As Promised

Jarrad and I spent one more afternoon shooting pics of the bus.   This time we went to a local airport after Jarrad got permission from a VW enthusiast executive there to shoot some photos out by the planes.   Nah, these weren't planes, these were more like jets from The Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.   We were cracking up....here we were, 2 amateurs, snapping pictures like crazy with jets worth millions next to his bus.   It was a hoot!  We were very careful and respectful and had an escort at all times.   (He was snapping pics with his cell phone and doing video with it, too!)

And then we heard a roar as a Coast Guard plane rolled up to it's hangar.   The Coastie's jumped out and began washing the plane.   How cool was that to be able to watch them at work?

Planes were taking off on the runway directly behind the bus.   And then we found out why all the guys in dark suits with earbuds in their ears and stern expressions had been all over the lobby of the building where we parked.  

See the jet behind the VW's front windows?   We weren't allowed to show the numbers on the tail so I obscurred them behind the VW.    It was Governor Scott of Florida leaving to go back to Tallahassee!    If I had known at the time we could have smiled and waved....giggle....wonder if he was looking at Jarrad's pride and joy?

Oh, yes, the specialty license plates and the Department of Homeland Security sticker on the big black car parked next to mine should have been the tipoff.   Duh!

And I thought you should see the guy who masterminded it all, Jarrad himself.   Hope you enjoyed seeing the results of two and a half years of his hard work.    He has estimated that he put over 1400 hours into the restoration........ha!     It has to be more than that.   Many is the day that I spoke to him and he said he had been up until 3 or 4am working in his one car garage.   Yes, I said one car garage.  He did all of this in an itty bitty garage he shares with his wife's washer and dryer.   He even hung huge sheets of heavy duty plastic at one point and taped them together to create a giant spray booth!   I'm not kidding.  

I guess it's true, where there's a will, there's a way.    And Jarrad found a way to make it all happen.   He sends out many thanks to his patient wife, Dawn, who put up with hearing all the details about this bus from start to finish.   She's been so encouraging and supportive of Jarrad's "little project". 

Here's the link I promised you in the last post. 
 http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1554268 

There are pics there as well as two you-tube videos to view where he describes the details all you guys were looking for regarding the engine and the types of components that went into the bus.   Hope you've enjoyed reading about the saga of the bus.

On to other things,
Debbie

Wanna See More Bus?

So I just have a few more shots of the bus to share with you.    Actually I have almost 200, but I edited the list down to something a little more manageable.  Here goes.......

I had to include a close up of the pinstripe detailing above the headlights on the front of the bus.

And I love the angle of this shot of the passenger side, the shiny chrome, the red pinstripe, the awesome black against cream says it all.

So.  Very.  Shiny.

Ok, this is just over the top for me.........Jarrad installed LED lights in the chrome strip above the front bumper.   Very cool.

More shine...........easy to look at ............hours of work to get it that way.

One last shot of the hula girl, the mascot that makes everyone smile.   Wish I had counted the number of people who passed us, honked their horns and waved as they admired Jarrad's workmanship.   What an accomplishment!    Makes a mama proud, can you tell?   And I'm so excited for him!   He won Best of Show in a car competition last month in Pass-A-Grille Beach.    The big show is coming up in two weeks in Pasco County.   Why don't you come on up and join us there?

It still amazes me that he took the bus from this........

To this..........

Un.  Believably.   Gorgeous.
Jarrad, I think this is your crowning achievement.    Good job, buddy, good job.
Love 'ya,
Mom

VW Bus Finale

It was two and a half years ago that our oldest son dragged, er, ummmm, invited a friend of his to join him on an adventure and they drove a couple of hours north of here to go look at a beat up old VW bus.   Somewhere, miles off the interstate, back where the country road became a dirt road, and then the dirt road just virtually disappeared......there was "a guy with a bus".   Jarrad and his buddy had a few trepidations about hanging out too long so far off the beaten path, but Jarrad was determined to bring this bus home with him.   And so, they managed to get it up onto the flatbed trailer and began hauling it back home.

THAT began the odyssey of "The Bus".  This is what it looked like in the early stages of restoration.

Yea, there's some rust, some mechanical issues and a really rough looking interior.

 

I can just read Joel's mind as he was looking at the engine,"Are you kidding me???   This is too much work."

And I don't think Jeremy had caught on to Jarrad's enthusiasm just yet, either.  

Remember what I told you about our family motto in an earlier post?    "How hard can it be?"   Once again, met with fits of giggles.

 "You're gonna love it mom.  Just wait till it's done!"

Oh, my!   That is one sad looking door.

 Do you remember this post from a few years ago???   Jarrad came to our house and asked if I could reupholster his car seats.  Whaaaat?   I've never done that before.  But we did it.   We used faux ostrich leather for the center strip and suede fabric for the outer sides of the seats and seat backs.

I cut and sewed and Jarrad used his muscle to put the seat covers back onto the skeleton seats.

 Just a few more anchors and the back seat will be finished as well.  

Ah, not bad, even if I do say so myself!   And, it was a fun project to do together.
Well, this is how the bus looks today.....are you ready?   Drum roll, please!

Can you believe it?   Pretty amazing, isn't it?  And Jarrad did all the body work, engine refitting, brakes, exhaust and interior himself.   What an accomplishment!   Jeremy helped him with some welding, too.......I couldn't tell you what they welded(I know one of the things had to do with bumpers).   It has a kick butt sound system, and roars like a muscle car from the 60's as we're tearing down the highway.   Yes, I was holding on at one point!   But it was fuuuuuuuuun!

 Yesterday Jarrad picked me up and we drove to an airport hoping to take some shots inside a hangar.   When that didn't pan out, we opted for some industrial looking shots instead.   What a great time we had together.

She's as pretty from the back as she is from the front, wouldn't you say?

Check out the pretty red pinstripe detailing.   Those are some cool wheels, too.

The proud owner in all his glory....having a blast, waving to admirers, while the hula girl mascot looks on.   Too.  Much.   Fun.

So then we headed out to Sand Key Park to get some shots before sunset.   Look at how her paint job just glows.   I love the cream/black combo set off by the red pinstripe.    And I can't begin to tell you how many hours Jarrad spent to get all that chrome to shine like it does.

This is crazy........Jarrad used his router and created the VW logo on the wood floor he installed.   That knocked my socks off.   He even installed wood paneling on the sides and roof of the interior.   Really gorgeous wood working, buddy!

For all you guys out there I wish I could tell you more about what is under the hood, but I don't have a clue.  Jarrad is uploading a video we shot yesterday and in it he describes what he did mechanically and I'll include a link to the video as soon as he sends it to me.

I know that one of the things he did was to fashion this scoop on the rear quarter panel to assist with air cooling the engine.   Very slick, indeed.

 Front seats and wood door inserts and armrests.

And of course he used his lathe to hand turn the gear shift knob from an exotic wood....just because he could!

And to make the bus more functional he created a center console that also holds drink cups.

How do you like that ceiling?    It's not easy doing curves like that, you know?

And of course he built in a cooler which you can drain outside without lifting the cooler out of the van.   He thought of everything.

The back seat we reupholstered looks pretty good now that everything around it is completely redone.  Check out those speakers below the seat.

Alrighty,  this post is getting a bit lengthy, so I think I'll end it here and continue the grand tour in the next post.

Bye for now,
Deb

Eggs, Socks and Musings

Oh, how I wish I had thought to take a picture of the pretty eggs Barb gave us on our last trip to her house.   Her "girls" lay the neatest colored eggs...and Barb shared a couple dozen with us.  She has even made her own label for egg carton containers.   Cute, huh?

 I don't know what's going on, but I can't seem to stop knitting socks these days.   They're a great project to carry with you when sitting at the DMV, waiting at the dentist's office, or sitting and watching tv with your mate.

And the yarns that are available now..........oh, don't get me started.   I keep buying yarn wherever I go because the saturated colors are so scrumptious!   I just can't seem to resist them.  I've been knitting so much that I finally broke down and made a small bag, just to hold sock knitting projects.  This bag is perfect for holding my pattern, the double pointed needles and a ball of yarn.  Ha!   Now I have "socks on the go"!

In my stash was some Kaffe Fassett fabric, well, actually, there is a lot of Kaffe fabric in my stash....but, I digress.   I just love his bold use of color and picked this piece of fabric to use as the backing and put clear vinyl on the front so I could always see which project I was working on. 

I added my label to the front.....

 .....and my favorite snaps on a tab for a simple closure.   When closed, the tab doubles as a handle for carrying the bag.

And when we take long trips, the little bag fits neatly inside the bigger matching bag, which holds sweaters that I'm knitting.    I'll post more pics of this huge knitting bag and another one for hand embroidery on my other blog www.pinkfloridathreads.blogspot.com in a couple days.   Look for it there.

Back to the studio,
Debbie

Happy Monday!

Here's my version of Florida Fall:

Wishin' for cooler temps,
Debbie