Post by Volktales on Oct 18, 2014 11:41:32 GMT -8
Well here we go again... Don in his current quest to own every solid late bay window bus in existence, has done it again! Thanks to Craigslist Seattle and help from his friend Steve who lives there, Don has bagged another nice bus. How about a 1979 Westfalia in Taiga Green (my favourite bus colour). This was definitely worth the overnight trip to Seattle and unlike the last adventure (The infamous SAAB!), everything went smoothly. The trip down on Sunday afternoon was uneventful, except when stopping for fuel. The Foxy Lady Latte hut was next to the gas station and was staffed by two "Foxy Ladies" who served piping hot caffeinated drinks while wearing bikinis and heels! Haven't seen that up here in Canada...
Don said the latte was good...
Also along interstate 5 was something that made me feel like a bathroom break...
A field of porta potties as far as the eye could see....
While cruising down the freeway the only air cooled VW seen was a 1970-ish orange Karmann Ghia. There was no shortage of Vanagons on the road however... The Nissan GTR was pretty cool.... Once in Seattle proper we spotted a nice '58 to '61 Beetle finished in black with dark red side panels cruising the streets. Couldn't grab a picture of either of these however...
Upon arrival at Don's friend Steves place, the first thing I saw was Steve's '72 Panel Bus. A little beat up but there was more to it then it seemed...
Check out the other side of the Bus...
Yes that there is a genuine double door panel. That is not something you see everyday...
More to come...
And now we get to the main event. Don and I stayed at Steve's very cool 1920's era brick house on a quiet street overlooking Lake Washington. Steve's wife Bonnie and their daughter Dash were fun to hang out with and we had a good time BS-ing. Later I ate so much Pizza from a shop just down the road I could barely walk back... And here it is, what we came down for..
I am not a fan of the stripes on the side, but that there is 100% original paint and this bus has never seen any accident damage!!! The bus is extremely solid with only a few minor repairs needed in the battery area as usual. Although I forgot to include an interior shot, the inside is as nice as the outside requiring only minor repairs. All the camping equipment from its long life was still inside with a few spare parts too! Don will have to do some brake work as it has been sitting awhile, but the test drive showed a nice running engine and smooth transmission too. This bus has spent years with one family who obviously looked after it well...
Time to load it up...
Not sure, but Don seems happy with his latest vintage VW!
"Dammit, who swiped my VW symbol?!!!" Actually it was inside but was an earlier large version. I am sure Mr. Bus can find one....
Steve's dogs didn't really care about VW's, but they were fun to play with anyway...
Now we bid Steve's family goodbye and thanked them for putting up with us. Now time to hit the road and figure how to get back onto Interstate 5 in a Northern direction.. Spotted this on the way out of Seattle...
They don't fool around in the US, do they???
More to come...
The next stop on the way back was to check one of the MANY big box stores found along Interstate 5.
It might look like it but we didn't actually stop at Denny's... It was actually a place called the Hobby Lobby, and I wanted to stop there as I heard about it on The Samba. First impressions were not good as it looked like a bigger version of the Michael's store in Nanaimo. We decided to investigate deeper and I am glad we did...
It turns out the store had ALOT of these type of signs, most of them lightly "distressed" or the dreaded P word!
They had many licensed Volkswagen items too. These are the ones that I couldn't say no too. Don couldn't say no either although I may have persuaded him a little bit... See if you can guess which sign is for my kid....
Don insisted I take the next photo....
I admit this Toyota was cool but it was kinda hard to take the picture as Don passed him doing Mach 8... This was one of the coolest vehicles spotted on the trip...
And then came the dreaded border crossing... After the inquisition of the SAAB trip, we expected the worst... Everyone seemed happy on this sunny day and everything went too smoothly and we were out of there in a very short time! Even made the afternoon ferry too!
And there it is. At the ferry terminal after a successful journey. The FJ pulled the trailer well and we had really no issues whatsoever... Now I wonder what Don has planned next.....
Don said the latte was good...
Also along interstate 5 was something that made me feel like a bathroom break...
A field of porta potties as far as the eye could see....
While cruising down the freeway the only air cooled VW seen was a 1970-ish orange Karmann Ghia. There was no shortage of Vanagons on the road however... The Nissan GTR was pretty cool.... Once in Seattle proper we spotted a nice '58 to '61 Beetle finished in black with dark red side panels cruising the streets. Couldn't grab a picture of either of these however...
Upon arrival at Don's friend Steves place, the first thing I saw was Steve's '72 Panel Bus. A little beat up but there was more to it then it seemed...
Check out the other side of the Bus...
Yes that there is a genuine double door panel. That is not something you see everyday...
More to come...
And now we get to the main event. Don and I stayed at Steve's very cool 1920's era brick house on a quiet street overlooking Lake Washington. Steve's wife Bonnie and their daughter Dash were fun to hang out with and we had a good time BS-ing. Later I ate so much Pizza from a shop just down the road I could barely walk back... And here it is, what we came down for..
I am not a fan of the stripes on the side, but that there is 100% original paint and this bus has never seen any accident damage!!! The bus is extremely solid with only a few minor repairs needed in the battery area as usual. Although I forgot to include an interior shot, the inside is as nice as the outside requiring only minor repairs. All the camping equipment from its long life was still inside with a few spare parts too! Don will have to do some brake work as it has been sitting awhile, but the test drive showed a nice running engine and smooth transmission too. This bus has spent years with one family who obviously looked after it well...
Time to load it up...
Not sure, but Don seems happy with his latest vintage VW!
"Dammit, who swiped my VW symbol?!!!" Actually it was inside but was an earlier large version. I am sure Mr. Bus can find one....
Steve's dogs didn't really care about VW's, but they were fun to play with anyway...
Now we bid Steve's family goodbye and thanked them for putting up with us. Now time to hit the road and figure how to get back onto Interstate 5 in a Northern direction.. Spotted this on the way out of Seattle...
They don't fool around in the US, do they???
More to come...
The next stop on the way back was to check one of the MANY big box stores found along Interstate 5.
It might look like it but we didn't actually stop at Denny's... It was actually a place called the Hobby Lobby, and I wanted to stop there as I heard about it on The Samba. First impressions were not good as it looked like a bigger version of the Michael's store in Nanaimo. We decided to investigate deeper and I am glad we did...
It turns out the store had ALOT of these type of signs, most of them lightly "distressed" or the dreaded P word!
They had many licensed Volkswagen items too. These are the ones that I couldn't say no too. Don couldn't say no either although I may have persuaded him a little bit... See if you can guess which sign is for my kid....
Don insisted I take the next photo....
I admit this Toyota was cool but it was kinda hard to take the picture as Don passed him doing Mach 8... This was one of the coolest vehicles spotted on the trip...
And then came the dreaded border crossing... After the inquisition of the SAAB trip, we expected the worst... Everyone seemed happy on this sunny day and everything went too smoothly and we were out of there in a very short time! Even made the afternoon ferry too!
And there it is. At the ferry terminal after a successful journey. The FJ pulled the trailer well and we had really no issues whatsoever... Now I wonder what Don has planned next.....