I do like me a nice roof rack. I have a couple of Yakima bars on my Xb to which I strap all sorts of long things at the building supply store, including moderate amounts of lumber and pipes and such (I save ye olde F-100 for when I really need it). So when I spied this bright yellow platform on top of a Type II, the camera was dutifully employed to share it with one and all. Nice.
The gen-one VW Bus was once crowned the official vehicle of Eugene, but has since been usurped by such pesky upstarts as the Volvo 140s, MBZ W123, Prius and Corolla, all of which are duking it out for the crown (and the W124 is threatening to shoehorn into the finalist camp). But there are still a few of the deposed royalty about, and in front-line duty no less. The day they’re all gone will mark the end of an era.
An old beatnik VW van in Oregon… I can’t imagine what mess there would be on the roof of that thing… That stuff probably been up there since 1967.
Nice roof rack. Looks good on that old bus. I just hope it stays by the curb and doesn’t limp its way out on the road to slow traffic.
Interesting collection of stuff on top — one of the items being a box or whatever you would call it that holds a garden hose reel inside, another one being possibly an amp or a speaker? I hope the owner loads heavier stuff inside first — otherwise going around corners (or through crosswinds) becomes even more adventurous than it usually is in these.
Great, it’s nice to see that not all the VW vans have been snapped up by the lowering crowd at inflated prices.
I love the reactions I get when I’m actually using my ’63 for something practical.
“All those people are riding in there with you?”
Uh, yeah, it’s an 8 passenger, that’s kinda what it’s made for……
Or when I’d be at the lumber place loading sheets of plywood into the back of the ’64 Panel Bus I used to have.
Or when I pulled up to Sears to pick up my grandmother’s new stove.
Still rather useful vehicles.
If it ever gets onto its roof, that rack will be able to hold it up off the ground.
I have a friend who daily drives a 66 VW bus he brought it from England to New Zealand so you could say hes attached to it cool van but seriously underpowered for highway use on hills, the same problem VW faced with their vehicles when those air cooled dungers were new and new they didnt come with all the go fast gee gaws my friends kombi sports.
I stuck a headache rack on my S10 and use it for everything. Landscape timbers and 2X4s covered with fence board. Very functional and I’m sorta proud of how ugly it is. I have been varnishing the wood but I still doubt it will be elected as the favorite car of anywhere. Well my hens might vote for it. I have to check the back for fresh eggs every day.
These old buses are starting to fetch deadly serious money at the high end auctions. So, in reality, this is sort of like having that mid-year Corvette big block as a daily driver back in the mid 1970’s. Nice find and something to consider in that all the old microbuses have not been bought up by the auto speculators.
Looks like a bed frame! But it does look like it could carry loads of stuff on it.