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Cisco
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4196
Registered: 12-30-2010
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Long, strange trip ending for VW's hippie van. (sob, sniff, sniff)
SAO PAULO (AP) — It carried hippies through the 1960s, hauled surfers in search of killer waves during endless summers and serves as a workhorse
across the developing world, but the long, strange trip of the Volkswagen van is ending.
Brazil is the last place in the world still producing the iconic vehicle, or "bus" as it's known by aficionados, but VW says production will end Dec.
31. Safety regulations mandate that every vehicle in Brazil must have air bags and anti-lock braking systems starting in 2014, and the company says it
cannot change production to meet the law.
http://news.yahoo.com/long-strange-trip-ending-vws-hippie-va...
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chuckie
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6082
Registered: 2-20-2012
Location: Kansas Prairies
Member Is Offline
Mood: Weary
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Wow! that brings back memories! My very first real trip to Mexico with my family was in a VW bus. Down through Sonora....LONG story....It swallowed a
valve and ate itself Somewhere around Kino Bay. Wonderful Mexican man towed us into Hermosillo to a VW shop...Tile workbenches, so clean....Owner
drove us to a Motel, rebuilt my motor, delivered the bus back to us in a couple of days.....Mexico won our hearts....Same trip met 4 nuns in a VW
bus..Some one had mounted an air conditioner, powered by a Briggs and Stratton engine on the top of the bus. Real hoot to watch the youngest nun climb
up and yank the rope until it started....VIVA VW Bus's...!!
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BajaLuna
Senior Nomad
Posts: 581
Registered: 12-5-2012
Location: Pacific Northwest/Bahia Asuncion
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Mood: groovy
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Bummer! So sad!
I guess my old bus just increased even more in value!
good story, Chuckie!
YES! VIVA VW BUS's!
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DianaT
Select Nomad
Posts: 10020
Registered: 12-17-2004
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| Quote: | Originally posted by BajaLuna
Bummer! So sad!
I guess my old bus just increased even more in value!
good story, Chuckie!
YES! VIVA VW BUS's! |
Wish I still had mine --- the old one I had, not the newer one. 
But have hope. Remember when they quit building the bugs? OK, the new ones are not the same as the old ones, but they came back. I wonder if
they all have electrical problem like the old days.
[Edited on 9-23-2013 by DianaT]
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shari
Select Nomad
Posts: 13048
Registered: 3-10-2006
Location: bahia asuncion, baja sur
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Mood: there is no reality except the one contained within us "Herman Hesse"
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sad indeed to see the end of an era! I thought this thread was going to be about a couple surfer dudes who were here last week and spend hours duct
taping their old VW van together in hopes of limping back to the states...wonder if they made it?
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watizname
Senior Nomad
Posts: 778
Registered: 8-7-2009
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I wonder just how many of us "more mature" Nomads had a "bus",back in the day. I did, with a b-tchin nakid chick suicide nob. Didja hide your
"Stash" up under the dash. That little lip there was perfect. 
I yam what I yam and that\'s all what I yam.
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chuckie
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6082
Registered: 2-20-2012
Location: Kansas Prairies
Member Is Offline
Mood: Weary
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Horrors! Stash? For shame....
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Ateo
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5905
Registered: 7-18-2011
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My first adult trip to Baja was in a VW bus camper.
Wonder why they can't add ABS and airbags? We can send a man to the moon but can't add ABS and airbags to a bus?
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durrelllrobert
Elite Nomad
Posts: 7393
Registered: 11-22-2007
Location: Punta Banda BC
Member Is Offline
Mood: thriving in Baja
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Ateo
My first adult trip to Baja was in a VW bus camper.
Wonder why they can't add ABS and airbags? We can send a man to the moon but can't add ABS and airbags to a bus? |
ABS was introduced by GM (rear wheels only) in 1971. Before that we all drove cars with conventional braking systems and I never had any problems. So
when the ABS pump on my Yukon, used to provide increased hydraulic pressure to the wheel cylinders, decided to run continually, even after the engine
was shut off and the key removed, and I found it that it would cost around $500 to replace it I decided that I could live without it. So I simply
removed to fuse to disable it. That was more than 3 years ago and many trips to Canada in the snow without a single problem because I know how to
regulate the brakes better than the onboard computer as shown on this video:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnjszE3NS9E
Bob Durrell
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BajaRat
Super Nomad
Posts: 1303
Registered: 3-2-2010
Location: SW Four Corners / Bahia Asuncion BCS
Member Is Offline
Mood: Ready for some salt water with my Tecate
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Many many memorable trips in several Baja equipped buses. My favorite one was a 1959 wesfalia with fold over metal roof hatch. When I brought it to my
dads house to check it out to my surprise he said it was the exact year, model and interior colors that we traveled across the country in through the
early 60's.
Have you seen the prices on these things lately ? The one I mentioned above I bought around 1979 for 1500 bucks. That model, year and condition bus
can't be touched for 15 grand now! Crazy !
The best purchase I ever made on one was a 1954 yes a 1954 21 window rag top micro bus for.... get this.. 250 bucks out of a back yard in Pasadena Ca.
around 1984. The rag top was rotted out, a little rust on the cargo floor, original faded paint, tires and engine. With a little work I got it started
and all the lady kept saying was the phone won't stop ringing about that van... go figure.
Turns out vans like that today will fetch over 75,000 usd at auction.
We should have kept those buses 
[Edited on 9-23-2013 by BajaRat]
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motoged
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6481
Registered: 7-31-2006
Location: Kamloops, BC
Member Is Offline
Mood: Gettin' Better
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| Quote: | Originally posted by BajaRat
Turns out vans like that today will fetch over 75,000 usd at auction.
[Edited on 9-23-2013 by BajaRat] |
BR,
Well, if one can live on $2000/month in Baja (rent included), selling that van would pay for a care-free life in Baja for 3.125 years.
Or.... 
Don't believe everything you think....
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Barry A.
Select Nomad
Posts: 10007
Registered: 11-30-2003
Location: Redding, Northern CA
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Mood: optimistic
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I soooo agree with you, DurrelRobert.
The first thing I do with a new car is disconnect or disable all the bells and whisels that make strange noises and try to think for me-----at least
those that are possible to deactivate. The one that most annoys me since I cannot disconnect it, is that the fog lights won't work when I have on
high-beams-------the electricians say that if you rewire the fog-lights to work with high-beams that the computer will go crazy?!?!?!?!? Don't know
if that is true, but I cannot find anybody to do the work. I would love to use both Fog-Lights and high beams when on back country dirt roads at
night.
My first trip to San Luis Gonzaga over "that" road was in 1961 in an old VW bus, and we made it, but got stuck several times on the beaches of remote
Gonzaga. What a great 9 days that was.
Barry
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BajaRat
Super Nomad
Posts: 1303
Registered: 3-2-2010
Location: SW Four Corners / Bahia Asuncion BCS
Member Is Offline
Mood: Ready for some salt water with my Tecate
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We called them the poor mans four wheel drive Barry. Man you could get a lot of crap in em to the point of overloading. That road must have been
intense in 1961.
[Edited on 9-23-2013 by BajaRat]
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jimgrms
Senior Nomad
Posts: 664
Registered: 9-30-2005
Location: oceanside ca
Member Is Offline
Mood: its always good
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Had a 66bus while in colorado, almost froze to death driving in a snow storm, My thoughts are Hitler did get even, they are marginally better than
walking
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Barry A.
Select Nomad
Posts: 10007
Registered: 11-30-2003
Location: Redding, Northern CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: optimistic
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| Quote: | Originally posted by BajaRat
We called them the poor mans four wheel drive Barry. Man you could get a lot of crap in em to the point of overloading. That road must have been
intense in 1961.
[Edited on 9-23-2013 by BajaRat] |
Yes, very "intense". We had 2 guys in a military jeep who were tagging along for a while---------they gave up on the second grade because frankly
they became scared (the vehicle would have done fine, I think). We continued in the VW bus, but had to take several tries at it in some
places------the guy driving (not me) was a lunatic, but fun to explore with. We always joked back then that you could drive your 4-wheel drive veh.
up places that were horrible, and when you got to the end of any possible vehicle going further, there you would find a VW bus parked. It used to
drive us nuts!!! They had great ground-clearance, great balance, and were almost unstopable. But yes, you did not want to have them in cold
climates----heater was almost useless in the one's that I was familiar with. We made many Baja trips in that bus, and I never remember us ever
breaking it. But, when it got stuck, you were usually REALLY stuck!!!
Barry
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Cisco
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4196
Registered: 12-30-2010
Member Is Offline
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| Quote: | Originally posted by BajaRat
Many many memorable trips in several Baja equipped buses. My favorite one was a 1959 wesfalia with fold over metal roof hatch. When I brought it to my
dads house to check it out to my surprise he said it was the exact year, model and interior colors that we traveled across the country in through the
early 60's.
Have you seen the prices on these things lately ? The one I mentioned above I bought around 1979 for 1500 bucks. That model, year and condition bus
can't be touched for 15 grand now! Crazy !
The best purchase I ever made on one was a 1954 yes a 1954 21 window rag top micro bus for.... get this.. 250 bucks out of a back yard in Pasadena Ca.
around 1984. The rag top was rotted out, a little rust on the cargo floor, original faded paint, tires and engine. With a little work I got it started
and all the lady kept saying was the phone won't stop ringing about that van... go figure.
Turns out vans like that today will fetch over 75,000 usd at auction.
We should have kept those buses
[Edited on 9-23-2013 by BajaRat] |
Those were the days of two-hundred dollar buses, four-hundred dollar buses, and NEW buses. There was nothing in between it seemed.
Sold my last split window with the side doors crushed-in and roped together (something about Tres Equis and a Toro) in 1983 for $300 to an older
fellow in Santa Barbara who wanted to restore it.
Didn't make any sense to me, but, trading my 1938 Packard touring car for a Matchless motorcycle in the 1950's didn't either I guess.
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tripledigitken
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4848
Registered: 9-27-2006
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over $200,000 for a VW bus?
It seems $100k is not uncommon at the larger auctions these days for buses with high end restorations.
The highest price I have seen was this one at Barratt-Jackson.
http://www.autoweek.com/article/20110628/carnews/110629870
[Edited on 9-23-2013 by tripledigitken]
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BajaRat
Super Nomad
Posts: 1303
Registered: 3-2-2010
Location: SW Four Corners / Bahia Asuncion BCS
Member Is Offline
Mood: Ready for some salt water with my Tecate
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| Quote: | Originally posted by tripledigitken
It seems $100k is not uncommon at the larger auctions these days for buses with high end restorations.
The highest price I have seen was this one at Barratt-Jackson.
http://www.autoweek.com/article/20110628/carnews/110629870
[Edited on 9-23-2013 by tripledigitken] |
WOW Ken ! That's a 1964 21 window micro with safari front windows. Mine was a 1954 21 window micro, second year of the bus production, it wasn't
restored but I'm sure today it would fetch a small fortune. Crazy.
Barry, we got a few of mine into some scarey places too. People with some 4x4s would often times be shocked to find us in a bus at the end of some
roads, seven sisters, San Quintin point, ect 
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vgabndo
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3461
Registered: 12-8-2003
Location: Mt. Shasta, CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: Checking-off my bucket list.
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| Quote: | Originally posted by durrelllrobert
| Quote: | Originally posted by Ateo
My first adult trip to Baja was in a VW bus camper.
Wonder why they can't add ABS and airbags? We can send a man to the moon but can't add ABS and airbags to a bus? |
ABS was introduced by GM (rear wheels only) in 1971. Before that we all drove cars with conventional braking systems and I never had any problems. So
when the ABS pump on my Yukon, used to provide increased hydraulic pressure to the wheel cylinders, decided to run continually, even after the engine
was shut off and the key removed, and I found it that it would cost around $500 to replace it I decided that I could live without it. So I simply
removed to fuse to disable it. That was more than 3 years ago and many trips to Canada in the snow without a single problem because I know how to
regulate the brakes better than the onboard computer as shown on this video:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnjszE3NS9E |
Robert, this outfit in Georgia had my compressor back to me in days, and it cost me about $70. for the repair. Mine was the self-destructing
compressor built into the Dodge trucks. Still working fine. I'm guessing you don't drive much on ice and snow. I LOVE ABS, but I live in the
mountains.
http://www.myairbags.com/abs.php?gclid=COKi9oac4rkCFcg1Qgodw...
Undoubtedly, there are people who cannot afford to give the anchor of sanity even the slightest tug. Sam Harris
"The situation is far too dire for pessimism."
Bill Kauth
Carl Sagan said, "We are a way for the cosmos to know itself."
PEACE, LOVE AND FISH TACOS
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DanO
Super Nomad
Posts: 1923
Registered: 8-26-2003
Location: Not far from the Pacific
Member Is Offline
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| Quote: | Originally posted by jimgrms
Had a 66bus while in colorado, almost froze to death driving in a snow storm, My thoughts are Hitler did get even, they are marginally better than
walking |
Maybe that's why some of my friends used to call the VW buses "N-zi Roadblocks." Seems like there was one broken down around every corner driving up
in the mountains. Heaters were a problem for all VWs -- I had a Squareback that was like a deep freeze when it snowed. THAT was the slowest vehicle
of all time. The 67 Beetle I had before it was a hot rod by comparison.
\"Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.\" -- Frank Zappa
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