A Failure of Vision

[Tin Can]

We also made mud buggies by 1969 out of 'junk' Bugs and Buses. Most were very rusty and free.

The first one was a Splitty Bus with stock gear reduction rear axles for better ground clearance and steering brakes. No front brakes. Gas pipe frame...

It might be the far one my brother is drag racing against Santa Clause. Shot by me with Pentax SLR.

I flat towed it to Palm Desert where is survived outside for decades and always ran. Maybe still?

Santa Drag Racing 1971 by TIN CAN COLLEGE, on Flickr

[Vaughn]

Cool -- a friend had the classic fiberglass bodied VW dunebuggy -- fun out in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and the Salton Sea area (kept on the jeep trails, though -- not any off-road).

[Tin Can]

1975 we raced the last fancy buggy in the Las Vegas Mint 400.

We were not prepared for that level of insanity.

I was part of a volunteer pit crew for a group of racers.

I might find those pics of dust...

[Jim Noel]

40 years ago I got a ride from Eugene OR to San Diego off a college ride board.

6 strangers in a VW Bus. We took turns driving until...we approached LA. I declined!

Suddenly the youngest tiniest woman said she would drive. She said she grew up in LA. She had not driven yet.

Then she took charge and drove that ancient heap like an expert and safely got us out the other side. She really did know how to drive LA. Old VW Buses are not for the faint of heart nor are they easy to drive well.

I couldn't get a ride to Phoenix so I flew commercial. Cheap enough.

There I bought a worse 1964 VW Bus with no brakes. Fixed the brakes in a parking lot and drove it to Chicago.

Fantastic journey. The end of a year of wandering.

I loved our 64 Minibus. We bounced across Texas at night with 4 small children headed from San Diego to Birmingham to visit the in-laws.

[Tin Can]

Well, VW Bus are gaining value, especially a 23 Window Safari in ANY condition.

Here's one asking $129,000 and they can go for far more. This is not even close to a top notch one.

https://journal.classiccars.com/2019...-bus-restored/

I loved our 64 Minibus. We bounced across Texas at night with 4 small children headed from San Diego to Birmingham to visit the in-laws.

[Vaughn]

I loved our 64 Minibus. We bounced across Texas at night with 4 small children headed from San Diego to Birmingham to visit the in-laws.

My parents bought new a 1969 7-seater. I learned to drive in it (I turned 16 in 1970), as well as the 1960 Dodge 100 pick-up that the VW replaced as our camping mobile and kid-hauler. Mixing up the 4-on-the-floor pattern with the 3-on-the-column pattern had some interesting results in the Dodge...especially when stopped on a hill.

[bloodhoundbob]

I am NOT anti robot and eagerly wait for robot taxi here in the middle of nowhere.

One day soon I will have to stop driving...

You already have a taxi, i.e., ME.

[BrianShaw]

... and none of you had VDub busses that ended up on the side of the road in flames?????

[Vaughn]

... and none of you had VDub busses that ended up on the side of the road in flames?????

That's why my parents bought the 2002 Eurovan. Their Westy Vanagon (forgot the year) caught on fire as they pulled into the town of Borrego Springs. They had just been camping in the middle of nowhere in the Anza-Borrego Desert -- someone pulled along side of them to tell then their van was on fire. They pulled over, my dad got his bicycle out of van to get to the fire-extriquisher, but too late. They had to back off as the camper was engulfed -- it was quite dramatic as the 5gal propane tank they stored on top of the van blew. The fire department quickly arrived and hosed down the two palm trees along the road next to the van -- too late for the van.

A girl came out of the cafe across the road with some food for the two oldies (80 at the time) and someone gave them a lift to San Diego (they lived in San Clemente).

My brother's VW bug caught fire on the way to Colorado -- put out in time. In the middle of Nevada, I smelled gas in my 71 Bug -- pulled over to find that the metal gas line thru the firewall (?) had had a hole worn in it -- a close call. The rubber gasket that it was suppose to go thru had disappeared.

[rdenney]

What a bunch of old hippies we are.

A few years after owning the bus, I was earning grocery money in college as a mechanic, and entering competitions with a buddy for R&Ring VW engines. I could have kept the bus in service for a looong time.

Rick “but I replaced it with a 1970 Cutlass which was...a bit more exciting” Denney