Date:         Mon, 22 Apr 96 09:12:00 PDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Bill Ernest <bille@msmail2.precisionint.com>
Subject:      Strange Bus Sighting


Greetings all,

I hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend.  I spent mine laying on my back in 
a puddle of water looking at my oil pan but hey, if it means enjoying sunny 
days in the bus in the summer, I'll do it anytime.

Anywho, while I was at a junkyard looking for some various parts I saw the 
most unusual bus I have ever seen.  As we were walking towards the back of 
the yard we saw a pretty good looking 65-66 (?) splitty sitting there 
seemingly with most parts intact.  Then things started getting weird.  The 
bus had a sort of white picket fence/gingerbread house wood fence (about 1 
foot tall) around the outside of the roof.  There was a wood structure over 
the entire roof covered in astrosurf.  A sunroof was cut into this setup to 
allow access to the roof from inside.  And to "top" it all off it had a 
mounting setup for one of those Cinzano (sp?) bar umbrellas on it.

Inside there was the Cinzano umbrella and only one seat up front that was 
surrounded by a brick wall about elbow height (when sitting down).  Next to 
the driver's seat, where the passenger seat would be was a wood burning 
stove with its exhaust pipe going out through a hole in the roof.  The last 
thing that really blew my mind was the side door set-up on this bus.  The 
door itself was not a sliding type but swung out like the driver/passenger 
side doors and the windows above that section sung out both ways.  The 
bottom part of the door had a mini-spinet piano mounted to it and would 
swing open with the door.  This bus had a piano in it, I could not believe 
it.

I could only imagine running into this bus in some campground, a few people 
on the roof enjoying the shade while someone is playing them a tune on the 
piano below while boiling a pot of tea on the stove!  And unbelievably this 
bus had minor damage to the outside (the inside was a mess) and the engine 
was still intact!  I have no idea what it was doing in that junkyard.

Still astounded,
Ernest

'83 Westy
Portland, OR