A Bus Story

So I owned my bus for 20 years - bought it the summer of 2003. It's done a fair bit of sitting and, while I loved to drive it, I got very few opportunities. It always needed a few hundred bucks of work each spring just due to sitting, which is always bad for a vehicle, so I made the decision to sell. I asked a fair price, given it's condition and the things that had been done to it. So I get this young couple from Boston that drives out to see it. They look to be in their 20s and they want a bus in the worst way - her dad owns on in Spain and it's her dream to have one. So we go over the litany of things that have been done to the bus over time - many of them things Lu describes in his own repair journey with his bus. I caution them that even if they buy another bus, they need to be very aware of the condition of the fuel hoses in the engine compartment and the fuel injector seals as they can leak and cause a fire. We go through all the features and then they he starts it up and moves it around my driveway, as I hadn't registered it for this year.

She wants to ride as well, when he moves it, so this is where it gets odd - but funny, too.

SO he's about 6 foot, little pudge on his belly, but otherwise fairly fit - in shape, but not obsessed by any stretch. She is shorter, closer to 5'8" and a bit on the heavier side with a penchant for wearing midriff exposing tops. The battery for the bus, which you may recall from Lu's adventures, is under the passenger seat. Id' charged it that morning and installed it so the bus would be ready to start and all that. Once the battery is in, a cover closes over it. So the young lady slides the passenger seat back into place to climb up and I move off into the driveway to watch and stay out of their way, but the bus shuts off. Curious, I head over and open the sliding door to ask why they shut it off. The fellow points at the battery box and says it was smoking. So we slide the seat forward and I open the top and yes, it had arced inside - because the passenger seat pressed down on the metal top and it made contact with the4 positive terminal. Because of the weight on the passenger seat.

I place plastic over the positive terminal and the bus starts right back up., They move it around, ask more questions. They run down to get a coffee and talk it over, then come back and meet my asking price.

I used the money to buy a Phaeton, but that's another story.