Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/01/04/friends-find-abandoned-1955-vw.html
…
Bonus points if they were camping in a VW Bus Tent.
The editing made it look like they drove off with that large fire still burning.
Is product placement the future of TV production?
It is a nice video and everything but it is rotten with it.
It didn’t just start? Disappointed!
Yeah, I noticed that straightaway.
That, and the van is almost unrestorable. They have a cool story and a box of rust.
What a robust vehicle. It drives up a mountain, rots in a forest for 40 years, and then with a few repairs is able to drive back down again.
The Johnny Cash was a nice touch.
So early on he stuffs a jack under the van to put some “good wheels” on it (for what he planned was going to be a tow…) and I was SHOCKED the jack didn’t go straight through the van with the sheer amount of rust on that thing.
I was further shocked it held together structurally for that drive. I assumed it was going to just sort of disintegrate at some point.
Life is a journey, not a destination. The point wasn’t to have a perfectly fine van at the end of it all…the point was working together. As far as I’m concerned, this is a Wonderful Thing.
Along similar lines… Vintage airplane restorator finds World War 2 B-29 in Greenland in the middle of nowhere and restores it onsite. (Look up the “Kee Bird” for details). All supplies were flown to the site in a DHC-4 Caribou, a huge airplane that can land on rough terrain, but not without risk…
There’s a great many people out there that like to rescue old iron of all kinds and I’ve seen some that were very worthy and well within the reach of almost anyone’s budget. All it takes is sweat equity and tools and a mindset to actually do it.
The new hot thing in custom cars is to take the crusty, dilapidated old moldy barn car and rebuild modern running gear and interior, but leave the “patina” of the time-wrecked paint job untouched. Custom company out in California named ICON does this for a living. Prepare to be shocked about the price though…they ask +100k for something that although it looks dilapidated, it very much isn’t that at all. And it will run rings around your SUV, no matter which one you drive…
check this one out named “Derelict” Prepare to drool.
That van is sure to play an important role in one of the later episodes when Hurley shows up just in time to save Sawyer and Juliet from the Others.
Neat. But I swear, De Sotos were the ugliest cars ever designed. IMHO.
I would have had some fun with this. Put on a long fake white beard, and at the first gas station stumble into the attendant, clutch the front of their shirt and gasp “that was the worst shortcut I ever took!”
OK, so which VW type 2 is cooler, the panel van, the pickup, or the 23-window Samba?
You’d be surprised what people can restore.
There is a huge “split-kombi” scene in Europe and most panels are available as aftermarket parts.
Plus these vans bring huuuuuuuuge money, some of them sell for more that $100k no problem.
Beat me to it, @Brainspore!
But did they use a doll’s head as an oil cap and stroller for a front seat?
Zoinks!