Weird Conversions

[GoneCamping]

I ran across a website that had some pretty weird looking RV's including a few very weird looking bus conversions....

Here we have the ugliest Fithwheel I've ever seen...



And a schoolie with a VW Bus on the roof...



Weird RV's

[swinada]

I've seen this little thing last time I was home in Switzerland. Dont have a bigger picture handy right now. It is build on a east german TRABANT (short Trabi), which runs on a 2 stroke gasoline engine.

With a less-than-sporty 27 horsepower to its name, the two-cylinder, two-stroke engine which powered the Trabant has attracted some derision over the years - but there's no denying the significance of this vehicle as an icon of Eastern European industry. Its distinctive body shape is constructed from Duroplast panels (plastic, reinforced with cotton fabric) attached to a galvanized steel shell.

http://www.trabant.ca/

[Elliot Naess]

Not weird, but I think it's worth the mention. I enjoy looking at old iron that's sat in the woods for decades:

Might that be the original Further -- the world's most famous skoolie?

[Griff]

Originally Posted by Elliot Naess

Might that be the original Further -- the world's most famous skoolie?

U-u-u-h-h-h, YUP! That would be the one! I read an article somewhere about an attempt to restore it, and that was one of the photos in the article. If I can find it again, I'll post a link.

[Elliot Naess]

Hmmm.... No, comparing the pictures, it does not appear to be the same bus. Oh well -- doesn't really matter. Neat either way.

Buuuuuuut... Recently, I watched an obscure documentary film called The Journey. It was about a young man traveling around the country in a VW microbus and interviewing famous people, searching for wisdom. And he visited Ken Kesey in Oregon. (Kesey died in 2001, so it was probably shortly before that.) And there it was, one of the Furthers, parked indoors and in good condition. I don't have the film here anymore, but I'm guessing it was the second bus, or an other replica. Last I heard, restoration of the original is stalled.

[captainkf]

Yep that's the one.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10792061/from/RL.5/

Looks like the same bus. Notice the dome on the roof. There is much info on that bus however it was replicated and was passed off as the original. Here is a link to a ken kesey site that has more info on the whole "scene".

http://www.key-z.com/

Hope this helps. I spent a few days reading about the group a few years back just after I started my first conversion. Very interesting.

-Richard

[Elliot Naess]

By golly, yes, that's the original one, then.
I was comparing to this one:



There seems to be quite a bit of confusion over these buses. One web site has this International Harvester (with people on the roof) as the original. An other site has the original as a Chevrolet. Is that moss-covered one a 1937 Chevrolet?

It comes down to: How much time am I going to spend researching this?

Regardless, Millicent is going to top them both. Bwahahahahah!

[the_experience03]

I *think* I remember one of those Lost and Found episodes on The History Channel way early in the morning one day when I couldn't sleep (the cable in the classroom program means no commercials) in which they stated that the original Furthur is rusting away peacefully on Ken Kesey's farm in Oregon. I think that points to the moss covered one as being the original....maybe?

[Elliot Naess]

Right.
I looked at some vintage ads for trucks. The moss-covered one matches a 1939 IH. The one with people on the roof matches a 1947 IH.
And I just saw a picture of a Further in connection with the (in)famous "Smithsonian fake bus", and that shows the 1947 style. So that adds up OK.
(I cannot find the reference to a Chevy now, so I probably remember wrong on that point.)

What matters most, is that a great many people are familiar with the famous author Ken Kesey (One Flew Over The Cookoo's Nest), and at least somewhat familiar with his bus, so it should be easy to make people smile with any bus that resembles it.

[Elliot Naess]

it looks like it is going fast .

It's a fabulous photo. It has several photographic elements that convey the sensation of speed.



Note the man with the sword, crouching against the wind.
Note hair blowing in the wind.
Note that the front of the bus is out of the frame to the left. This is a powerful visual clue to movement towards the left. (And can be done after the shot is taken -- snip!)
Note the flag at the rear, stretched out in the wind.
Note the blurred background.

The wheels are not blurred from spinning, and the background is not streaked horizontally, but otherwise, it's textbook "how to illustrate motion". I sure wish I had taken that!

[DizzyIzzy]

My Quote below is talking about Further.
Cowbow Neal = Neal Cassidy
Bus to neverever land = Further

In my years following the Grateful Dead I was able to se both of the Furthers. I partied on the 2nd one in 1997 While following the Further Festival. The Merry Pranksters are my hero's.

[Elliot Naess]

Originally Posted by DizzyIzzy

In my years following the Grateful Dead, I was able to se both of the Furthers. I partied on the 2nd one in 1997 while following the Further Festival. The Merry Pranksters are my heros.

I believe we are ready to start a new religion, and you are The Prophet, DizzyIzzy!


That fits in with the documentary film showing Further in good condition in Kesey's barn around year 2000. His son seems to be hawking posters and T-shirts on the above-mentioned web site. Maybe we could get him to bring Further II to a Skoolie gathering?