When streamliner is the consuming passion, and all the guy had was a VW bus

found on http://ratrodsrule.tumblr.com/

The bullet bus (aka: while taking on the improbable, meeting people and finding out that fellow VW fans donate parts)

This 21 Window Deluxe was abandoned and partially stripped in the Nevada desert and then promptly used as target practice for passersbys. After being rescued from the desert, a massive donation project started as bus owners from across the country donated parts and services to get this bus driving again. (that is so awesome! I believe the praise must go to the Samba.com, great VW website)

the only things left on this thing were:
1)beltline trim
2)front bumper
3)oh shit handle
4)battery strap
5)parking brake handle (bent 90 degrees to floor)
6)brake pedal
7)clutch pedal
8)throttle pedal (found in the pile of dirt and broken glass on cargo floor)
9)headlight switch (also on cargo floor)
10)4.5 pop-out frames
11)the driver's seat bottom

learned about this on http://thegreasylens.tumblr.com/post/2837493790/whats-that-youve-never-heard-of-the-bullet-bus

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=227232&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=240 for the full thread of 20 pages dedicated to this project

If you suddenly feel like looking at a great gallery of VW busses: http://www.oldcarspirit.cz/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=10

For the other most amazingly beyond salvage kombis I've posted about that people have went crazy for:
http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/12/1957-deluxe-vw-23-window-bus-pulled.html
http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/08/not-too-far-gone-to-save-because-in.html
http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/12/what-happened-to-bury-this-1950-vw-213.html

VW fans really love their vehicles, and customize them alot, but I've never seen a bug grafted to a van before, just this one in a movie

the reason? It makes for standing room!

Art Car Phone Looses Dial Tone - Destroyed by Roof Collapse

The Phone Car Crushed by Collapsed Roof - Front Side

The world famous Phone Car created by Howard Davis was brutally damaged recently when the roof of the Avon Industrial Park collapsed due to snow build up. The Phone car will not be making any long distance calls anytime soon, but with a little TLC and some bondo it can be up running soon. Our best wished for a speedy recovery goes out to you.

The Phone Car Crushed by Collapsed Roof - Front

The Phone Car Crushed by Collapsed Roof - Rear Side

The Phone Car Crushed by Collapsed Roof - Side

Photos by Howard Davis

VW ad campaign, nicely elegant

the 1965 VW bus that became a 1700hp top fueler, "Mental Breakdown"

I posted a photo of this once before, last Sept, http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/11/there-is-integral-coolness-in-vws-but.html and it turns out that photo was of the debut at the Essen Motor Show in Germany.

Read about it and see a couple more photos here: http://carscoop.blogspot.com/2010/11/mental-breakdown-1700hp-volkswagen-bus.html

Miami EV Project - VW Golf Art Car by LEBO Studios

Have you ever sat around with your friend and though, "hey, we should make our car an electric car"?

Danny Alva and Donato Helbling woke up one day and decided to turn their VW into an electric car. This DIY project can be found Miami EV Project for all to see and keep up on their journey.

They took a Volkswagen Golf III, gave it an amazing paint job by LEBO Studios, called the Buzz and swapped out the engine and fuel tank for an electric motor and batteries. After about 70 days of hard work, the final product was on display at the Green Art Fair Miami 2008. Even though the two were a bit exhausted by the challenge, they were ready to tackle more conversions soon.

Their mission is to research and develop electric vehicles and to provide public education and promotion of this alternative way of transportation. Helbling's big question is this: "If we can do it, why can't everybody? Do we really need to wait for car companies to sell us a new electric car?" To answer that, keep an eye out for Alva and Helbling to possibly work on a reality show or documentary series called "Green Your Ride."

ever seen VW dump trucks?

I'm thinking that the obvious problem is too much weight over the rear

axle, and if they had too heavy a load getting dumped, it might tip this over backwards.

from http://www.roadtransport.com/blogs/big-lorry-blog/2010/04/classic-volkswagen-vanswell-ti.html

WANT !

from http://aircooled-village.blogspot.com/2010/12/t1-promotion-pisten-bulli.html via the great http://stipistop.com

New car tranporters, of Bugs, T Birds, 1950 and 54 Nashs

Take a close look at the cab on the semi, unusual double front window where the firewall was because that cab was put on top of the cab foundation that used to be too short evidently

photos from http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=428585&page=931

race car haulers and transporters

Daihatsu van camoflaged to be cool looking, that is genius

from http://bzisettas.blogspot.com/

The Vochol VW Art Car Covered in 2000 Beads

The Volkswagen Beetle with its long association with Mexico, has been used in a unique project initiated by the Museo de Arte Popular (MAP), and turned into a colorful art car represented with the art of the indigenous Huichol. “Vochol” (from the slang word for the car – Vocho – and the word “Huichol”) was created by two indigenous families over a period of seven months.

This VW art car is covered with over 2 million beads on the body, dashboard, and steering wheel and is intended to highlight the art of the region. The designs on the vw art car were created by master craftsman Francisco Bautista, that depict traditional imagery. Serpents resting on clouds on the front of the art car, sun and four eagles on the roof, and a shaman in a boat on the trunk.

The Vochol will be on display at the MAP in Mexico City and will go on tour in Europe and America, and finally, it will be put up for auction that will hopefully go for about half a million pesos. The proceeds will go to the Association of Friends of the Museo de Arte Popular (AAMAP).

What happened to bury this 1950 VW 213 van will always be a mystery, but someone with a shovel and determination is restoring it!

I think the word BURIED describes it accurately

full gallery and story : http://www.ssvc.org.uk/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=35155 thanks to Chris who read all the 61 pages of thread, and summarized the story for us

how the bus got buried:

In a nutshell, a guy had his kid bury it in the late ’50s or early ’60s so they could have a hunting shack in the woods. The guy who found it also found the ‘kid’ who buried it, only now the kid is an old man. The restorer is English but on a run through northern Europe ( Sweden ?) he stopped by and showed the bus off to the guy who buried it. It was good timing, too; the guy who buried it died recently.

The current owner also took it to the site where the lumber mill stood that owned it first. He then took it to Kempes. The current owners didn’t know anything about the bus but they were pretty thrilled that the current owner came by with it to tell the story. The employees gave him some older (but not period) Kempes coveralls and goodies.

and also from the link that I had yesterday from Gary: http://retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=print&thread=67766

1957 Deluxe VW 23 window bus pulled from a lake in Norway after 36 years submerged... Is it this hard for people to find a VW Deluxe bus?

And here is a photo from before it went into the water in 1973 because the transmission broke, it was the fastest easiest way to get rid of the bus.

Thanks to Gary for the link to the story!

http://retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=print&thread=67766 for more photos of how bad it looked when it came out of the water and the full story with details