All Blog Posts (117)

So I went back to Sherwin Williams Automotive to pick up the color matched paint - this time done by "eye" rather than the computer formula they used last time. He actually used some kind of tractor paint code as the base, (Komatsu or something) which is what he did for the Dakota Beige last time. I guess bus colors are similar to tractor colors. He showed me the dried…

Joyous Diversions…

We are certainly not the first people to discover the joy of VW Bus ownership.  Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the open road in a combi and have experienced the magic.  The earth-shaking rumbling of the engine, the reverberation of its “aerodynamic” body responding to the wind, the excitement of accelerating from 0-60 in 11 minutes… What?  This doesn’t sound like the enchanting encounter alluded to before?

You’re right.  It doesn’t.  But it is.  I promise, it is!  And…

He's a gentle Tibetan Refugee, he salvages cans and such in East Sacramento.  I first met him by presenting him with a bag of cans.  He bowed a lotus hand, in the inimitable Tibetan Bhuddist fashion and said "no english".  He has very little but he offered me a cigarette of his own, likely his only available gift of substance. I politely declined with a lotus bow.   Hsieh hsieh has become our greeting in passing, he's there on Thursday early mornings, rain or shine, mud or blood.  No he…

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Family trip around the north west.

Cheers!

I normally post on my own blog elementhis.blogspot.com. Here is my attempt to try and mirror the posts on this site:

I'm in L.A., I have been here for two weeks both moving my wife into her apartment for her internship, and attending E3. I was planning on being back in the bay area last week, but I was told that the VW Classic was last weekend, so I extended my stay.

The Classic is the "big" event on the west coast, it's been going on for years and the VW…

Some jerk stole my rear view mirror pig ornament, and my buddha statue from my dashboard.  I found that ornament in a box of old stuff in the bus when I purchased it. It was the inspiration for naming her The Pig.   Some people's children. I swear. …

17th Annual VW's on the Green

Summer time officially starts on June 21, but this show was the beginning of my Summer.  There was a little something for everybody at this one.  Here's a little taste of what we saw. 

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So living in California means you need to smog your 74+ vehicle upon purchase and because the Dharma van was a non-op, it was my responsibility. I took it to the nearest smog place in Berkeley directly from picking the van up with the new gas tank (see previous post). It is a gas station and the technician was sleeping in his car when I showed up at 8am on a sat morning, he had a rough night apparently. He got all of his books and special tools and after about 1.5 hours, the van barely…

Hi, as a new member I d like to know if (probably a lot) some of you went to the Grand Canion and from wich entry, road or trail(if I can drive it). If you know the best camping spots in that area, any details or things and places to avoid. Thank s.

  In another mather, I bought my 1992 eurovan last year and the frig was not working at the time. I can ear the motor running but no cold coming out of it. They made that frig only one year, model 1140 working on 12v and 120v only. No…

So I had the van towed to a local VW bus "expert", their rates are about 30% higher than a standard mechanic, I wanted them to replace all the fuel lines as they looked shabby and do a full safety inspection. The whole thing costed me about 3 bills. They got it to run smoothly, tuned and timed it and I was super excited about picking it up. It starter right up but was idling a bit low at first - I figured it was cold. drove 4 block to fill with gas and then drove about 7 miles to the house…

I spent the first couple of years of my life close to Brazil and remember the distinct sounds and smells of the Kombi vans used as school buses and other service vehicles. I have always been around cars, since my dad is a mechanic. Mostly Afla Romeos, Japanese made cars and the such. I currently own a restored 63 Austin Sprite and my daily driver is a 2010 Audi S4 which I adore. So why in the hell would I be interested in adding a VW Camper to the fold? Well, my wife and I have two beautiful…