Friday, August 14, 2009

Introducing Jasmine.

On Tuesday one of my co-workers sent me a link to an 11 window '65 splitty. It looked to be in solid shape and was decently priced and I sent the link to Craig.

We went to look at the bus--just for fun. We told the seller that we are bus people and he asked whether we had anything for a partial trade. Without having really discussed this previously, I said "well, that one I guess" pointing to Bluebell. You can use your powers of deduction on the rest of the story. It is a bit foggy, but somehow this beauty ended up in our garage. (I'm still kind of laughing about this as it was so unanticipated.)




I'm still not totally clear on the history--I've got the M-code partially decoded, but I've never done a splitty M-code before so I'm having some trouble. As she sits, she has a Z-bed in the back with no middle seat, and a jump seat--very beautifully constructed by the previous owner. Personally, my favorite features are: first--she is charming to drive, second--the headliner--it is original and only has a few holes, and third--the floor. I have a freakish obsession with linoleum. When we went to look at Jasmine, there was a rubber mat on the floor, but I could see linoleum peeking through which I found to be terribly exciting. B-e-a-utiful.

The bad news--I think Craig and I may have to do rock-paper-scissors every morning to see who gets to drive Jasmine.

Craig went camping tonight and his request was that I relax while he was gone. Naturally, when he said "relax" I heard "work on BB". I thought I would take on the tedious task of installing the interior panels. There are a LOT of screws. This was my reaction when I found the bag of screws tonight.
As it turned out the screws are not the right size, which is royally frustrating. I ended up cleaning the garage instead in preparation for "garage night" this coming Saturday. Some folks from the local VW club are going to help us install BB's windows. I'm hoping the result will be that the seals will look more like seals and less like snakes on our living room floor.

7 comments:

James and Tessie Page said...

I hate to miss the garage night. You guys will have a blast. I was looking forward to meeting Jasmine for the second time and seeing the freshly painted buses at your house. Have fun!

Minnie said...

We are bummed that you can't make it--have fun on your trip though!

Big Blue's Driver said...

Wow, you guys go through a good number of VWs - but this new one looks awesome. Good find!

Big Blue's Driver said...

Exactly how many VWs do you have?

Minnie said...

Good question. Today, 3. There's a guy who is driving up from your area (somewhere in Sonoma County) tomorrow and is planning to buy Copper (I'm so not happy about this.) So, if he buys Copper, then 2.

Craig and I have owned 9, I drove 4before he and I got together and my parents raised me in 3 others.

I don't know whether this makes us VW enthusiasts or VW whores. I rationalize that we're kind of a humanitarian organization--we donate half of our income (I hope that's an exaggeration) to further the cause of keeping old VWs alive.

There's the long answer to a short (and possibly rhetorical) question.

Big Blue's Driver said...

Copper is the Vanagon? You guys are (as of today) a Eurovan away from "bases loaded"...

When you get some time, post some of the old ones. Would be cool to see.

I may be becoming a over-commenter here. I apologize in advance...

Minnie said...

Yeah, Copper is the Vanagon.

I'll see if I can round up pictures of all the VWs and do a historic tour.

Please, keep the comments coming!