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Vintage buses

Aspergers_Aspie

Well-Known Member
I know a few autistic people who enjoy travelling on vintage buses. In Glasgow they have old route master style ones running on special days for passengers. They no longer have these style in London running and in Edinburgh the back door is closed. So I am surprised the vintage ones on Glasgow are allowed out picking up people due to health and safety
 
Love those old double-decker busses.

Reminds me of being a child in 1961 and getting a Matchbox car of such a thing. About as close as I could get back then to one of them while being "across the pond". :cool:
 
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Also there's lots of fumes so not so good for people with breathing issues and not so good for the environment

Another memory I had as a child in the late 60s, when we visited my grandmother living in an urban Los Angeles suburb. When I once came close to being in a panic, having told my mother it was so hard to breathe.
 
I know a few autistic people who enjoy travelling on vintage buses. In Glasgow they have old route master style ones running on special days for passengers. They no longer have these style in London running and in Edinburgh the back door is closed. So I am surprised the vintage ones on Glasgow are allowed out picking up people due to health and safety
As you say... "running on special days". In this context, I am sure they are given exemptions to all the emissions and safety standards that the newer buses are subject to... similar to how vintage automobiles are often given exemptions.

Keep in mind, Scotland still runs steam trains for tourists, as well. I've been on the "Harry Potter" Hogwarts Express/Jacobite steam train out of Fort William... coal smoke filling the passenger cars as it travels through a tunnel... the noises, the whistle, the old cars rocking back and forth... a visceral experience. I think the tourists are thrilled to experience a steamer.

I love vintage vehicles... planes, trains, automobiles, buses... all of them.
 
I wasn't sure if this thread was going to be about actual buses or old VW vans.

(I like both but I old VW vans have a special place in my heart.)

I've never had a chance to ride on a old double-decker bus anywhere - would probably have to wear an N95/P100 mask to enjoy it but I always have those for really bad allergy seasons and wildfire smoke. Have been on new double-decker buses in Canada though.
 
I wasn't sure if this thread was going to be about actual buses or old VW vans.

(I like both but I old VW vans have a special place in my heart.)

You aren't alone. Love those Micro-Buses too. Barrett-Jackson Auction, Reno Nevada 2013:

BJ_058.webp


Makes me want to swoon.....lol. Better than right off a Volkswagen assembly line. Better still if one replaces the engine with one from Porsche to get over those hills effortlessly.
 
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You aren't alone. Love those Micro-Buses too.
Here they were called a Kombivan, or just Kombi for short. Not sure were the name came from, possibly the original German name?

They were a bit of an icon here in the 70s and 80s, especially with the Surfy crowd. A lot of them got hotted up with V6 and V8 engines too. Like that line in the Men At Work song:

Travelling in a violent Kombi,
On a hippy trail,
Head full of zombie.

:)
 
One of my past vehicles was a blue & white VW bus. I liked it but it was expensive to have serviced because our only available mechanic was a Porsche shop.
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I was very disappointed at seeing a modern bus in "The Buddy Holly Story," not because I wanted to see an old one for its own sake, but just the glaring period error.
The original VW bus was designed on a napkin by a VW dealer in Belgium. As far as I know, my mother was the only person who could drive one without burning out the #3 exhaust valve. She lived in one for the warm half of many years.
 
1963 vw microbus ,my father got in trade for conducting business with someone.
Frightfully under powered. Could not get out of its own way to save its life .
Old 1936 Gm school bus , barely 20 feet long old fender mounted headlights, am not one to fall for mechanized things but this was truley a classic. Wish I had a Pik of it, The poor thing laid in someones back feild just decaying under the trees, But the netal it was made of was so thick it showed no signs of rusting through. Fully complete vehicle no damage.
 


This is awesome.

Until it became clear I couldn't drive (serious attention issues, processing speed...such a disaster) in my youth my plan was to buy a VW like that, but modernize some of the internals ( with help from a sort-of-relative with a passion for all cars but VW's especially (like engine not like fold out platform bed - I could do the latter by myself) ) to live in for a while or maybe forever....so I could travel if I wanted to, and have transportation and home rolled into one, since I accurately predicted I would probably always be relatively poor and would always want freedom.

Dreams are funny things...

I wonder how many people turn old school buses or city transit buses into homes? I have see it done, but not as often...probably because they are so much bigger?
 
I wonder how many people turn old school buses or city transit buses into homes? I have see it done, but not as often...probably because they are so much bigger?
Low parts availability combined with significantly higher routine maintenance and operating costs combined with... as you say, a much larger renovation budget. Then you have the physical size to deal with out on the road, parking, etc. I see people in the US with these giant motor homes and 5th-wheel trailer homes trying to navigate the national park system, petrol stations, RV parks, narrow scenic roads, and... for the most part, they are just a nuisance. The hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars tied up in "bringing your house on vacation" is ridiculous. The money you spent on all that set up...that's a LOT of plane tickets, hotel rooms, car rental to more exotic destinations. Seems a bit silly.

The aftermarket support for the old VW vans is much better... seems like a better decision.
 
Then you have the physical size to deal with out on the road, parking, etc. I see people in the US with these giant motor homes and 5th-wheel trailer homes trying to navigate the national park system, petrol stations, RV parks, narrow scenic roads, and...
Finding a suitable vehicle is incredibly important. It's a large industry in Australia, we have the world's longest national highway. Highway 1 does a full lap of the country, 14,000 Km.

A lot of people dream of doing a full lap in their retirement but of course by that stage in life they're used to comfort and have health and lifestyle considerations as well. Many of them spend their life savings on setting up their idea of the dream mobile home. Many go broke well before completing a full lap, some go broke before they even leave home.

And if you want to leave the main highway and visit some of the more exotic places in the country then you need a vehicle that's capable of doing so. 4WD is not the only consideration here either, any vehicle built after the 1990s is also unsuitable and unreliable in much of our country because of all the electronic crap in them.

The engine management systems are fine, those things are near indestructible, the problems are to do with the antitheft and engine immobilisation software. That has caused more than just a few deaths in Australia, get stuck in a truly remote place and it could be years before someone stumbles across your bones.

Most reliable and suitable vehicles for this are Toyota Troop Carriers from the 80s and 90s. There's quite a large industry keeping these things running in Australia simply because these days it's impossible to buy a vehicle without all that electronic tat.

And if you're not the adventurous sort that's going to go wandering through those sorts of places then don't go wasting your money on a heavy lumbering 4WD that's going to cost you a king's ransom in fuel. Keep it simple, a station wagon with a tent and a couple of swags you can throw on the ground is all you really need, it's not like you're in danger of freezing to death except in our alpine regions. Or in Canberra, that place is always really cold. :)

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