Bus?

[Rudy]

Bus? Here's a couple of pics of a VW bus that I saw on the Knoxville craiglist rv ads a few days ago. He wants around 6k for it. You don't see many of these anymore.

[dburt]

slow, quirky, top heavy, underpowered, but boy oh boy, did they ever have personality! Can you say that a Chrysler mini-van has personality?
Actually $6,000 may be a cheap ticket back in time to a different era. All this bus needs is some peace signs, daisy flowers, an 8-track and some tie-dyed curtains!

[Rudy]

OK DB, Let's really get the hippie feel with these.

[splummer]

lol kind of cool but looks top heavy to me plus to small having a bus with lots of room that seems small also the vw bus is to new for me, i had a few my best one was my 59, i still look for an old one, gefore 67 when they had 6 volt with the split windsheild and slide winow on the doors. steve

[dburt]

Rudy, that is choice! Someone was really talented to pull that one off! I'd like to see what the inside looked like. Makes a person wonder what ever becomes of such rolling works of art. Are they still around somehwere, or do the end up like Kesey's bus "Further"? (Actually Kesey's kids have pulled the bus out of the swamp, cleaned it up and are looking for someone to fund the restoration of it)

[splummer]

dburt been following the develpoment of kesys bus, its out of the swamp but no work yet, ithink, interesting bus for sure, 39 international, sounds like a diesel i the dvd

[Sharkey]

I'm probably encouraging topic drift by posting this, but the latest on the Kesey bus isn't very fresh:

De-swamping the bus with the Merry Pranksters, Nov 10, 2005:
http://www.mrsharkey.com/busbarn/kesey/swampy.htm

Financier steps off the bus project, Dec 30, 2006:
http://www.mrsharkey.com/busbarn/kesey/pothole.htm

[dburt]

Hey Mr Sharkey- aren't you somewhat down in that neck of the woods? Have you heard anything else about "Further" via the bus grapevine? I don't mind the tendancy to drift off topic, it brings up lots of interesting things. And some of us have been accused of being shiftless drifters anyway, maby it goes with the territory!

[Sharkey]

That is the latest on the bus. Last I heard, Zane was threatening to push the bus back into the swamp unless someone came forward to put up some money for the "restoration".



I had some thoughts about all this back in Oct 2005 when the "project" began:

As for the bus, I think that they should leave it right where it sits. It takes a long time to grow a majestic mantle of moss like that, and a lot of small mammals and insects will lose their homes if the project goes through. That and I think that it would be just as useful and respectful to dig up Kesey himself and do a restoration job on him for exhibition in some future museum. The bus wasn't the trip, only the conveyance. It's job was done when the Pranksters got back to the West coast back in 1964.

[splummer]

i think if i found a vintage vw bus i would be very leary in cutting it up ,but its cool tho. speaking oof kens bus it looks bad, also rudy did you get a pic of my bus steve

[Rudy]

Steve, I did get your picture. Post some on the forum please. I really could not tell too much by just a photo of the grill. Perhaps you could post some of the interior. That would be totally awesome. Thanks, Rudy.

[dburt]

Sharkey, perhaps you are right, maby it is best to let "Further" RIP. It is said you can never go back home anyway, so perhaps trying to somehow get back to the '60's and '70's is best left undone. And often our memory serves us less then best by bringing back mostly over-inflated and over-rated good memories, and lets the not-so-good memories become murky and relegated to the dim, dark background of the old memory bank. But in many ways, those sure were the days!!

[Rudy]

DB, You are so right in eloquently stating that you can never go back. Once you leave, everything changes. I agree with Sharkey that the bus should have been left in it's "burial ground". It is almost as distasteful to have moved it as it would be to dig up a human corpse. The 60's are gone and are only a dim memory to those who thrived in that era. This is a totally new world with it's own problems. We all have to deal with that.