I bought this bus off of Ebay for $1,200. It came from Omaha, Nebraska.

My brother leaves Columbus, Ohio and I leave Birmingham, Alabama

to pick up a 1968 Crew Cab from Omaha, Nebraska. It will later become affectionately know as RUSTY.

The pictures on Ebay showed rust and I knew it would be bad but not this bad. If you know anything about

VW's then you know the heat didn't work when they left the factory. Try driving cross country the first of

November with gaping holes in the floor and doors (rust likes VW vans).

Up to now the trip has been uneventful. The guy I bought the van from did not meet us until late in the

morning, so we got out of town way late. I knew it would take about 14 hours and I only had the weekend

off from work. Imagine a bus with gaping holes in november in Nebraska. We put Brandon on duct tape

duty to seal some of the holes. Kinda like ductaping the Titanic to stop the water. We both started to cry

as the sun went down. You know the temperature would drop about 30 degrees. I had a plan though.

Propane powered camping heater from Walmart. Brandon was worried we would die from carbon

monoxide poisoning. I figured with the gaping holes there was plenty of oxygen flowing into the cab. Two

problems with my plan, it was soooooo cold and leaking so much air that Rusty would only warm up 15 degrees

or so. Second problem was I bumped the heater climbing from the back seat to the front and it flamed up about 3 feet inside the

cab. That is when we quit with the heater. Old Rusty was a trooper, and still a beloved family member. He made it 1,030 miles with no mechanical problems.

I decide to start on the roof, because that is the only thing that is not rusted through. My plan

was to work on Rusty on drive. That idea goes away when i find out the frame rails will

crumble away in a pile of orange powder if you touch them. We were lucky to make it 1000

miles without the frame breaking in half. A testament to German engineering. The roof and the

bed were the only thing holding Rusty together. Not the frame.

Colin, the master autobody technician teaches me to replace a rusted panel and paint the passenger door.

The floor comes out and the bed comes off. The rust is so bad I have to get the whole crew media

blasted. Right now that is where the project stands.