Tow That POS Straight to the Junkyard!!!

I snapped this picture as Soul Brother #2 and I were driving home this afternoon. All I could think was, "Who would drive that thing?" Look at it—old, rusty, dented and ugly as hell. It's probably more useful parted out. Why bother to tow it anywhere? Just strip it and sell what's left for scrap metal. These people who think they can reincarnate these old hoopties (look it up) really confuse me.

Alright, I'll come clean. That's my Bus being towed home from the mechanic. Remember when I first got it? Not much happened for a year. It stopped running a few months after I got it, which meant it was stuck in a tight garage in a tight alley until I came up with the money for a new engine and carburetor. We pushed it out of that garage yesterday. The picture doesn't show the nice green stripe on one side from where we accidentally ran it up against the door frame for the garage door. Oh well. The body needs so much work that I wasn't fazed at all by the nice little green accent. At least the Bus has a little color now.

Where to go from here? Well, I've stopped obsessing about a surf trip. I'm going to put my money toward getting the body of the Bus in order. Once again, I only have half the money. However, the guy who's going to do the work can't take the Bus yet and said it will take about a month to do the work. That buys me some time to get my Benjamins in order.

The VW Bus is such a surfing cliché. That's not why I bought it. I love old cars. I've wanted one since I was a kid (when I was totally obsessed with the Ford Thunderbird). Now that I've hit middle age as a non-conformist (i.e., someone who's well-educated but unwilling to follow a serious career path or pursue a job that guarantees good money), I realize I may not be able to get and restore the cars I've always wanted. Then this Bus sort of fell into my lap. It was then or never. I bought it without knowing what the hell to do next. Then it sat. Then I quit my full-time job. Can you tell I'm someone who takes leaps of faith on a regular basis? Yes, the Bus is a cliché in some ways. A black middle-aged woman who surfs and drives a VW Bus probably obliterates every stereotype there is about gender, race, surfers and hippies. The next step? Choosing a color for the paint job. (The interior looks terrible and will continue to look that way unless and until I win the lottery.)