I am a romantic woman. Living on the road is not for everyone, but if
you have ever wanted to abandon your life and move into a VW bus and
live on the road I say do it. It is an incredible way of life. The
beautiful thing about having a VW camper is that you don't have to stop
at a campsite to camp. With a camper you can simply pull over and park,
put up the privacy curtains and then you are good to go for the night.
If you have traveling companions and you need to pop the top, then you
need to find someplace where you won't be hassled by the police. That
is one of the risks owning a vehicle with a "hippy" connotation. Police
don't like hippies. Nobody does anymore. Poor hippies.
Okay.
You've decided you want to take the plunge and purchase a VW camper.
You have had your head examined and your doctor releases herself from
all responsibility for your decision and you are ready to go. What do
you need to do first? Find a mechanic. Yes. You need to have a mechanic
first especially if you are buying a VW bus that was built before 1990.
After you have a good mechanic, then you need to join AAA. Get the
deluxe package. It's only about $20 more a year and includes unlimited
towing. You will need it. I became great friends with my tow truck
drivers in and around the Seattle area.
There are
three generations of VW buses. The first is considered the only choice
from VW gear heads the type II air cooled engine. The pictures below are
the second generation type II buses from the 1960's. The pop-top and
nickname "Westy" comes from the camper manufacturer that VW collaborated
with to create the ultimate RV. Westfalia created the pop-top design
and interiors. The center pop-top was one of the first designs and then
it went to the angled pop-top. Here is an excellent example of a 1960's
bay window Westfalia pop-top camper.
And here are a few more pictures of the 1960's to 1979 varieties.
These are the first generations of VW Westfalia campers.
Disclaimer:
People, I am not a mechanic. I am a novice. I may make a few mistakes
here and there describing the engines and parts. I am not and never
have been a gear head but I have slept with them. I know that the VW
community is as full with nerds and geeks as intense as the software
world. In fact, many of the software geeks of this world own VW bugs
and buses, so please don't start spamming my email with all my mistakes.
Okay?
The Malibu Stacey Funtime Camper was
not of this generation, rather she was born in 1981. Picking a good bus
is like buying a fine wine. Every year there are grapes does not mean
that is a good year for wine. Same thing goes for buses. In 1980 VW
changed the design and engines of their Westfalia Campers coming up with
a bigger living space and these buses are called Vanagons. The
advantage to the Vanagon is that there is larger living space, roomier
and more creature comforts which is especially important to those of us
over six feet tall. You get a few extra inches in the bed so you can
really spread out...such a nice feature in the woods too. But be warned
if you choose this type. 1980-1982 were the worst years for these
engines. They are still air-cooled but some are oil-cooled with a
little catheter on the side of the bus and oil cooled engines are really
not a good idea, especially if you want to go into the desert. It's
hot in the desert. Oil gets hot and likes to catch on fire. I learned
that from watching Operation Desert Storm. What will happen is that
your engine will over heat crossing some mountain pass and you'll be on
the side of the road for a long time waiting for it to cool down enough
just to put it in neutral to coast down the side of a mountain. Be
warned...only buy this engine if you are prepared to do a lot of work on
it....wait. That is the same warning for all the buses, so forget it!
If you love it, buy it!
This
picture is a 1984 Vanagon. Very sexy, if you ask me. Malibu Stacey
was sky blue, not this Tiffany blue, but very sexy just the same.
Ooooohhh lalalala! This is the second generation and the birth of the
Vanagon. These campers were made until the early 1990's and then they
kept a similar design but put in a different engine like the Sciricco
engine. The thought was that it could be faster than the Vanagon but I
heard a lot of grumbling from the VW gear heads about this engine too,
so I don't really know if it was a winner. I will say the interior
designs of the Vanagon are my favorite. I've owned two buses: Stanley
the Manly Westfalia was born in 1976 and he was sweet pickle green with a
new engine but I let my 21 year old gear head put the engine in instead
of using my awesome mechanic and it was never a good vehicle.
Malibu
Stacey was a stubborn bus and fickle too. So when she wanted to stay
in one place for a couple of days, she just wouldn't start-up. That's
part of the fun too. That would mean that she wanted to stay wherever
we were and there was more exploring for me to do. Once it meant
sitting by a fire pit for two days in the back woods of Idaho writing
poetry next to a stream. You do what god tells you to do when in a
camper.
Below is the Eurovan...considererd a
piece of shit from all true VW affeciandos. Oh sure it's great if you
want to go over 55 MPH or have AC and be able to travel on a schedule.
If you want to have some kind of dependiblity, I guess this would be a
good choice, but be prepared to shell out about $25/K...even for this
one below! Look at its dents and it doesn't even have a kitchen!
Let's review what you've done so far:
- You have a mechanic
- You have an awesome towing package from AAA
- You have had your head examined
- You
have unlimited resources...oh didn't I mention that this was going to
waste all your savings? Well it will so you better have a lot of cash
stashed because this thing bleeds money not to mention the lousy gas
mileage and unexpected mechanic bills while on the road...just be
warned. You need a ton of cash.
- You picked the van of your
dreams and are in love. You should definitely make this an emotional
choice and not a practical one since love will get the bus going when
you are out at some rave in old growth forests and you are done praying.
Love will be all you need.
- You have a storage unit filled with
back-up parts. I didn't mention that either? Well, time to get
familiar with the temperature sensing unit that tells the thermometer
what the engine temperature is because when you blow through one of
those, trying to find one in Bumfuck Montana is a true test in patience.
Especially when the mechanics won't believe you that you have an extra
one ready to install.
Now it is time for the naming
ceremony. All buses need a name. If you don't believe it, then you are
not listening to your camper. It will tell you what his name is or her
name. They are gender specific and respond to having their name
called. Building a psychic personal relationship with your camper is
half the fun. It gives you someone to talk to while you are on the side
of the road.
Oh, I also recommend buying a lot of old
panties or just saving those from your old girlfriends. I've recently
discovered that many men have drawers of old girlfriends panties. If
you happen upon a boyfriends drawer, clean it out and put it in the
camper. I use the old panties to check the oil on the side of the road.
It is a sure way to get a stranger to stop and help you. It works
too! State troopers are much nicer if you are using old panties to keep
your hands clean when you are reattaching the fuel-injection lines that
popped off while flying down the mountain in neutral.
Here are a few things that you do not have to do if you decide to own a VW Bus:
- You
do not have to listen to the Grateful Dead. I've never been a dead
head and really hated that people expected me to only have on that
boring, monotonous music. It is totally uninspiring in my book so feel
strong people. Walk away from the Jerry Garcia. It is okay!
- You
do not have to pick up hitchhikers. Unfortunately, all hitchhikers
will expect you to stop for them, but you are not required to by law.
Luckily, fewer and fewer people are hitchhiking because of crime so the
obligation is less than it used to be. However, if you are traveling
between towns in the backwoods of Colorado like between Gunnison and
Crested Butte, there is only one place the stoner skiers are going and
if you are inclined to pick-up a hitchhiker there, you'll be pretty
safe.
- You do not have to smoke pot to have a camper. Remember
that everyone will assume that you are a pot smoker if you have a bus
and will expect you to be holding out on some bud. Don't fall for the
pressure kids. Drugs are bad, m'kay?
- You can have a job and own a bus. It is just rare to find the two combinations together.
Thank
you for reading. I must say it has helped me through my wilderness
urge. I don't have enough money today...but boy, she was a lot of fun.
So much love,
All the way from over here,
Linda
