Body work and paint

Things are progressing nicely with the body and paint work. Cant you tell by the pics?  I apologize for not having updated pics, however, I sold my old digital camera, ordered a new one and it's not here yet!  I will be sure to add them soon.  I now have the wheels, bumpers, front emblem, and the top of the bus painted white, I chose a white that was slightly off.  It was from a 2010 Chevy Impala.  It still looked a bit bright to me, so I mixed in a bit of the Pearl white I used for the interior.  This color works great with the interior color, very close.  The paint came out with a few specs of dust, but it's pretty good for having done it in my garage.  Nothing a bit of sanding with very fine paper and a quick buffing wont fix. 
I had the tires flipped on the rims yesterday as well.  I flipped them so the white-walls are showing.  If I am not going to put custom wheels on the bus, at least the stock wheel/cap design will have a bit of extra sparkle I guess.  I will try that for a while and see if I like it.

One thing I did discover is that it's getting difficult to find a tire store around here that has the ability to balance the old VW large-5 bolt pattern wheels.  The adapter is getting scarce.  The wheels did not have wheel weights on them when I got the bus, so maybe it will be OK now.  Apparently the previous owner ran into the same difficulty finding a tire store that could balance them.

Car Show Weekend

Having half of the weekend set aside to work on the bus, I was pretty excited to get started.  Just finishing up my breakfast and sipping a cup of coffee when my phone rings.  It’s my brother-in-law.  Apparently there is a VW show down in SouthHaven, MI this weekend and he was going to head down with his 1982 Mexican Beetle (The tomato red beetle next to my bus on the right.)  “Do you want to come along?”  “Naah, I really should stay here and get something done on the bus.”  Well, 20 minutes later the bus was packed up and heading South to the show.  It was the longest trip I have made with it and apparently I have never really gotten it up to temperature just driving it around town;  I got about 20 miles down the road and it started to spark knock pretty badly.  No problem, pull over and a quick turn of the distributor to retard the timing a pinch and she was running perfectly.  I took the old Blue Star Highway South from Holland to South Haven.  It was a beautiful day for a ride.  The weather was perfect and the old bus ran like a top.  She seemed to be quite content running along at between 55 and 60 mph. Windows down, vents flipped in to blow air on the driver, Nice cold soda in hand (no cup holder yet!) and nothing to do but drive.
The show turned out to be really nice.  This was a charity event put on by the local V Dub club called the Good Volks. 

All proceeds and vote money were going to the Leukemia foundation.  Almost 60 cars showed up, I think 9 were busses.  Great turnout, nice little swap area and a beautiful day.

I am glad I took the time off working on the bus to go.  There will be plenty of time to finish the project.  No hurry.  We need to enjoy this nice summer weather while it’s here.
Driving the bus is always an adventure.  It’s fun to watch people’s reaction to it.  Most people that notice it simply smile, or maybe a wave, however, occasionally someone will react in a more animated fashion.  Peace signs, thumbs up, finger pointing, and always big smiles.  There is something about the bus that makes people smile.  I have noticed that (to date) every person I have taken for a ride in the bus will climb in, sit down, close the door, look around and immediately smile.  It is amazing.  There is something pretty cool about a vehicle that has that affect on people.  It brings a smile to my face just thinking about it!