Raible Designs

20 years ago today, I bought a VW Bus

Matt Raible — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 14:46:44 -0600

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. ;-)

10 years ago, it was still being restored.

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! 🥳

Hefe 3.5 Has Been Released! 🎉

Matt Raible — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 14:21:41 -0600

"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.

The ol’ bus in for a new stereo, adding another amplifier and retune! So pretty! Enjoy your commute, Colorado

A post shared by Elevated Audio (@elevatedaudio) on Mar 8, 2018 at 5:59am PST

It sounds fucking incredible.

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 #21windows pic.twitter.com/0LWaQkjZlx
— Matt Raible (@mraible) March 14, 2018

I was especially pumped to get Hefe back because we’d signed him up to be in Denver’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

That’s where the untold story begins.

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! 😍

The Bus is Home!

Matt Raible — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 14:07:22 -0600

The day has finally arrived! The Bus is home 12 years and 3 days after I bought it. I detailed much of the slow and patience-heavy project in 10 years ago today, I bought a VW Bus and When is the bus gonna be done?

It's a glorious day in Raibleland and a real gas to drive. Hello Hefe!

Life Update: The Bus Project, New Gigs, New House and More

Matt Raible — Wed, 8 Jul 2015 22:14:56 -0600

I've written a few 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.

The Bus Interior on Flickr →

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.

While driving it onto the trailer, and onto the grass at the show, I discovered several issues that needed fixed before I'd consider it road-worthy. First of all, the shifting was very sloppy and it was hard to find first gear. Third gear was easy to find and I ended up using that a few times, much to the chagrin of the clutch. I also found the air-bag suspension to extremely stiff. So stiff it seemed dangerous to drive over 20mph. Then there was the oil leak that left a trail behind us.

The good news is the guys who painted it have agreed to try and fix these issues and it's back in their good hands today. I don't know when it'll be done, but I've given up on trying to establish deadlines; especially since the largest VW show in Colorado is this weekend and it won't be done by then.

Below are some photos we took at the VWs on the Green Show.

For more pictures, see Trish's VWs on the Green 2015 album on Flickr. I also published mine.

New Gigs
I started a new gig in March, slinging code for a fashion-industry startup in downtown Denver. The team is comprised of guys I've known for years and I've had a really great time. The project is led by James Goodwill, who I worked with at Virtuas, Overstock and Time Warner cable with. It's good to be working with him again. My good friend, The 'Fesser, just joined our team last week too! I'm writing JavaScript, HTML5 and CSS and we're using AngularJS and Bootstrap as our UI frameworks. There's also opportunities to do Python and iOS development. James and another friend/co-worker, Wes Matlock, recently published Beginning Swift Games Development for iOS.

Trish started a new gig with Tuliva this week and now has an office a block from mine (at Thrive Ballpark). Thrive's new space is awesome and I love that they have coffee, beer and kambucha on tap! I've been riding my bike to work (6 miles each way) most of the year. My client has an office five blocks from mine, so I tend to spend half my time there.

The JHipster Mini-Book
I wrote about my progress on the JHipster book at the end of June. Now that it's July, I'm working on Apache Camel and Java Web Security presentations for UberConf.

Selling our House
Last month, we found a house we loved near our kids' schools. It was on an acre of land in a prime part of DTC (near Cherry Creek High School). To make an offer, we had to put our house on the market. Unfortunately, our offer wasn't accepted, but now we're on the market and hope to move south soon. It's been an interesting experience polishing up our house and keeping it clean, especially in the midst of the torrential rain we've had lately.

Summer Vacations
Last week, we drove our Syncro to my parent's house in Montana. Trish took a gorgeous photo of the sunset in Wyoming on the way up.

A beautiful Wyoming sunset on our way to Montana in our Syncro Westy. Photo by the amazing Trish McGinity.
Posted by Matt Raible on Thursday, July 2, 2015

We had an amazing week with my parents, my sister and her wife, Mya, and many old friends. My uncle was in town for the first few days, so we played golf, hiked in Glacier Park, and spent quality time together. The kids had a great time throwing water balloons from the Syncro in the Swan Valley Parade and we admired the beauty of the Swan Valley Museum. We fished, swam, boated, picked huckleberries and played guitar on the front porch.

We drove back to Denver on the 5th of July in 16 hours. We stopped for an hour in Billings, and had good enough timing to watch the USA Women's soccer team win it all! Driving through the dark rain and fog in Wyoming wasn't fun, but we arrived safe and sound at 3am. We were very impressed with the Syncro's performance.

We have a raft trip scheduled next week, with the same friends from last year. This time, we're rafting the Green instead of the Yampa, starting at the Gates of Lodore. I love rafting and it's really fun to take my family on multi-day trips with epic people. I feel very fortunate. When the bus is done, I just might melt into a puddle of glee.

The Bus Arrives at Sewfine

Matt Raible — Sat, 11 Apr 2015 11:09:24 -0600

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.

If you'd like to learn more about the VW Bus and the Deluxe Samba, see 21 Window & 23 Window Volkswagen Buses.

THE BUS IS PAINTED!! HOLY CHRISTMAS PRESENT BATMAN!

Matt Raible — Sun, 21 Dec 2014 17:33:46 -0700

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!!

Album on Flickr →

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.

Syncro Solstice 2014

Matt Raible — Wed, 21 May 2014 10:21:11 -0600

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 The 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.

When we weren't 4x4ing, we visited Arches National Park, Canyonlands and did a few hikes. Did I mention how perfect the weather was?

On Saturday, we cruised along Potash Road for a couple hours before heading back to Denver.

more photos on Flickr →

We made it from Moab to Denver (350 miles) in 5 hours, with only one stop. Our Syncro ran like a dream. On Sunday, we attend our first VW Show as participants - Volkswagens on the Green.

We didn't win any trophies, but we did win a $25 gift certificate to Rocky Mountain Westy. The questions and compliments poured in and we had a lot of fun meeting a bunch of new folks. Kids especially loved our "upstairs bedroom". Having the rig cleaned up fetched comments the rest of the day while driving around: "super jealous", "that's awesome", "wanna sell it"?

All I could think was, you ain't seen nothing yet folks -- wait until you see my '66 Porsche Bus!

10 years ago today, I bought a VW Bus

Matt Raible — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 19:11:14 -0600

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.

In June 2013, I mentioned I'd removed it from the shop that worked on it for six years. My biggest frustration with that shop was their willingness to work on it. They'd go through spurts of working on it, then let it sit for months. To make matters worse, when I'd email them, they wouldn't respond for weeks. Often, it'd take a couple emails and a phone call to get them to respond. I was pleased with the work they did as it seemed high quality. They also motivated me to go big and pursue other teenage VW dreams: a Porsche 911 engine and air-ride suspension.

Last year, the bus spent six months in a friend-of-a-friend's garage. I paid them to get it running and driveable. They created an oil tank, modified the gas tank, mounted the air tank, did some custom welding on the rear floor, installed the brakes, installed the steering and got the shifting linkage hooked up. It was refreshing to get weekly updates and text messages when things were finished. In fact, he almost got it running, but was unable to find a part needed to complete the "spark" process.

In December 2013, I moved it to a new shop, which seems to have all the necessary components to complete the project. They're vintage car restoration specialists and the owner estimated they could have it done by April 2014 (a.k.a. today). They'd also rescued a fair amount of projects: ones that sat at garages for years while progress stalled and owners lost lots of money. They began work on it and I enjoyed the daily emails with links to albums of their progress. It seemed like The Bus would finally be painted come January.

In early January, I received an email with a major roadblock. The subject of the email was Thickness of bondo on the VW bus. As I read the paragraphs below, I could feel my heart sink.

As you saw in the photos this week, we've had to repair three spots where the body work previously done on the bus was chipped. In all three cases and especially the roof yesterday, the thickness off the bondo is alarming. This could and probably will lead to paint failure down the road.

The way this usually progresses is that once you start driving the bus and road vibrations become an everyday occurrence, the bondo can start coming loose, sometimes in large pieces, from the body. We only see this happen in cases like yours where the body work has been performed elsewhere and we've inherited the job to "Finish" it, painting being the major component of our task. The problem, along with being my concern here, is obvious. We are reluctant to see you spend thousands of hard earned dollars to paint a bus that will surely fail later.

The options aren't great. The best route is to restrip the bus now and get it back to bare metal and start over. Doing the body work correctly would insure a thinner application of substrates (dura glass, bondo, etc.) and eliminate the possibility of cracking and spidering of the paint completely. By doing this, we can warrantee our work and know you are hitting the road without bondo so thick it can be measured with a ruler. As it stands, we frankly are reluctant to proceed any further with the paint process knowing that we would be doing you a huge disservice by so doing.

Shortly after, he sent me some pictures of the bondo trouble spots.

You can imagine my frustration when I received this email. Over the life of the project, I've spent more than $100K and I expected the body work to be "show car" quality. The shop that did all the body work knew this. The only thing I can think of is their definition of quality is a lot different from the current shop. The current shop estimates it'd be $17K to fix the bondo and get it ready for paint. The money part doesn't bother me (it cost me $10K to move it from shop 1 to shop 2 back in 2008), but they estimate it'll be six weeks to complete the process. They recommended I contact the BBB for the shop who did all the bondo because "they are an embarrassment to our industry". They also suggested we finish the mechanical and electrical portions of the job. I agreed that seemed like the best way forward.

A week later, they got it running, but discovered some new previous-work-quality problems along the way. The custom fabricated oil tank leaked like a sieve. From the video they sent, it appeared like it'd never even been pressure tested. They slapped on a new one from the Porsche they had sitting in the shop and voila - it was alive!

Progress continued through January. They removed the suspension, powder coated it and painted the bottom with good quality (3M) black under coating. At the end of January, Trish and I visited Sewfine to pick out the interior. We selected colors, fabric and were about to order everything when we ran into another roadblock. While talking, we discovered that the back seat won't fit with the current setup. The air tank is in the way, and possibly the raised floor. They suggested relocating the air tank or trying to find a smaller one.

The folks at Sewfine thought this was a pretty big deal and caused me to think the whole project might be delayed for several months. I emailed the current shop and was pleasantly surprised with a reply of "that shouldn't be hard to fix".

I'm not clear on the details of what happened at this point, but the daily-picture updates stopped flowing. It was six weeks until they started working on it again. They received all the powder coated components and started installing them. At the end of March, I visited the shop and was pleased to see the suspension, wheels, and engine installed. We talked about the body/paint work and I was disappointed to hear them refuse to paint it without sandblasting and re-doing the body work. They said they didn't want to put their name behind work that is likely to fail. They estimated a couple more weeks until they got it running and driveable.

That couple weeks passed. Since I received no email updates, I emailed the owner. He said they'd run into issues on another job and it'll be another week before they can get back to it. This shop is starting to feel like the one that did the body work in that it's very difficult to get them to prioritize my project over other ones. However, they've done great work so far. They send me a link to an album at the end of each day and things happen really fast ... when they work on it.

At this point, I'm resetting my expectations (as usual) to it'll be done in a few more months. I'm aiming for my 40th birthday this time: July 16th. I'm estimating it'll be 65K to finish it:

10K: current bill
20K: body and paint
5K: wiring, windows and trim
10K: stereo
20K: interior

I could probably save 20K by having someone else paint it and doing the wiring and trim myself. I'm tempted to do this and repaint it if/when the bondo/paint starts to crack. However, I believe the current shop can get it running/driveable/painted by mid-June, so it's tempting to just pay for it.

That's the latest update. 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. Stay tuned...

The Syncro Rescue Road Trip

Matt Raible — Tue, 10 Dec 2013 23:47:46 -0700

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. The Subaru engine has some great pickup in lower gears. In third gear, you can easily get up to 75 mph (120 kph) before shifting into fourth. The fourth gear is a lot like overdrive, bad for power but great for gas mileage. Within the first ten minutes, I was pleased to find the cruise control still worked. It took another hour for us to figure out to work the heater. Once we did, we had all kinds of heat, which was handy considering it never got above 5°F on the whole trip.

Trish's first shift at the wheel was met with some resistance: the e-brake was on. After a couple miles, pulled over for something else, but realized the mistake as soon as we parked. It smelled a lot and hasn't worked since.

Our Friday destination was Jackson Hole, where we figured we could find a nice place to stay and possibly ski the next morning. We briefly considered sleeping in our new camper, but with no auxiliary heater (possessed, but not installed) it seemed like a bad idea. We got our first taste of bad roads over Teton Pass. We figured it wouldn't be a problem since the Syncro is a 4WD, but we used the wrong lever (the differential lock instead of the 4WD) and slid all over the roads. We drifted sideways a few times, but soon after figured out how to engage 4WD, resulting in great traction. We celebrated our safe arrival with tasty beers at Wyoming's oldest brewery.

That evening, we moseyed into Jackson and found some great live music. While driving around, we noticed the stereo and cigarette lighter / phone charger quit working. The next morning, I woke up early to get some new windshield wipers and fix the blown dash fuse. After some inspection, I found it wasn't a fuse problem (there was a wire into where the fuse should be). I texted the previous owner, who pointed me to the auxiliary battery. Wiggling some of the battery's wires got everything working again.

After breakfast, Trish and I decided to do the responsible thing and drive back to Denver rather than go skiing. The conditions were still frigid and there was only 1" of fresh snow. We left Jackson around 9:30am and arrived in Denver just before 7pm. We only stopped for gas and our vanagon drove like a dream.

We've got some work to do before our next road trip (to Montana in two weeks). It seems the previous owner did most of his improvements when he bought it in 2004. The engine, drive train, suspension and wheels/tires are all in great shape. The Subaru conversion is "beautiful" according to a vanagon mechanic I talked to today. The upholstery could use a refresh and the stereo is showing its age. It failed an emissions test today, but there's a shop a few blocks away that specializes in Subarus.

Our Syncro is a real joy to drive. It cruises on the freeway and works great in the city with its quick acceleration and impressive turning radius. Let the VW adventures begin!

P.S. I love getting the '66's daily progress updates. Checkout yesterday's and today's.

We Bought a Ski Bus!

Matt Raible — Tue, 22 Oct 2013 11:47:18 -0600

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!

I can't wait to go and rescue it in December with my Dad. We figured it'd be fun since we did our first bus rescue in 2004. For more pictures, see my 1990 Syncro Westy SVX Full Camper set on Flickr or the original listing.

As for my '66 Porsche Bus, that's progressing nicely. It should be starting and drivable (though not street legal) in the next couple weeks.

Update: Dad is out, Trish is in for the Syncro Rescue Road Trip. She wasn't about to let us have all the fun.

When is the bus gonna be done?

Matt Raible — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 11:00:07 -0600

When I meet up with friends these days, the most common question I'm asked is "when is the bus gonna be done?" I've often replied "in a few months" and I've been wrong every single time. However, this time, I really do believe it's gonna happen.

... says the guy who thought his kitchen would take 1 month to remodel (it's going on 4 months) and his deck a couple weeks to build (it took around 6 months).

The difference this time is that the last part we're waiting on has shipped. The part is the custom-built rear suspension from Franklin's VW Werks. You can see some pictures of them building it here. When this arrives, Motorworks Restorations can finally start putting all the pieces together.

Even with this good news, history has taught me that in a few months is not gonna happen. Here's a timeline of events since I bought the bus back in 2004 (4 months before Jack was born).

April 10, 2004 - [VW Bus] Could this be the one?: "Hmmm, if I could buy my dream car today and DU wins the National Championship tonight..."
June 09, 2004 - Pictures from "Bus Rescue" Road Trip: "1500 Miles, 4 days, 4 quarts of oil used. Pretty damn good for a Volkswagen."
October 15, 2005 - The Bus Project Begins: "With any luck, I'll have the bus in Mike's shop by December. Estimated time to complete body work and paint: 6 months to a year."
April 17, 2006 - Off to The Shop!: "Estimated time at the shop: 6 months to a year."
November 11, 2006 - Bus Project Update: "I'd like to be driving it around next summer, hopefully it'll be done by then."
June 08, 2007 Bus Project Update: "I doubt it'll be done this summer, but I'm still hopeful."

Project Reset: first guy went out of business and ended up costing me 5K for his work and 10K to fix his work at the next shop.

January 19, 2008 - Bus Project Update: "To start with, I'm going to have Motorworks do paint and body, and possibly suspension. Jeremy said they could probably take it out of my hands in March and have it back to me 2-3 months later."
July 07, 2008 - Bus Project Update: "With any luck, I'll have it completely restored sometime in 2010."
May 17, 2010 - Volkswagens On The Green 2010 and The Bus Project: "I don't know if we'll finish it this year, but there's a really good chance we'll be driving it to a lot of Colorado VW Shows next year."
April 30, 2012 - Bus Project Update: "With any luck, I'll have a kick-ass new ride arriving sometime in June. In July, I hope to drive it in the Swan Valley 4th of July parade."

So yeah, I have no idea when it's gonna be done. I'm hopeful it'll be in a few months.

Bus Project Update

Matt Raible — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 07:59:52 -0600

I bought my '66 21-window VW Bus way back in April of 2004. I purchased it on eBay minutes after DU Won the National Championship in NCAA Hockey. It was a day I still remember very well. Several weeks later, my Dad and I flew to San Diego to pick it up and drive it back to Denver. It was a great adventure. I remember fondly 2-year old Abbie calling it "Daddy Bus". Jack was still a couple months away from his birthday.

Fast forward 8 years and The Bus is still in the shop. It's been there since July 2008. However, it's closer than ever to being finish. In fact, I drove to Colorado Springs last Thursday and met with Jeremy and Ben to finalize what it'll take to get 'er done. In other words, the end is in sight! It's been a long time coming, but this isn't your normal bus project. Not only are we restoring every nut and bolt, but we're converting it to have have a Porsche infrastructure so it can really get up and go. 911 engine (3.0 SC), Weber 46 IDA carbs, 5-speed 915 transmission, custom air-bag suspension (by Franklin's VW Werks), Porsche wheels, iPads for TVs, Porsche gauges and a sweet sound system.

Looking at the pictures below, it might not look like it's close to being done, but we've got most of the parts and now it's just a matter of time.

All the used parts have been found and I'm negotiating with sellers now. The rear suspension has been paid for and it should be done in a few weeks. The interior has been picked out and ordered. With any luck, I'll have a kick-ass new ride arriving sometime in June. In July, I hope to drive it in the Swan Valley 4th of July parade.

If you live in Colorado and would like to see it at a local event, I plan on showing (and racing!) it at the Colorado Bug-In at Bandimere Speedway. That's on Sunday, July 29th. In the meantime, it's gonna be pretty cool watching it come alive!

Volkswagens On The Green 2010 and The Bus Project

Matt Raible — Mon, 17 May 2010 21:02:11 -0600

This weekend, I took Abbie and Jack to the 16th Annual Volkswagens on the Green. I was especially inspired to take them because we've been playing a lot of "Slug Bug" lately and I figured the number of opportunities for points would surely overload their senses. Not only was I right, but this was one of the best VW shows I've been to in Colorado. The venue was great, there were lots of cars and everything was easily accessible.

Personally, the highlight of the show for me was stumbling upon my bus in the midst of the parking lot. Motorworks Restorations hauled it up from the Springs to highlight it as one of their project vehicles. The kids loved seeing it and climbed all over it while I had a conversation with Jeremy (owner of Motorworks) about adding a Porsche suspension and brakes to the mix.

My Bus Restoration Project has been on hold for a couple years and I'm happy to report I'll be starting it again in the next few months. I don't know if we'll finish it this year, but there's a really good chance we'll be driving it to a lot of Colorado VW Shows next year.

For more pictures, click on the images below or see my VWs on the Green set on Flickr.

Abbie gets her first tooth and The Bus looks great!

Matt Raible — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 23:49:49 -0600

Today was quite the day. First of all, Jack and I took Abbie to A Wild Smile to get a couple front teeth yanked. She has her first adult tooth coming in and her baby teeth weren't getting out of the way. Before and after pictures are below:

This afternoon, I drove to Colorado Springs to see The Bus and speak at the Colorado Springs Open Source User Group. The Bus looked great. Motorworks Restorations has done a lot of very detailed work (i.e. replacing corners, stretching the frame, replacing window and door drains) in the last couple of months.

We talked for a good hour about the possibilities in wheels, transmission, engine, suspension, gauges and interior. My favorite topics were the air bags, 6-cylinder 911 engine and safari windows. Click here to see the full set of pictures I took. Quote of the night: "It's going to be better than it was when it was brand new."

After leaving the bus, I delivered my Web Frameworks of the Future Presentation to a bunch of guys (and gals) at a nearby library. It was a fun presentation because I got to meet a lot of folks I had name recognition for, but had never met. All in all, a very good day.

Tomorrow marks my last day of work before I head out on a week's vacation in Munich for Oktoberfest. I have a feeling the days are going to get a lot better from here on out.

Pictures of the Bus at MotorWorks Restorations

Matt Raible — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 20:39:14 -0600

Jeremy from MotorWorks restorations sent me an e-mail this morning to let me know there's pictures of my bus available on their site. Apparently, they're quite a bit further along than these pictures show. When I talked to Jeremy last week, the bus was at the sandblasters.

This Thursday, I'll be traveling down to The Springs to checkout the bus, as well as speak at The Colorado Springs Open Source Meetup. Should be a fun evening.

Bus Project Update

Matt Raible — Mon, 7 Jul 2008 22:06:55 -0600

This evening, Jeremy from MotorWorks Restorations stopped by and picked up the bus. It'll be in the shop for around 6 months. It's scheduled to be returned in January of next year with a straight body and a slick yellow and white paint job. The engine, interior and suspension will be up to me at that point.

It's hard to believe I bought it 4 years ago. With any luck, I'll have it completely restored sometime in 2010. You can read more about its history in The Bus category.

Release Your Inner Hippie With The VW Bus PC

Matt Raible — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 10:34:48 -0700

I wonder if I can get one of these in yellow?

Thanks to Jim Head for sending me a link to this.

Bus Project Update

Matt Raible — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 14:03:52 -0700

This afternoon, Jeremy Vreeman from Motorworks Restorations stopped by to take a look at my bus. I first e-mailed Jeremy way back in June of last year, so this meeting has been a long time coming. He took lots of pictures and we talked at length about the things I wanted as part of this restoration project. To start with, I'm going to have Motorworks do paint and body, and possibly suspension. Jeremy said they could probably take it out of my hands in March and have it back to me 2-3 months later.

I'm pretty pumped - for a number of reasons. The first is Motorworks seems to be best company on the Front Range to help me make "Daddy's Bus" into my dream car. I realize it's going to cost quite a bit of cash (a full restoration to pristine condition is 50K), but it's something I've always wanted to do. Furthermore, it's not a bad investment (most car restorations are). Jeremy told me about a deal he just saw where a guy sold his restored '59 for 70K. I'm certainly not planning on spending that kind of money this year, but with 15K already into the project, it's likely I'll spend another 30K over the next 5-10 years. The last reason I'm excited is because anything is possible with this bus at Motorworks. Jeremy was telling me about a project they have right now that closely resembles a "Pimp My Ride" episode: flat screens, A/C and even Wi-Fi (I didn't ask why an EVDO card wouldn't work).

I don't plan on selling the bus when I'm done. I hope to drive it during the summer and possibly show it. I think it'd be pretty cool for the kids and I to cruise around town in one of the coolest cars ever. It should be a great childhood memory for them. Hopefully it's not too painful when one of them totals it in high school.

The Perfect Day for a Homecoming

Matt Raible — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 16:25:30 -0600

Today was a great day and a terrific start to a fun-filled weekend. The morning, I delivered my last talk at the Colorado Software Summit then drove home on a beautiful Colorado day. See proof below:

I got home just in time to meet the tow truck who was hauling my bus home. The shop were it was at was too slow. I've been talking to MotorWorks Restorations (in the Springs) and I hope to get it into their shop w/in the next couple of weeks. After they've completed the body and paint (and possibly electrical), I hope to rebuild the engine, finish the interior and have it on the road by next summer.

I missed my delivery of Leopard this morning, but I can still get it before Monday if I can make it to the Fedex store before 7PM tonight. With happy hour starting at 5:30 and the Homecoming DU Hockey game at 7, this day just keeps getting better.

Hope y'all have a great weekend!

Bus Project Update

Matt Raible — Fri, 8 Jun 2007 10:12:37 -0600

Not much has changed on my bus since the last time I visited it in the shop. However, this time it is out of the corner and the guy (Mike Lopez of Twins Auto Body) is actively working on it. He's in the midst of replacing the floor pan and doing all of the welding it needs before prepping for paint. I doubt it'll be done this summer, but I'm still hopeful. We snapped a few pics to record its progress.

Bus Ball

Matt Raible — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 16:32:19 -0700

A reader sent me an e-mail about ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons' Bus Ball. His suggestions was if I don't get my bus fixed, I should turn it into one of these. Looks like motion sickness waiting to happen. I'm sure the kids would love it though.

Bus Project Update

Matt Raible — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 21:26:28 -0700

On my way up to the NoFluff show this morning, I stopped by Twins Auto Body and snapped a couple pictures of the bus. From the looks of it, the guy hasn't worked on it in quite some time. I'd like to be driving it around next summer, hopefully it'll be done by then.

Off to The Shop!

Matt Raible — Mon, 17 Apr 2006 15:38:40 -0600

It's been quite some time since I last worked on the bus. Something about the spring weather around here motivated me to finish it up last weekend and get it ready for the shop. It only took a couple hours to pull off the remaining items I could, and then I called the tow truck. He showed up this morning, and now it's off to the shop for body work and paint.

With any luck, when it comes back it'll look like this one. I doubt it though - there's going to be quite a bit more work to do on suspension, electrical and interior. Estimated time at the shop: 6 months to a year. Below are some "before the shop" pictures I snapped.

Images powered by Lightbox JS v2.0 and Flickr.

Dream Bus

Matt Raible — Sun, 5 Mar 2006 21:42:25 -0700

This is a 23-window bus, and looks to be a bit older than mine (a '66 21-window). However, it has the same paint job I'm dreamin' of. Sure is beautiful.

Found at vwtrends.com.

How to Keep your Volkswagen Alive

Matt Raible — Fri, 16 Dec 2005 10:46:31 -0700

The illustrator for How to Keep your Volkswagen Alive has passed away. I read about this on the Dead Bus Diaries, which links to an nice obituary.

I've used this book many times in my VW career - which started way back in high school. I had a friend who was into VWs and he convinced me that my first car should be a VW Bug. I bought a '69 bug, and after driving it for 2 months, the generator went out and I decided it was time to start restoring it. I took a belt sander to it the next day, and used this book to remove the engine. Days later I was ripping out all the wiring getting ready to head to the paint shop. Needless to say, I had no idea what I was doing and the car suffered quite heavily for it. When I tried to put things back together, hardly anything worked and I had large waves in the body from grinding parts of the car down to bare metal.

I've re-built 5 VW engines in my lifetime, and I've always had this book by my side. It took me 4 times to get it right, but this was largely due to my lack of experience. Furthermore, I'd often get the engine finished and then head out on a road trip instead of waiting 500 miles for the initial settling in. Since I'm about to start rebuilding my Bus's engine, it's about time I bought a new copy of this book, so I just did that on Amazon. I haven't taken the engine out of the bus yet, but that sounds like a fun activity for next week when my Dad is in town.

Good Bus Stories

Matt Raible — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 16:57:58 -0700

I found some good bus stories on Dead Bus Diaries today. The first, The Wayback Machine is a story of a couple guys who make a roadtrip to pick up a 21-window bus. The story reminds me of my Dad and I's Road Trip to pick up my bus. When driving through Utah, through all the canyon's and mountains, the brakes on the bus changed from having 2-3 inches of cushion, to having only a 1/2".

I remember my Dad telling me, "Bah, you just need to pump the brakes more." Then it was his turn to drive down a long pass - and he quickly realized the brakes were on their way out. Regardless, we drove it home - through lots of mountains and valleys - with a mere 1/2" of travel b/w the brake pedal and the floor. I promptly got it fixed when we arrived back in Denver.

The second post, 3,200 Gallons of Gas and Counting, links to vwvagabonds.com - which has a great story about a couple who left the hustle and bustle and drove their bus around the world. 3 years, 60,000 miles, 24 countries, 4 continents, 122 border crossings and 3200 gallons of gas. Quite impressive if you ask me.

The Bus Project Begins

Matt Raible — Sat, 15 Oct 2005 18:34:28 -0600

About 2 months ago, I sat down and started calling local body shops to see about starting my "Daddy's Bus" project. I called about 5 of them, left messages, and waited. A week later no one had returned my call. Then I got a call from Mike Lopez of Twins Auto Body and Paint. He told me to bring my bus in and he'd take a look at it. I drove to his shop in North Denver the next day.

The first 1/2 hour with Mike was somewhat mesmerizing - we talked about the bus, how I got it, what I wanted to do, etc. The whole time, he was running his hands all over it - almost caressing it in a sense. Mike and I had a great conversation and it ended with him saying it was in great shape and he'd love to work on it. I asked him how much - and he gave me a quote of $4800 - $5500. I thought this was just for the body work, and it sounded pretty reasonable. He then proceeded to tell me that this was for the whole ball of wax: body work and paint. I was expecting to spend 5K on body, 5K on paint, and 5 on interior, so this was music to my ears.

At this point, I got bold. "How much for show quality?", I asked. 8-9K was his answer. I was very excited at this point because he was telling me the prices I wanted to hear. The major difference b/w "show quality" and "regular" is that they do everything for show quality - including smoothing/painting the interior and bottom of the rig. Mike had me sold at this point, but I still didn't trust that he might be the guy to help me restore the bus. At that point, he invited me into his shop, where my gaze fell upon a plethora of beautiful VWs: a Carman Gia, 3 Bugs and an old Bus (same year as mine) with a truck bed. All were in various stages of restoration, but it was obvious that Mike knew what he was doing. We discussed getting my bus ready, and our conversation ended with me saying I'd call him when I had it stripped and ready for sandblasting.

It's been hard finding time and motivation to start working on the bus - but I managed to do it today. I started by ripping out the interior, and managed to get most of it done. I still need to drop the engine and remove all the windows - but I think I can do both of those in a couple of days. With any luck, I'll have the bus in Mike's shop by December. Estimated time to complete body work and paint: 6 months to a year. Once he's done with the body work and paint, I expect it'll take me another year to finish the interior, mechanical and electrical. With any luck, I'll have a brand new '66 bus before the New Bus is available.

Here's a bunch of before and after pictures from what I did today.

Before

After Interior Removal

VW Days

Matt Raible — Tue, 10 Aug 2004 20:48:55 -0600

This weekend, we attended the annual VW show out at Bandimere Speedway. I was in heaven with so many nice bugs and buses around.

I was so inspired by the show that I tried to attend the Colorado Bus Club meeting tonight (30 miles south). I made it about 5 miles before the wipers quit working. It wasn't raining, but the road was wet and I definitely needed wipers. So I pulled off the road and tried to figure out what went wrong. It seemed to be something had gone wrong with some sort of voltage changer I had in my dash. It's a square piece of porcelain that acts as a conductor of sorts for 3 different cables (lights and wipers I think). Anyway, it was cracked pretty bad and hot. I could tell it'd been repaired before, as there was melted glue all over it. I tried to fix it, and I did get the wipers working again - but soon noticed a plume of smoke from my dash. At this point, I decided to abandon ship, disconnected the wires and drove back home.

The funny thing is that this is just the day in the life of an old VW owner. Hopefully in the next few years, "Daddie's Bus" will become a new VW and these problems will be a thing of the past. Yeah right.

Pictures from "Bus Rescue" Road Trip

Matt Raible — Wed, 9 Jun 2004 00:16:59 -0600

As I mentioned earlier today, we made it back to Denver in one piece. Click on the pictures below to see a bunch of pictures from the trip. We flew in Thursday night and got a room at the beautiful Catamaran Resort on Mission Bay in San Diego.

On Friday morning, we picked up the bus in Encinitas, which is about 30 miles north of San Diego. The bus started right up and I was able to drive it right onto the freeway. The first couple of things I noticed were (1) the brakes didn't work too well and (2) the top speed was close to the speed limit. We parked at the hotel and walked to breakfast. When we came back, the bus didn't start when I turned the key. The dash lights came on, but nothing happened. Push starting it in reverse fixed the problem. From there, we headed to a parts store, got an oil change, and headed out on the road around 3:00 p.m. The "starter didn't work" problem seemed to be quite random as it worked sometimes and not others. I fixed it this morning by securing some wires that were flopping around.

The first leg of the trip - between San Diego and Las Vegas - was a little brutal. The traffic was ridiculous, it was hotter than hell (approaching 100) and when the speed did pick up - we were the slowpokes in the right lane. We did make it to Vegas after about 8 hours, and stayed at the Stratosphere. We ended up hitting the sack around midnight and woke up promptly at 4:30 to get back on the road. Our biggest concern was the heat - since the bus has an air-cooled engine. In Vegas at 5:30 a.m., it was 80 degrees! Leaving Vegas, on the freeway, we had a very close call. There was a guy behind us that was swerving all over the road. My dad could see (in the rearview) that the guy was falling asleep and appeared to be wasted. We kinda forgot about it, and then all of a sudden, my Dad hammers the gas and shouts out some obscenities. I looked back and the guy was only a few inches from rear-ending us at 60 MPH! After that close call, we quickly pulled over and let him pass. I tried to call the cops, but had bad cell reception and gave up. 2 miles later, we saw a car overturned in the middle of the freeway. It's likely there were deaths because the roof was flattened. It wasn't the guy who almost hit us, but I hate to think that he might've caused the accident. Scary stuff.

As we entered Utah, I suggested we take a back road and head through Zion National Park. From there, the trip got much better. We spent a day and a half tooling through Utah - enjoying its beautiful canyonlands and light traffic. Lastly, we drove through Western Colorado via Montrose and Gunnison and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The lack of traffic and awesome scenery was great. The bus also seemed to really enjoy being off the freeway. Good times, great memories.

1500 Miles, 4 days, 4 quarts of oil used. Pretty damn good for a Volkswagen.

[VW Bus] Could this be the one?

Matt Raible — Sat, 10 Apr 2004 09:34:30 -0600

A 21-window Volkswagen Bus showed up on eBay this morning - and I could "buy it now" for $9,650. If you look at it, you'll think I'm crazy. $9000 for a old beater of a bus - let alone a VW?! The problem is that these things are pretty rare. The 23-windows are even harder to find. The last 23-window on eBay went for $32,000! Granted it was a bit older and a little better shape - but still, that's ridiculous. The difference between this one and previous ones is that you can "buy it now" for under $10,000. Julie is all for it and thinks it'd be a great 30th birthday present (my birthday is in July). Also, it's in San Diego - where her sister lives, so she'd love an excuse to go out there. If I do buy it, it sure would be fun to road trip across the country to bring it home!

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. ;-)

You purchased the item using Buy It Now!

Update 2: On Sunday: it figures, buyer's remorse is starting to flood my brain. The good thing is that it's not because of my purchase. It's because a 1965 21-window showed up on eBay today for much less. It's got 6 more days until the auction ends, and it's at $360 right now. The nice thing about this newest one is that it's already been stripped for restoration. Oh well, I still think I made a good decision yesterday. And as long as Julie does too - I'm golden... ;0)

VW Bugs Rule

Matt Raible — Fri, 15 Nov 2002 17:23:18 -0700

I don't know if any of you are into Volkswagens - but I've been a huge Bug fan for many years now. I got my first VW Beetle in 1991 - a 1969. I rebuilt the engine (1835), repainted it (hot pink) and thoroughly enjoyed it. In college, I killed it by driving it from Salem, OR (remember the 1993 story) to Denver. So I bought a 1968, in very good condition, for $600 and swapped engines. I drove that for a couple years until I was cut off on the way to the airport on Christmas Eve 1997. It was snowing and slippery roads, so I found myself wrapped around a tree and the victim of a cut-off and run. Luckily, a undercover cop saw the whole thing and busted the guy. It was probably a good think I wrecked my old bug, 'cause I met Julie 3 weeks later, and she would've hated that thing! It was a POS with a nice engine, nice stereo and nice wheels. You know they kind of car I'm talking about - I didn't have any primer on it though. I waited a couple years before buying my next bug - a 2000 Turbo Beetle. It's been a great car, fast and fun and for sale. But that's not the reason for this post - just wanted to share some cool VW desktops I found from one of my favorite magazines - VWTrends.

It's amazing how much more fun it was to write this post than all the other ones today.