my friend and i are graduating june 3rd and we want to travel the country. but the thing is, we cant get a normal car because she is a guitarist and has amps and other guitar related equipment that we have to take with us. so we want to get a vw bus. however, we're 17 and dont have a whole lot of money and all the buses we can find on craigslist and ebay are all too expensive. anyway i just thought id check and see if anyone here is selling a vw bus or really any form of van would work, for cheap. i felt like i should say something here because i feel like people here would better understand our need to get away from here and travel and see the world. we live in california [bakersfield unfortunately] so we're kinda hoping to find someone selling here in CA cause it would be hard to get the bus/van without an original means of transportation. anyway if you have a bus/van to sell or know of anyone selling one for cheap it would mean the whole world to me if you let me know. rettyplease: thanks peace and love, Penelope.
I'd avoid them like the plague. I had a 73' Camper van in 89'. it was a fun ride while it lasted but it choked and croaked after about 3 months of making a daily trip to Denver and back from Boulder. Wasn't a particularly high mileage vehicle and even back then the cost to rebuild the bastardized Porche engine was in the $1500-2000 range. I.M.H.O. you might be better off looking for a used RV or a conversion Van, something with easy to get parts, something you could afford to fix when it eventually breaks down. Good luck Neighbor. There is a Guy up here in Tecopa who has a bunch of older vans on his property, not sure what the condition they're in is but,,, has a few 70's era VW's too if you're heart is really set on one.
thank you so much for the advice. my friend and i kinda really were hoping to get a vw bus if possible but the whole breaking down thing is something we'll need to think about... i would like to find out about the guy in tecopa you mentioned if possible... do you know for sure if he is selling the vw's?
No, I have absolutely no clue at all, sorry bout that, but he's got a ton of old vehicles laying around on his property, probably has at least 4 vw vans. If he wouldnt be willing to sell one, he would be crazy (Which is entirely possible out here in Tecopa,,,) But I also have no clue if any of them run so that would be another crap shoot right there, still what better way to be really prepared for a long cross country trip than a pre-emptive crash course in vehicle repair and maintenance. (Really a good thing to know, especially when travelling around on limited funds.)
haha ah well thank you so much for the info. one last question, do you know how i could get in contact with this possibly crazy tecopian neighbor of yours?
None other than coming to tecopa and knocking on his door right at the moment. I suppose that at some point over the next few day's I could go over and do that myself and relay the results. But if he is a nutjob and I take a face full of buckshot, it's all your fault.
Seriously though, I think one of my co workers here at the hostel knows him so I'll check into that possibililty tomorrow. :cheers2:
I can't help you in finding a bus but, I second the opinion to stay away from VW microbus. I have had two over the years. They are great fun to drive but are not economical. Gas mileage is poor and repair parts are expensive.
Its not a practical form of transport at all, nice to look at and they obviously have the historical connotations of travelling hippies but it would be much more logical and cheaper to get an old van, not even a camper, just an old van and convert it. Thats what a friend of mine did. Cost him about €3,000 altogether.
Yea, I'm thinking your best bet might be to find something reliable like an older Toyota, Mazda or Nissan pickup truck with a Camper back. I mean the parts may be a bit more costly than an American made vehicle but with proper care and maintenance these little trucks have been known to go well past the 300,000 mile mark without any major issues, most American made crap in the past 20 years you would be grateful to make 150,000. But I'll check still for ya', just dont blame me when you blow a hole in a piston while running the roads up in the Rockies where they say it's a two lane but is really more like 1 and 1/2. Not a pretty place for a breakdown.
damn this is depressing. i guess i'll look into finding something else. we really wanted to get a vw bus, they are so beautiful. but yea we arent gonna have the money to constantly repair it and pay for all the gas. why cant vw's be as awesome as they look???
Dont fret, there are plenty of more reliable, easier to repair / find parts for domestic vehicles. 1969 Dodge van 1963 Ford And of course good ole' Chevy...
Thats good, most parts are easy to come by and it's not a hard van to work on, and if you can find one that's had the engine swapped for a 4.6 or a 5.0 from a Mustang the Gas consumption shouldn't be too sickening. Probably be able to find a road worthy one for around $3000 to $4000. But if you want a bit more under the hood familiarity before taking off, you could grab one for $1500 to $2000 and fix it up yourself for about the difference in price, but be more prepared for roadside emergencies in the process.
ah alright thank you for the advice and everything. so now my mission is to find one of those types of vans. haha. your neighbor in tecopa wouldnt happen to have one of those laying around also would he? hahah im gonna check on craigslist and look in the newspaper. do you know of anywhere else that i could check to find one for sale?
ebay most likely, even just doing a google search should come up with some answers for you. And yea', that neighbor might, his place is loaded with old vehicles, I thought it was like Tecopa's auto salvage lot when I first got here but then I found out it was just some Guy with a bunch of old shit laying around. Lot's of pack rats around here, save all sorts of things and actually use them for parts or art or whatever off the wall approach they can come up with. I love it here most of the time.
wow thats awesome. i had never even heard of tecopa before. does anything fun go on there? like any kinds of events or festivals or anything? when did you move there?
I moved here in November to work at this Hostel as a means of getting out of the midwest, Used to be called the Desert Air, now it's Cynthias. Been pretty cool so far minus a few frustrating issues, but one will find those no matter where they go. Not a damn thing goes on here, it's an old mining town with an aging population of about 100 people but there are some artist's & eccentric's who've found out about this spot. Lot's of awesome nature trails and hiking, old mines to explore, great for rock hounds and jewelers to find raw materials and there are 3 or 4 hot springs in the area that are quite popular with the soaker's. Oh, found what you should consider looking at on craigslist in Vegas, it's already been decked out for your purposes and doesn't appear to be too abused. Not incredibly pretty but has a fresh white paint job with almost no signs of rust. Haven't looked at it firsthand but it has 106,000 miles on it which isnt horrible for a Chevy 350 if it's been maintained properly. http://lasvegas.craigslist.org/ctd/1640569337.html
