up. He had sent his wife to the bank to get a loan. Allen explained to him their contract stated he was to pay the balance in 3 weeks and it had been nearly 8 weeks. Allen even returned his downpayment (which he didn't have to contractually). The kid was heartbroken & I felt really bad for him although he didn't look like he could afford to get it back on the road.

Anyway, I got his name & number & told him I would try to find another bus for him. I decided against towing the it with my bus for that long a distance, so I'm renting a truck to trailer it back this weekend.

Anyone with leads on the cabinets & light cover please let me know. Plans are to spend a couple of weeks going through mechanicals & then straight to the body shop to weld it up & paint it (original color, Sealing Wax Red).

----------------------------------------------------------------------- * 59 Dbl Dr Walk-Thru Panel Dave Easterwood * * 59 & 61 Single Cab Pickups deasterw@st6000.sct.edu * * 60 & 66 Westfalia * * 66 Hardtop & Sunroof Deluxe Buses 61 Deluxe Beetle * * 73 & 77 Westfalias 69 Rust Bug * * 74 Thing 64 Type 34 Karmann Ghia * -----------------------------------------------------------------------


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