The VW Bus
Not just for hippies anymore, the VW bus seems to be the epitome of traveling adventure. And they make snazzy little houses, too! Their stubby shape, tell-tale buzzing engine and ability to be customized have given the VW bus a dedicated following. If you are going to live for any length of time in a VW bus, you will most likely be living in a vintage bus that has been refurbished.
The original VW bus, the Plattenwagen, was designed by businessman Ben Pon from the Netherlands in 1947. His idea was considered revolutionary at the time and the design had to be built by Volkswagen on the chassis of the beetle car.
Courtesy of Bumfuzzle.com
Courtesy of Love My Bus
My favorite VW conversion belongs to the Bumfuzzle couple, Pat and Ali Schulte. They have traveled through most of North and South American and part of Europe with their 1958 panel van and have created attention wherever they go. Ali affectionately calls it their little house. This van will soon be going up for sale in the UK, as the couple are going to have their first baby. Keep an eye on their website and you might be able to snap it up.
Courtesy of Chanatrek
Chad and Ana Memmel are also living and traveling the world in their 1977 VW Type 2 bus with a pop-up named Mango. They have a great list on their website of what they modified to make their mobile home more liveable.
Courtesy of Love My Bus
Luke Janes has been living in a 1977 VW bus named Charlie for the last 6 years. He started living in his bus because he wanted to be able to work for the work and play for the play. He came to love so many of the “fringe benefits” that he now prefers it as a lifestyle, and he choses to continue to live in the bus. He gives a few advantages and disadvantages of living in a bus:
- Low impact: No electricity, no heating, no natural gas, small land use, low construction materials next to a home.
- Freedom: No lease, no rent, no mortgage.
- Preparedness: Everywhere he goes, he has everything he needs
- Financial ease: His monthly expenses are low
- Simplicity: No room for excess stuff
- Cleanliness: Everything has its place.
- Health: He goes to the gym most days, and bike most places.
- Beauty: With a little driving he can move his home to the places where people spend millions of dollars to live
- Connection to community: It keeps him spending a lot of time in public spaces — gyms, cafes, parks, restaurants.
- Resourcefulness: He has learned a lot of skills working on the bus
He adds that living in a bus allows him to winnow down the people he associates with. “People put off by this tend to be closed-minded or boring, and people interested in this tend to be open-minded and adventurous. This means that all of my friends and lovers are open minded and interesting! Sweet!”
Luke also lists the disadvantages of living in a bus:
- It can be illegal
- It may be unsafe for women
- It can be stereotyped
- Too hot in the summer, too cold in the winter
- You can’t cook or clean dishes easily or keep things that need cold refrigeration
- You can’t throw good parties
- Getting mail and packages can be problematic
Even with their disadvantages, what is it about these colorful little buses that keep people coming back? Maybe it’s the community of bus lovers. It seems that once you meet another VW bus owner, they become a quick friend…if not family.
This couple spent their honeymoon in a a VW bus
Luxurious Living in the VW Westfalia Camper
Courtesy of Chanatrek
Courtesy of Bumfuzzle.com
Courtesy of Bumfuzzle.com
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14 Responses to “The VW Bus”
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Kent, you are my new hero! I love the bus and I am planning on purchasing one in the future. Can’t say how near that future may be but you can bet i’ll have one eventually!
I’ve loved VW buses since I was a kid, and drove a 1971 Westfalia for about 10 years. However, there are a few things to keep in mind. You should expect to do most of the work yourself. You’ll change the oil, spark plugs, and distributor rotor. You’ll adjust the valves, timing, and carburetor. You’ll pull the engine and change the clutch. Most of the work is easy and you’ll have the John Muir “Idiot’s Guide”; the only car repair manual that is fun to read. If you’re really ambitious, you may even rebuild the engine. You’ll bond with this car in a way that you won’t with any more recent vehicle. While your driving, and even when you’re not, your head will be filled with thoughts of carburation, compression, and ignition.
While this might sound attractive, a lot of us are looking for ways to simplify our lives by getting rid of stuff, rather than complicate them by forming a new (somewhat obsessive) relationship with a piece of vintage technology.
Environmentally, old VWs also pose a problem. While relatively efficient (how many people can say their houses get 24 MPG on the highway?) they produce much more air pollution than modern cars, and constantly drip oil.
That said, I recommend the 1971 bus. This was the only year to have both disk brakes and the older-style VW bug engine. Later engines introduce complications, like dual carburetors, that make them more difficult to maintain. Early buses (1967 and earlier, the classic ones with the split front windows), are quainter and have less plastic stuff in the interior, but have parts that are difficult to find, particularly the reduction gears that bring power to the rear wheels. Make sure that all of the engine tin (the sheet metal that surrounds the engine and makes the engine compartment air-tight) is all there, and get a carbon monoxide detector for the passenger compartment so that the heater doesn’t kill you.
I sold my bus when I got tired of worrying about the clutch, the carburetor, and rust, and when I got tired of having grease under my nails all the time. I miss it, but I’m glad to think that its problems now belong to some other hippie.
Food:
Very hard to garden
Impossible to store more than a bit of food
Rodents can be a problem
VERY cool, I love it!
[...] them. They make great little mobile tiny houses too if you don’t mind roughing it a little. Here’s a great post on the VW Bus. Photo credit [...]
The VW Bus ist one of the best and beautiful cars in the world.
Cool blog.
Nice greetings.
Peter
Found your blog because I am preparing my 1970 Westfalia for a 6 week journey up the California Coast. I have owned my Bus for 5 years and she is with me until the very end. Regards, Robato
Food: Try joining the WWOOF network and can your own food
Refrigeration: 12 volt Engel portable refrigerator
Power: Solar panels can be mounted temporarily when parked
Security: transmission locks, DIY lo-jack
I am currently concluding an initial restoration on a 78′ Camper. My biggest concern is police harassment and profiling.
Another disadvantage not mentioned is having to seek out toilets.
DON’T DO IT!!!!!!!!! Forget it, leave this page immediately, never think of this again. Old VW buses are gloriously cool and fun to drive. They also break all. the. time. Owning one these is a labor of love. You also have to love to labor. AND they can’t keep up w/ traffic on modern highways.
I’ve owned three of them. I loved them all, but every one was hideously unreliable. DON’T DO IT, not as a primary vehicle and especially not as something for long-distance travel. Just for fun, sure, but even then you will always, always have to work on it. If that’s your favorite activity, you’re all set!
Another commenter mentioned the [non-existent] heating system. If you live or drive in a cold climate, FORGET IT. Completely hopeless. I’m not kidding. Defroster? Hahaha! Slush splashed on your windshield will freeze instantly and you will go blind and die.
The only VW bus I would consider buying is one that’s lived its entire life in southern California, NEVER WENT TO THE BEACH, and was maintained by a fanatic with deep pockets. If you buy such a vehicle, don’t ever drive farther than you want to walk. They’re very fragile, designed for gentler times and little countries.
I have no idea where you would even get parts these days. I had to haunt junkyards years ago, and all of those buses have long since been hauled away.
[...] tweets fly by about VW Van’s lately and I absolutely love them. If I ever buy a car again, a VW Van will be my number 1 [...]
Fantastic post – you’ve featured some great buses. As chance would have it I am good friends with Pat and Ali from bumfuzzle – they sure do have a fantastic bus, and a fun life traveling the world.
Thanks for sharing some VW love with the link to my VW buses for sale page as well.
I’ve always loved VW’s! I’ve been befriended by 2 Beetles, a Karmann Ghia, and 2 camper buses. The buses are great for all kinds of uses. I seldom got to camp with mine, but it was great for relaxing lunch hours. There will be another one in my life someday!
i have said for years living in a vw bus would be a dream come true. i envy you!