Everytime a repair problem comes up on my bus I start hearing from my boss "I pay you enough to buy a new **car** , this is just crazy." Then I get on the defensive and start telling of all the NEW **CARS** dead on the side of the road each day on my 70 mile round trip to work. I have finally stopped defending the bus .. I just give him a look that says "there is not a single car or truck or even TOTALLY RESTORED bus that I would trade for mine." and that is the truth.
I ended up taking spray cans and painting the bus purple. Looks like tie-dye .. not what I was actually going for but what the hell ... then started outlines of flowers and hearts and peace signs etc ... My grandkids have been kept amused for a few years coloring in the flowers and peace signs .. then I added some dragon flies and butterflies and made a few smiley faces from the peace signs that went bad .. I keep an assortment of different colored paint markers in a box on the front seat of the bus and when I show up at the grandkids house, they paint .. they are so proud of and I LOVE their work. My granddaughter has signed her masterpieces in a few places .. my grandson was a SLOW TALKER .. when he finally started to talk, after mommy and daddy his FIRST WORD WAS "BUS."
My dash is painted about a half dozen colors, different shapes etc .. and glued to the dash is a 1970's David Crosby look-alike head bobber .. he is wearing blue jeans and moccosins .. He bobs his head to the 70's music that plays on the stereo .. Mostly Zeppelin and Janis Joplin, but he doesn't care. IT IS GREAT MUSIC ..
Met someone at a 7-eleven one day who owned a paint and body shop near where I work. She offered to paint the bus .. a professional paint job, finish a few rusty places along the rain guard .. for $500 they will do the entire job .. ANY COLOR I LIKE .. So I said "ok." and then at the last minute I couldn't do it. She is BEAUTIFUL just the way she is .. My Pretty Splitty .. At least once I week when I am on my MISERABLE I-4 hour drive to work or home, I catch someone hanging out the window taking a picture. Every time I stop at a convience store or a red light I get smiles .. from people that otherwise wouldn't smile. I can see them flash back to a WONDERFUL TIME in history ..
RAMBLE RAMBLE ... my boss still tells me that I need airconditioning if I am going to continue to drive that "thing." OH YEAH .. then I can move at the lightning speed of about 40 MPH on the highway .. I planned on installing a dash fan like the one I had on my 71 bus but I don't know if David Crosby will be in the way .. If one of the two, David or the fan, has to go .. then I will forget the fan .. besides, I have the vent windows .. and if they weren't rusted shut .. they would do a GREAT JOB of cooling the bus in the summer. And they would keep the bus a few degrees warmer in the winter if the rubber wasn't rotten.