The bullet bus (aka: while taking on the improbable, meeting people and finding out that fellow VW fans donate parts)

This 21 Window Deluxe was abandoned and partially stripped in the Nevada desert and then promptly used as target practice for passersbys. After being rescued from the desert, a massive donation project started as bus owners from across the country donated parts and services to get this bus driving again. (that is so awesome! I believe the praise must go to the Samba.com, great VW website)

the only things left on this thing were:
1)beltline trim
2)front bumper
3)oh shit handle
4)battery strap
5)parking brake handle (bent 90 degrees to floor)
6)brake pedal
7)clutch pedal
8)throttle pedal (found in the pile of dirt and broken glass on cargo floor)
9)headlight switch (also on cargo floor)
10)4.5 pop-out frames
11)the driver's seat bottom

learned about this on http://thegreasylens.tumblr.com/post/2837493790/whats-that-youve-never-heard-of-the-bullet-bus

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=227232&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=240 for the full thread of 20 pages dedicated to this project

If you suddenly feel like looking at a great gallery of VW busses: http://www.oldcarspirit.cz/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=10

For the other most amazingly beyond salvage kombis I've posted about that people have went crazy for:
http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/12/1957-deluxe-vw-23-window-bus-pulled.html
http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/08/not-too-far-gone-to-save-because-in.html
http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/12/what-happened-to-bury-this-1950-vw-213.html

CGI hot rod school bus but not real, not yet

Found on http://www.sportschrono.com/
from http://www.drive2.ru/users/benderlog/blog/288230376151750948/#post

For a photo of a real one from John, the http://oleragtop.blogspot.com/ see it at https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVmjwXxoScyq6OWX1MWrMCmrW18YmjDKuXpHghp8PWJPkZXgksq5-X02s1uB6s9B6CSmJhiXDjn8tVVO37FSI1BDwOm_gRlEf8bjOlEqkcvz6YZp-LGipboQk7dH4NXz1lD-oXzViUbff7/s1600/tumblr_kycm7vpiiL1qakmcfo1_1280.jpg

from an expansive early Pierce Arrow photo gallery at Dieselpunks

see the rest at http://www.dieselpunks.org/photo/albums/piercearrows-part-ii

2 Kool for Skool Ford F600 bus at the Vista Frosty Burger run... first car show of the year

Old tour bus, 1908

from http://www.shorpy.com/

old busses

Above, 1938 photo of a White bus

Above and below, a 1929 Kenworth

from http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=428585&page=920

Unusual bus designs

Say hello to my 6 thousand and 5 hundredth post! The above is most interesting design, imagine seeing the bottom section turn, independant of the bus

from http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=428585&page=477

Cars make great fertilizer, who says you can't love jalopies and be a tree hugger? Your jalopy is a tree hugger! Here's picture proof

My cool meter pegged when I saw this old late 20's early 30's bus.

A dodge

from http://66.154.44.164/forum/showthread.php?t=330573&page=66

Caradisiac... lots of interesting trucks to find there

This looks like something from the 1910's or 20's that had a crane mounted on the back decades after the truck was made

WW2 military Dodge Power Wagon that was made into a fire company auxillary vehicle

From Caradisiac http://www.forum-auto.com/automobiles-mythiques-exception/section5/sujet225087-3780.htm

What happened to bury this 1950 VW 213 van will always be a mystery, but someone with a shovel and determination is restoring it!

I think the word BURIED describes it accurately

full gallery and story : http://www.ssvc.org.uk/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=35155 thanks to Chris who read all the 61 pages of thread, and summarized the story for us

how the bus got buried:

In a nutshell, a guy had his kid bury it in the late ’50s or early ’60s so they could have a hunting shack in the woods. The guy who found it also found the ‘kid’ who buried it, only now the kid is an old man. The restorer is English but on a run through northern Europe ( Sweden ?) he stopped by and showed the bus off to the guy who buried it. It was good timing, too; the guy who buried it died recently.

The current owner also took it to the site where the lumber mill stood that owned it first. He then took it to Kempes. The current owners didn’t know anything about the bus but they were pretty thrilled that the current owner came by with it to tell the story. The employees gave him some older (but not period) Kempes coveralls and goodies.

and also from the link that I had yesterday from Gary: http://retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=print&thread=67766

1957 Deluxe VW 23 window bus pulled from a lake in Norway after 36 years submerged... Is it this hard for people to find a VW Deluxe bus?

And here is a photo from before it went into the water in 1973 because the transmission broke, it was the fastest easiest way to get rid of the bus.

Thanks to Gary for the link to the story!

http://retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=print&thread=67766 for more photos of how bad it looked when it came out of the water and the full story with details