Date:         Fri, 24 Nov 1995 22:14:11 -0800 (PST)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         tfab@netcom.com (thom fitzpatrick)
Subject:      Investigating New Busses


I spent the better part of the day hanging around this guy named
Joel who is looking for a bus.

We first looked at a '66 deluxe, for $4500.  It looked good from
about 20 paces, but as you got closer, you could seen the crappy
"resale red" paint job, the numerous dents, scratches, etc.  For the
white, ont top, its like they painted _at_ the bus, leaving large areas
where there was only nominal coverage.

The tranny was cantankerous, the brakes pulled, the steering was of
its own mind, trying to find the sould of Jerry Garcia.

The kicker:  The fresh air tubes were gone.  I asked the guy who was
fronting the bus, who was the owners dad, how long they'd been that way,
and he said he'd seen them in the garage a few months ago when sonny put
the new exhaust on.  Oye!  I guess he's made a few trips to the bay area
and back with it like this!

We left him an offer of $3k (more than generous) and he told us he had
an offer of $4200.  Yeah, right!               

I let him drive my bus, to see what one is s'posed to feel like:  tight
steering, good brakes, no pulling, good power...

The next one we looked at was another '66 deluxe, this one much worse than
the first.  It pulled into the meeting place blowing smoke everywhere,
from a new exhaust, it turns out.  This one was rough.  It was lowered
with a bus boys kit, the lower front portions of the doglegs were hashed,
and it had abuse written all over it.  I pointed out to the owner that 
he was missing his fresh air hoses (like the first guy) and he says "so?"
Oye!  Stooooopid people in this town!  They wanted $1500 for that abortion,
and came down to $1200 without us even asking.  The tranny was even worse
in this one, it had a hard time going into first OR second unless you
were stopped, and made lots of expensive growling noises.

All in all a disappointing day, although I now have a lead on a barndoor
steering wheen that I want badly for my bus...

I also got to see more pix of that barndoor bus that's in Flooorida.  Oye!
again!  Rustbucket bonzai!  I don't see how they can ask $1500 with a
straight face!  Wheel wells cut out, floors gone, sides all bashed up...

Tommorrow I go look at some busses in the hills - one with semaphores!

Thom
--
> Someday, everyone who has seen this .sig will be dead.
Thom Fitzpatrick 
tfab@netcom.com - ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/tf/tfab/home.html
'56 VW Sunroof Kombi
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