I was almost too late—but not quite!—to snag a pic of this fab VW Bus and its well-matched driver on a June afternoon in 2018.
That’s a lot of devoted hand-paintwork, that is. The driver saw me gleefully Kodak-momenting, and he deserved every bit of the pride behind his smile. He and his Bus reminded me of Mike and his Bus.
Hang on, though. The driver’s on the right side of the Bus, which is a ’73-up model with big square turn signals above the headlamps, yet has no side markers (saints preserve us!). That’s because this hippie and Bus…
…were in Tokyo! “Oshino Dead 2018” refers to the Oshino Dead Festival, which I gather to be more or less annual. Groovy!
Great photos Daniel. In the late ’70s, VW appeared to make an extra concerted effort in the US to market the VW bus to the same demographic Chrysler later reached with their minivan. These ‘Take the Bus’ ads appeared around 1977 in several magazines, aiming to reach mainstream families, with various selling points for a small bus/van.
Compared to the Chrysler products, these ads were conveying a bus that was not polished effectively to station wagon and car-like consumer tastes, the way the Voyager and Caravan later were.
Groovy! This would fit in with the “Dekotora” trucks common in Japan as well.
VWoA also ran a ‘Take The Bus’ ad campaign in the early 1960’s, they even gave out cute little visored hats, a very few of which still exist .
Just think : all those joyous children bouncing ’round in the back, nary a seat belt used .
How did they ever survive ? .
I don’t know what it is with Dead Heads, Stoners and VW Typ II’s but these wild paint jobs always make me smile .
-Nate
Such a beautiful bus. My small pack of friends and I were Deadheads back in the day, traveling the country to see their every concert. But Tokyo? I had no idea they have a yearly festival there. Time to get the passport renewed.
Keep On Truckin’! Nice to see that this peaceful rusty nail that sticks out cannot be hammered down.
The side windows look odd. I think this might have been a panel bus with these windows cut in
That’s what it is.
Missing the flower power, but it’s nice to see some things never go out of style.
Those later VW vans were the best models, the Aussie built ones had a 1700,1800 or 2.0 suitcase engine and they more than keep up with traffic and will tow more than their own weight,