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A long, long time ago I owned in succession two VW Transporters. The first one, bought in California, came to a tragic end in a fire. I'll never forget when I took off the inside cover of the driver side door to mount a stereo speaker in it, it was very obvious from the inside surface that a shotgun blast had hit the door just below the window. The outside had been repaired, smoothed over, sanded, and re-painted, but the inside had a multitude of unmistakable dimples in a circular pattern. Glad it wasn't me behind the wheel at the time. Not sure I want to know what really happened. The second VW bus, pictured below, broke down going up a long hill in New England, and it would have cost way too much to repair it, so it headed for a junkyard. . . was sad to see it go, had alot of good times in it. You can click on this first one for a bigger image to read the bumper stickers, one of which says, "The Only Good Bumpersticker Is A Dead One". . . So, that tells you something about the kind of guy I was between age 20 and 30 . . . then I got a job and got married, and moved to France !
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17 comments:
Owen this are the best RV's also economic in gas. One day I will buy one and wander around Europe.
My wife used to own one of these - maximum speed 60mph - but she still waxes lyrical about it.
There's a book you might like (from ages and ages ago) The Children of Torremolinos. It is the tale of the travels of a group of young people-read hippies and students-across Europe in a VW.
English Rider : Interesting, I know a story which sounds identical but under the title : The Drifters, by James Michener...
Steve, I think many folks (or volks) wax lyrical about these old delightful vehicles. Even if they were slow... and not good in head on collisions either. But full of heart.
Adrian, let me know if you head off in a VW camper around Europe, maybe I'll come with you ! Well, if I can get away from my job...LOL
The Drifters, yes of course.
You can also check out my previous blog :
http://sydneydailysnap.blogspot.com/2007/02/remember-peace-and-love.html for a photo of your van's Aussie mate.
Oh wow! Beautiful bus Owen! It's interesting, but these old vehicles evoke strong reactions from most of us, I kind of think it's the un-hurried pace of life when you're exploring in one. And the simplicity - you don't need loads of 'stuff', just your little house on wheels with your bed in and tiny cooker....Oh, I so want another one! We got lost in Florence in the orange one over at my blog - you know how narrow some of the streets there can be! What a hoot! The worst bit was being road-raged by crazy, fast Italian drivers - that bit wasn't fun, and seemed to happen quite a lot!
Thanks for the link back to my blog Owen! And thanks for posting some lovely pics of your old bus¬
We might be talking about the same book. I read it in German and sometimes titles are changed drastically in translation. Die Kinder Aus Torremolinos was how I remembered it.
And so we grow in wisdom (I hope). I had googled my English translation of the title and found nothing, which is unusual. I just tried the German, and it is von, not aus, and it is by Mr. Michener. It must be the same book. Cool, now I am going to order it in English and turn back time.
Je vois qu'en ce moment tu fais beaucoup de distance... ! Owen ! Tout celà ne te ressembles pas ! What's the problem ? Hello goodbye tu connais...! C'est de qui déjà ?
J'aime beaucoup ta volksw... C'est mon rêve d'en posséder une et d'y mettre "Luck the system "!...
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°O°
= < Owen, see you later ?
ByeBye...
great stuff all around owen. i think your inspired posts helped me shake my post-carpathian blog block.
Tiens, plus de nouveau post?
Le maniaque de la multi-parution quotidienne a peut-être dû faire comme tout le monde et retourner bosser un peu ? L'un des secrets d'un bon blog est la régularité dans la parution. Les jours où tu as du temps, tu prépares des posts d'avance, tu programmes leur sortie au rythme qui te convient et après tu retournes à tes autres activités et tu passes juste
de temps en temps faire de petites visites.
Ou alors tu es à la retraite et tu ne fais plus que ça...
Et c'était les bons conseils de notre Nath adorée... Non ( t'es toi Owen quand je parle ! ), Owen cultive le "manque"... et tout celà pour mieux se faire languir...!
Oh...! ça va Owen ?
Amitiés de j lib rt... Je cherche une signature, mais ça devient de + en + nul !...
Excellente journée et à plus j'espère !
I imagine the fun you must have had with these! Never owned one, but made a wonderful tour with friends in California ... many, many years ago! I notice that the one we see looks very "clean"!
Congratulations! You have been nominated for a Noblesse Oblige award! See my blog for details...
Many thanks to all for these comments... just did a post to explain why I've been slow responding... but in any case, if you are checking back from time to time...
Steve, how can I thank you ? How about with a pair of free tickets to the Paris Dog Cemetery ? (same offer I made to Laurie on her blog, which is to say, the tix are free, but you have to organise the weekend in Paris... I'm Scottish, remember ?! ;])
English Rider, definitely The Drifters then, by Michener, who I'm sure you are aware attended Swarthmore College, in Swarthmore Pennsylvania, which just happens to be where I grew up, which explains why I knew about his book, he is somewhat famous in those parts. In any case, it is a great book, it may be the most dog-eared of all the books in my collection...
Nat; many thanks for that link, just went and look, what a great bus that is, with the peace sign replacing the VW logo ! Can't believe your memory, as that post goes back to 2007 ! Phenomenal... but I guess we have already established that you are a phenomenal individual... and soon to be rich as well, when you start selling your work to the tabloids ! ;-] And PS, more posts coming soon ! Even Mr Toad needs a break sometimes...
Peter, you're right, my VW was one of the cleanest ones around... as much as I love dilapidated old cars, mine wasn't one...
Buskit (for short?) How right you are about these old VWs provoking road rage from folks in big turbo-charged 4x4s who won't ever understand the notion of live, and let live... love your latest post of more VWs !
Fucoid, can't wait to hear about your trip, thanks !
whew, I'm running out of steam...
Jeff, "Luck the system" indeed... bon, suis sûr que tu aimerais habiter la Californie et te déplacer dans un de ces VW le long des plages... ça c'est une façon de vraiment vivre "Life Is Beautiful"... merci à toi pour tous tes déjonctitudes qui me fais marrer... a+
Owen,
I'll send you a pic that is not only a great VW Bus, it is also timely topical as to the swine flu...which I hope does not rach you area of France!
Walter
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