Fastest, Cheapest, best quality bus build if your in the right location!

[HazMatt]

And thank Dawg for that!

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

VW purists and enthusiasts often don't care about newer stuff at all.
Sure there's a watercooled section at VW shows but its totally secondary. Just to be inclusive.
The real show is the vintage stuff. Splits, ovals, and any type 2.

Sure, they were headache-inducing, heartbreak-causing, back-straining, butt-dragging, underpowered PITA's!
But after several decades recovery time, still remembered fondly.

[o1marc]

here's one for you Bug fanatics.
I found this in the For Sale Buses category

https://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/p...931139865.html

[Sleddgracer]

Originally Posted by HazMatt

And thank Dawg for that!Sure, they were headache-inducing, heartbreak-causing, back-straining, butt-dragging, underpowered PITA's!
But after several decades recovery time, still remembered fondly.

thinking about it, trying to put some reason behind the popularity phenomenon, the VW bus did happen along at the time the 'hippies' were appearing, work ethics were being replaced with wanderlust, the vans were cheap to drive and gave the kids a chance to wander that they might not have had if the VW van wasn't available - what we yearned for or had as teens and 20's leaves good memories for life - - during a similar age, being older than the hippie generation, I was into old cars with BIG motors, squealing tires and black marks on the highway - drag races in farmer's fields, 4 wheel drifts on twisty gravel back roads, and in the winter driving through unplowed snow that came over the hood of the car - then my family started when I was 20 and I settled down, but I still like old cars with BIG motors, and tough trucks - lol

[ol trunt]

Not by me! As a kid I traded a '58 VW bug with "Lucas" problems for a '62 VW Van on which I did a typical VW camper conversion. Thing ran great except that you couldn't get across an intersection first in line before the light changed and you couldn't stop the thing before the next red light--totally dangerous POS. I traded it for a new '67 Suburban 4x4 which I beat the $#!t out of in Mexico and never looked back. As close to a VW as I'll ever get is the pop top on my shorty which may? have been inspired by the VW Westfalia.
Jack

[Sleddgracer]

Originally Posted by o1marc

here's one for you Bug fanatics.
I found this in the For Sale Buses category

https://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/p...931139865.html

I drove a beetle quite often back in the 50's - thought they were great little cars - far superior to anything the British had at the time, and North America didn't produce small cars then
, but I still think the van was --------------

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by o1marc

here's one for you Bug fanatics.
I found this in the For Sale Buses category

https://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/p...931139865.html

$6200?

This is why I got out of the hobby.

[o1marc]

Originally Posted by Sleddgracer

thinking about it, trying to put some reason behind the popularity phenomenon, the VW bus did happen along at the time the 'hippies' were appearing, work ethics were being replaced with wanderlust, the vans were cheap to drive and gave the kids a chance to wander that they might not have had if the VW van wasn't available - what we yearned for or had as teens and 20's leaves good memories for life - - during a similar age, being older than the hippie generation, I was into old cars with BIG motors, squealing tires and black marks on the highway - drag races in farmer's fields, 4 wheel drifts on twisty gravel back roads, and in the winter driving through unplowed snow that came over the hood of the car - then my family started when I was 20 and I settled down, but I still like old cars with BIG motors, and tough trucks - lol

My experience as a hippy was when it all started in the late 60's, the van came out 20 years before, 1947.

[o1marc]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

$6200?

This is why I got out of the hobby.

Just a blemish, that'll polish out.
And they'll still get $5k for it. I think my first ever vehicle was a 62 Corvair Greenbriar Van. Oh the stories it could tell.

[Sleddgracer]

Originally Posted by o1marc

My experience as a hippy was when it all started in the late 60's, the van came out 20 years before, 1947.

perfect timing for the hippies, old enough to be cheap and affordable - as long as they kept puffing they didn't care if the vans took forever to climb a hill - lol

[o1marc]

Originally Posted by Sleddgracer

perfect timing for the hippies, old enough to be cheap and affordable - as long as they kept puffing they didn't care if the vans took forever to climb a hill - lol

We certainly weren't in any hurry back then.

[Sleddgracer]

Originally Posted by o1marc

We certainly weren't in any hurry back then.

....................................

[kidharris]

Originally Posted by Sleddgracer

as you may have gathered, I'm no fan of the old VW van, but it certainly still has it's followers - I can't for the life of me understand why a 60's - 70's VW van, in pieces, with parts missing, has asking prices for more than we can buy a REAL bus - - I see the VW van has joined the horsepower race now with their proposed electric van - I wonder how that will go over with the old crowd that seemed almost proud that their little van was so badly under powered?

https://electrek.co/2019/05/09/vw-el...icrobus-video/

The gals still love em and now days the engines can be brought up from the 55 hp you were thinking of to over 200 hp. Back in the day they were economical on gas and if you broke down on the road easy to get it moving again, think baling wire and duct tape, plus no H2O problems.

[kidharris]

Originally Posted by o1marc

Just a blemish, that'll polish out.
And they'll still get $5k for it. I think my first ever vehicle was a 62 Corvair Greenbriar Van. Oh the stories it could tell.

I had a Greenbriar while I was in the USAF. The only engine I ever had that would still run with the distributor 180 degrees out. You could pull the engine with a tee made out of 3/4 inch pipe and a rope.


A lot more interior room than a type 2.

[NoRushBus]

Originally Posted by kidharris

Your insurance plan sounds contradictory and will not work.


"I understand the insurance deli-ma with decks but sadly, I'll just insure it prior to the deck addition like others do and sue them if they deny a claim for a fender bender unrelated to the deck."............" I'll only insure it when I'm ready to hit the road." So you gonna wait until your mid sixties to get insurance, then deck the bus. Doesn't sound like a fast build to me.


Problem: you have already admitted to the world here of your plan to misinform the insurance company. If you have an accident, I'm pretty sure the insurance co will tell you to kiss off. Even if they don't find out about your post, I'm pretty sure that they will notice the deck and tell you that your modification was not within the guidelines of their policy and too bad, so sad. If you sue, pretty sure you will lose. After all, their investigators job is to find a reason not to pay. Why would they have pay? They don't have prove that the top heavy deck contributed to the crash. You would be stuck tying to prove that it didn't contribute. Your only hope would be if you are not at fault and the other guys insurance pays. Is a deck that important?



Also sounds contradictory to your OP about unnecessary, costly, time consuming stuff.



BTW, if you keep replying to defend you assertions, how are you going to get this build done as fast as you think? Do we have to go to your website to see progress?

Not sure why you have such internal anger but probably just out of your comfort zone, not knowing how to build a skoolie let alone understand the world of liability insurance. Either way, I'm here to help you.

So the "center of gravity" mis-statement.....you have a 30,000 lb bus with 25,000 lb of it's weight below the bottom 3 feet of it's structure. I'll let you do the rest of the math but surly you will get the point.

With custom vehicles (skoolies) you have custom policies. These addendum are called "clauses", ie: bus will not be insured for accidental injuries unrelated to driving (like falling off of a deck). You should ask for these. You can get a liability policy that relates only to the legal operation and use of the bus on the road. Cheapest policy to write and a flat non-wind catching light weight deck has no bearing on operation of the bus or braking and turning. Just flat out won't be an issue. Jeez!

By "Fastest build" I'm referring the the actual time "when working on it", duh? My point is that anyone wanting to get done fast, this is how it's done.

End of story. Move on to something productive.

[HazMatt]

Once again, unsurprisingly to me, I am an outlier...
I bought my first, of several, Westphalia conversions in 1983. A '71, 1600cc upright, 4-speed that I named, Bertha.
("Her name was Bertha, Bertha Bus. Wuz one of the Bus sistas. She dint care, she said, "Sock it it to me, ...")
After replacing the blown transaxle with little more than a 17mm socket & wrench, and my 2-ton Craftsman floor jack (outside, in constant runoff during a particularly moist, upstate PA November; the jack, at least, residing on a sheet of 1/2" plywood) which I possess to this day- to support not only the trans, but what was to become a 4-year path as a tree planter.
Hope that the three-quarters of a million trees, +, that I conscientiously put into the ground while pursuing that path dissuades some of that not-entirely-justified hippie bashing I've been seeing lately.
And if not... Let's compare notes on who has done what towards preserving our common Home...

Originally Posted by Sleddgracer

thinking about it, trying to put some reason behind the popularity phenomenon, the VW bus did happen along at the time the 'hippies' were appearing, work ethics were being replaced with wanderlust, the vans were cheap to drive and gave the kids a chance to wander that they might not have had if the VW van wasn't available - what we yearned for or had as teens and 20's leaves good memories for life - - during a similar age, being older than the hippie generation, I was into old cars with BIG motors, squealing tires and black marks on the highway - drag races in farmer's fields, 4 wheel drifts on twisty gravel back roads, and in the winter driving through unplowed snow that came over the hood of the car - then my family started when I was 20 and I settled down, but I still like old cars with BIG motors, and tough trucks - lol

Some chit don't change.
I find myself, once again, living in a large metal, self-propelled, under-powered eyesore with all the aerodynamics of a cinderblock.
Tho this one ain't nearly so easy to overhaul, and that 2-ton Craftsman floor jack is now about as useless as teats on a boar...

[TheHubbardBus]

Originally Posted by HazMatt

Hope that the three-quarters of a million trees, +, that I conscientiously put into the ground while pursuing that path dissuades some of that not-entirely-justified hippie bashing I've been seeing lately.

So it's you I have to blame for all that rust we're finding!

How irresponsible, pumping oxidizing agents into the air we breathe!

Damned Hippies

[Sleddgracer]

Originally Posted by HazMatt

Once again, unsurprisingly to me, I am an outlier...
I bought my first, of several, Westphalia conversions in 1983. A '71, 1600cc upright, 4-speed that I named, Bertha.
("Her name was Bertha, Bertha Bus. Wuz one of the Bus sistas. She dint care, she said, "Sock it it to me, ...")
After replacing the blown transaxle with little more than a 17mm socket & wrench, and my 2-ton Craftsman floor jack (outside, in constant runoff during a particularly moist, upstate PA November; the jack, at least, residing on a sheet of 1/2" plywood) which I possess to this day- to support not only the trans, but what was to become a 4-year path as a tree planter.
Hope that the three-quarters of a million trees, +, that I conscientiously put into the ground while pursuing that path dissuades some of that not-entirely-justified hippie bashing I've been seeing lately.
And if not... Let's compare notes on who has done what towards preserving our common Home...


Some chit don't change.
I find myself, once again, living in a large metal, self-propelled, under-powered eyesore with all the aerodynamics of a cinderblock.
Tho this one ain't nearly so easy to overhaul, and that 2-ton Craftsman floor jack is now about as useless as teats on a boar...

oh- l liked the hippie girls, still do - - l did my share of tree planting when painting season hadn't started - forestry offered to hire me as a planting foreman - l've managed my own little Sherwood forest so the poor ( tapered and hollow trunks, and misformed ) trees are gone, there is more wood growing than there was 50 years ago, and I've selectively logged it 5 times, and enough dead wood left standing to keep the wood peckers happy - my house is heated by hydro electric or wood, both environmentally correct sources of energy - and I spent 45+ years saving houses and buildings from decay and beautifying various neighborhoods and districts in the process, all the while raising 6 kids - my winter sport/passion uses a minimum of gas powered vehicles - I can shop in stores 1 mile from my house using the old Trail Blazer that gets 30 MPG - my environmental footprint is smaller than most I would think

[HazMatt]

Originally Posted by TheHubbardBus

So it's you I have to blame for all that rust we're finding!

How irresponsible, pumping oxidizing agents into the air we breathe!

Damned Hippies [emoji3]

You're welcome..?

Originally Posted by Sleddgracer

oh- l liked the hippie girls, still do - - l did my share of tree planting when painting season hadn't started - forestry offered to hire me as a planting foreman - l've managed my own little Sherwood forest so the poor ( tapered and hollow trunks, and misformed ) trees are gone, there is more wood growing than there was 50 years ago, and I've selectively logged it 5 times, and enough dead wood left standing to keep the wood peckers happy - my house is heated by hydro electric or wood, both environmentally correct sources of energy - and I spent 45+ years saving houses and buildings from decay and beautifying various neighborhoods and districts in the process, all the while raising 6 kids - my winter sport/passion uses a minimum of gas powered vehicles - I can shop in stores 1 mile from my house using the old Trail Blazer that gets 30 MPG - my environmental footprint is smaller than most I would think

Preserve wildlife.
Pickle a Spotted Owl.

[Sleddgracer]

Originally Posted by HazMatt

You're welcome..?Preserve wildlife.
Pickle a Spotted Owl.

a pub/restaurant that I frequented in Metaline Falls Wa, had a box on the shelf purporting to contain 'Spotted Owl Helper' - the label imitated other meat helpers on grocery shelves - I quite enjoyed the humour of it - Spotted Owl legislation had affected the forestry in the area quite a bit

[HazMatt]

Yup. Worked in the woods of Oregon before moving to the vacuous desert of SoCal, and thence moving back to The Right Coast...
yada cubed