Lesley & Blue Bus

Model:

1971 Bus

Name:

It doesn’t have a name—that’s sort of sad.

Color:

It’s a custom blue—a tweaked color from one of the original VW colors.

Mileage:

It says 56,000 and has probably turned over.

Motors:

It’s on its third engine with us. We bought it with one, put another in it, and then changed it to a bigger engine.

Owned since:

2012

Owners:

Unknown

Location:

California

Favorite driving song:

“Here Comes the Sun” by the Beatles.

Although I don’t have a great memory, I have a lot of photographs that evoke memories for me from when I was little. I have a video of my dad driving across the country when we moved. My mom and I flew. These videos of my dad are so sweet because he’s in our white Bus—he’s going through Arizona or New Mexico or something. It’s a beautiful landscape. And he pulls over and sets up his video camera, which was a Super 8 or something. He’s got his arms open, and he’s spinning and jumping with the Bus behind him. He’s so happy. He looks like he’s on the greatest adventure of his life. That video is tied to my image of my dad because he made it, a selfie video of driving across the country. He was really goofy. He was such a good guy. With fond memories of my parents’ Bus, I always wanted one.

I love the steering wheel. It’s from the UK. I love the roof rack. I love the sunroof—it’s so good when it’s open. I love the triple benches. I love the color.

When I met Curtis, my husband, he had a split-window Bus that didn’t run. We never fixed that up, and sadly, we sold it for $800. We won’t talk about that. Then we had a red camper Bus. It was really Curtis’s. It’s quite masculine with its pop-up and red interior. I really wanted one with a big sunroof, and I wanted the triple benches, couldn’t get it out of my system. So I kept asking Curtis, “Oh, should we get another Bus?” He is great at looking and looking and looking. Finally, he found this one.

It was gray or beige when we got it. It didn’t look like this at all. It was pretty trashed, to be honest, but it had the right bones. I remember Curtis drove it home, and I was really sad because he started stripping it before I even got to drive it. It took him a long time to do the whole thing because he stripped the whole Bus himself. He did the headliner. He did the windows. He did all the rubber, put all the glass in. Putting the glass in was crazy. It was so hard. I remember he spent one whole day getting just one of the windows in. But he did it, all the windows. When we bought it, it was missing the middle bench, but Curtis found it!

Then we found the fabric at Discount Fabrics in the city. It wasn’t initially what I had in mind—because it has a little sparkle. But if I had gone out thinking I want sparkle, I would never have found it. But we found it and thought, It’s perfect. He did the door panels. He sewed it all up. He sewed the seats. It was a labor of love. Nothing’s perfect. It’s a homemade car.

I knew the color I wanted. It’s not an original color. It’s kind of a tweaked color from one of the original VW colors. We had a hard time finding it, so we ended up going to the car-paint shop ourselves. We got a greenish that wasn’t blue enough and a blue that wasn’t green enough, and then Curtis mixed it and painted it. Curtis did the whole thing—everything.

I love it when it’s full. It’s like a clown car. I used to have three dogs, and it was really cute when one would sit next to me, the other behind me, and then one would sit in the wayback. That was an easy way to fill the Bus up. All the benches were full.

I feel really happy in it. When I play music and drive along in the Bus, I feel removed from regular life. I love looking out the windshield—the world looks different. Everything feels a little better.

I love the idea of traveling and being out in this open beautiful landscape. It’s fun to load up all the suitcases and strap them down on the rack and go on an adventure. We had a pretty adventure in Carmel going on the seventeen-mile drive. That was the first long-distance trip we did. We went around the block three times before we left. We didn’t even know if we were going to make it. I made Curtis drive down the middle of the road on the main strip in Carmel, and I took lots of photographs. Everybody wants to talk to you. Everyone wants to smile and honk and give you a little thumbs-up.

It’s funny because even children love it. What is it about the shape of the Bus? It’s just so simple. It’s hard to say exactly what it is. I love the way it looks. I love the two tones. It feels like going back to a time when things were really simple and easy. The Bus breaks down and Curtis gets out and puts some bubble gum on it, and off we go again.

They do take a lot of tinkering, and they are hard to own. It’s hard for me to open the door. Even putting the gas in the tank is difficult. It’s darling and it’s cute, but it’s a pain. You have to love it. I couldn’t do it by myself. Curtis has to help. It’s not a car I could have without him at all. Forget it. I couldn’t do it. I don’t think my gas gauge works. I have to calculate gas. Maneuvering it sometimes is a little bit challenging. You have to drive the car. It’s definitely my dream car, but sometimes I get tired driving it. It’s loud. It’s rattly. It’s not great on the freeway. It’s not a great road trip car, but it’s fun.

We have a lot of cars for a lot of different reasons I don’t want to go into. Sometimes we play a game: Everyone gets to keep one car, which one would you keep? This is the car I want to keep. I don’t plan on getting rid of it. Curtis built it and he is an integral part. Some women and their cars need a man. This one does.