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On this day, 20 years ago, I bought a 1996 21-Window VW Bus. That morning, I found the listing on eBay and decided to buy it if the University of Denver (my alma mater) won the national college hockey championship.
Hmmm, if I could buy my dream car today and DU wins the National Championship tonight...
Update: Woooo HOOOOO - DU WON!!! I told myself earlier today that if they won, I'd buy the bus. So w/in 2 minutes of the win, I bought it! What a day. ;-)
The project is still progressing and it still feels like it'll be done soon. When I bought the bus 10 years ago, I thought I'd drive it a lot sooner. Then again, my expectation was that I'd incrementally improve it through the years and eventually get to something spectacular. Now we're on the cusp of spectacularity.
On March 7, 2018, Hefe was finally finished! I call him Hefe because it's a short version of Hefeweizen. He's from Germany, and his pain scheme looks like a nicely poured beer.
How it started:
How it's going:
I've driven him around 7000 miles since he was completed. It’s been a wonderful adventure! 🥳
"Open up the champagne, pop! 🍾" -- Flo Rida, My House
I’m thrilled to announce that Hefe, my 1966 21-Window VW Bus, is finally finished!
It only took 4,342 days, starting on April 17, 2006 and ending just a couple weeks ago (March 7, 2018).
When I last wrote about Hefe, I mentioned he was in the shop getting a better stereo.
For Hefe's stereo, I tried going phone-only for a controller. This turned out to be a bad idea, mostly due to bit Play HD and its terrible mobile app. Also, Hefe is lowered and a bit bumpy in the front, so trying to use a touch screen while driving doesn't work very well. He's in the shop now getting a new deck installed.
My dad and I visited Elevated Audio to pick him up two weeks ago today. I’ve known the owner, Andrew, ever since I hired him to install a sweet system in Stout the Syncro in 2013. Back then, his business was named Andrew’s Installs. Fast forward five years and his business is thriving. For a good reason too, his team and their attention to detail is magnificent.
Having Hefe finished sometimes makes me misty eyed when I drive him.
My daughter observed the other day that most people are frowning when they’re driving. I’m not one of this people. In fact, I have to wear sunglasses to hide my tears of joy! 🤣 #HefeTheBus#21windowspic.twitter.com/0LWaQkjZlx
Last Friday evening, I washed and polished him to get ready. While cleaning him, I accidentally sprayed a bunch of water on the engine. It’s a no-no to drench a car’s engine when it’s not running. I’d done this to our Syncro six months after we got it and it might’ve contributed to our engine’s untimely death.
After I finished, I tried to start Hefe. The engine turned over just fine, but it’d barely fire and never catch. I pumped the gas pedal a bunch and eventually gave up thinking I'd flooded the engine. I told myself to revisit the problem in an hour; maybe things would dry out by then.
I didn’t tell Trish about the problem until I’d tried (and failed) to start him an hour later. I took off the distributor cap and dried things out. I wiggled and re-routed some wires. Moving wires around made the spark plugs fire but in the wrong order. I reverted my changes and told Trish the bad news.
We couldn’t be in the parade without a running bus.
I cursed, loudly.
Trish’s high-school friend was flying in from NYC with her family that night. Trish left for the airport to pick them up, suggesting “we could go skiing instead” as she left.
Shortly after, I recognized my lousy attitude and vowed to turn things around.
“Now it’s flooded,” I thought. I knew the wires were correct.
I threw on my University of Denver hockey jersey and went to my living room to finish watching them in a playoff game. They beat the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs 3-2, and I celebrated with a cold Guinness.
Then I strolled outside, sat in Hefe, told him he could do it and started him right up. 💥
Wahoo! He recovered!!
The parade was epic.
We all felt glorious; cranking the stereo, blowing bubbles out the top, dancing up a storm, and basking in the happiness that is downtown Denver on St. Paddy’s Day. 🍀🤗
Yes, there will likely be more to do to Hefe in the coming years. That’s OK. He inspires smiles every time I drive him and providing joy to people is a beautiful experience.
Kudos to all seven Colorado shops that made Hefe possible. I won’t say he’s worth every penny, but he’s pretty darn close! 😍
I've writtenafew Life Update blog posts in the past and it seems
appropriate to write another one today. A lot has
happened since I wrote about our trip to Syncro
Solstice 2015 in Moab. First of all, let's talk about the most exciting one: The Bus Project.
The Bus Project
The last time I wrote about The Bus, it'd just arrived
at Sewfine to have the interior installed. From the get-go, I knew this was going to be a good experience.
I've been talking with the owners (Carol and Mike) for years about the project. Seeing the knowledge they had about
VWs and knowing it was in good hands brought a sense of calmness over me. They estimated it'd take 4-8 weeks to
finish and it ended up taking 12. I'm proud to say it left Sewfine yesterday with a completed interior.
In mid-May,
we took The Bus to its first show: VWs on the Green in Littleton. Sewfine
had completed
the driver's seat and ragtop. I got license plates and insurance and was planning on driving it to the show.
However,
Mike pointed out that the engine compartment wasn't sealed and the engine might get really hot on the 10-mile drive
(because it's an air-cooled engine). I agreed to trailer it instead and rented a car hauler from U-Haul.
11 years ago yesterday, I bought a '66 21-Window VW Bus using "buy it now" on eBay.
11 years later, it was delivered to Sewfine Interior Products to get the interior installed.
When I originally spoke with them last year, they estimated it'd only take two weeks to finish. After seeing how much
work needed to be done, they changed that estimate to 4-8 weeks.
After Sewfine, it still needs another week at the body shop to clean it up and install the rear deck lid. After that, I'll probably drive it for a few weeks before taking it to the stereo shop for the sound system.
While finalizing my interior order yesterday, I got to start it for the first time. It sounded like a muscle car.
So fricken' sweet!
In the first photo below, you'll notice there's two yellow busses. Sewfine had a '62 (the far one) they were just finishing up. It was awesome to see the two together. Sewfine published a whole bunch of pictures of the '62 on Facebook.
I asked Jim Verhey at ReinCARnation to stop working on my bus in mid October. I didn't have a client lined up for November and couldn't afford to keep paying for it.
Today, I journeyed to Colorado Springs to talk with Jim. I hoped to convince him to give me a fixed bid to finish the project. When I got there, he surprised me with a finished paint job! You can imagine the look on my face when he opened the door and I saw this beauty!! HOLY SHIT - I LOVE IT SO MUCH!! The colors are perfect and paint job is exquisite!!
Jim said he felt bad for all I’ve been through with this project and finishing it was my Christmas Present. BEST CHRISTMAS PRESENT EVER!!
There's still more work to be done before it's street legal. However, Jim did give me a fixed-bid price to finish it. If I can afford it, the bus will be done on April 1, 2015. Then it's off to the stereo shop (1 week) and the interior shop (2 weeks). That means I could be driving it in May! YIPPEEE!! Thanks Jim - you are an awesome human being.
I like to think I've been part of the VW Community for many years. In reality, I've been sitting on the sidelines,
waiting for the restoration of my '66 to finish. When we bought our Syncro last year, I became an active participant
again. Last Thursday, we took full advantage of this wonderful community - joining a bunch of folks in Moab for
Syncro Solstice.
The Syncro Solstice is an annual Volkswagen Transporter Jamboree produced by enthusiasts in the Intermountain area.
The event hosts both 2WD and 4WD vehicles in an off-road desert-style family-camp-and-expedition Jamboree, held late
spring in Moab, Utah. Our Eurovan, Bus, Doka and Microbus friends are a hit and also very welcome.
My parents joined us for this camping extravaganza, as did our "we love to go camping" border collies. The people
were great, the vans were inspiring and the views, mesmerizing. We love Moab and the weather was gorgeous the entire
time.
10 years ago today, I bought a 1966 21-Window Volkswagen Bus.
Restoring a VW Bus had been a dream of mine since high school, when I attempted to restore a '69 VW Bug. In October 2005,
the restoration project began. Since then, it's been through many shops and had quite a few folks work on it. You can read all about it in
When is the bus gonna be done?
Since many long-time readers of this blog are familiar with The Bus Project, it seems fitting to give y'all a detailed update on where things sit today.
Last Thursday, Trish and I met in Boise, Idaho to begin our Syncro Rescue Road Trip. You might remember we bought a ski bus a couple months ago. After Devoxx and Thanksgiving, we finally had time to pick up our new rig. We rented a car from Boise and drove to Bruce's (the owner) house near Sun Valley. We arrived at Bruce's house, met his family and were introduced to our new Volkswagen. We spent the next hour learning about its engine, suspension, beds, captains (swivel) seats, propane system, RV hookups, fridge, stove and roof tent. It was impressive and I couldn't wait to drive it!
Looking back, after reading all the receipts, it's obvious that Bruce did great things for this vehicle. When he bought it in 2004, he worked with Small Car to convert the engine to a 3.3L Subaru SVX. He also installed a 2" lift kit, disc brakes, and better gearing. It was a cool car before Bruce bought it; he turned it into a mean machine. I thought it'd be small like my '66, but it's more like a tank, that you have to crawl into. We like it more every time we drive it.
After spending the night in their cozy guest bed, we enjoyed some good coffee and got on the road.
I was immediately impressed with the Syncro's acceleration. [Read More]
This summer while vacationing in Montana, I gave my Cadillac Escalade to my parents. My reason was simple - it'd been molested too many times in the big city. We did enjoy catching the criminals (busted two would-be-thieves in the act in 2010), but we were ready for a new car.
We started looking for one shortly after arriving home from our honeymoon - from the Nissan Armada to the Tesla. But none of them really appealed to me. Then I found a rig that made my heart leap, the VW Syncro Westfalia, aka The Greatest Car Ever Built.
Everyone from pro snowboarder Jussi Oksanen to Maverick’s surfing legend Grant Washburn to actor Tom Hanks, who calls his Syncro addiction "a rare dementia," has succumbed to the Vanagon. The only drawback: production ceased in 1992, and there are only so many of these babies left (maybe as few as 5,000), so the vehicles are appreciating in value.
The first one I found stood out because it fixed the problem that many VW Busses have - crappy engines. Rather than a powerless ol' VW engine, it had a Subaru SVX H6 3.3L (240HP). I found a maroon syncro that was similar to the aforementioned one, but ended up buying the blue one after I asked the owner why his was better. He replied with a 12-item list and a closing paragraph that sealed the deal for me.
Any van you end up with will have its own eccentricities, personality traits, faults and virtues. Owning one, especially a Syncro is a labor of love, not necessarily a good investment purely in terms of money but man, I've racked-up more memories in that Syncro over the past 10 years than with anything else in my life. I've owned Syncros for years and will continue to do so, it gets in your blood and there's no cure.
Trish has always wanted an RV for photography, and I've longed for a VW Bus that runs. With our plan of skiing all over Colorado this year (Abbie gets free days at every resort), it should be a heckuva ski season!
