It Has Begun!

There are times in your life when serenity prevails. For some it comes during a sunset while in the solitude of mother nature, for others maybe from a drunken stupor. But in my case, by the good nature of my patient wife, serenity is working on a classic car. For years, thanks to my great grandpa's jalopy genes, I have nursed a love/hate relationship with cars. When the accumulated grime and general funk caked on an engine mix with a potpourri exhaust and carb cleaner, oh man, I am in my element. Give me a wrench and I will gladly bust my knuckles till dawn (ask Marianne). Alternatively, nothing infuriates me more than watching car after car go to one destination with only a single driver behind the wheel. Our American passion with cars has also become the catalyst of our environmental deterioration. Driving a car is a privilege, granted by both government and environment. But, I digress...

After semi-restoring two other cars, a third project has found its way onto my driveway. After having the above-mentioned epiphany, I no longer desire the chest pounding power of a muscle car. A two-seat coupe definitely will not accommodate Ava's car seat, nor will it take us and all our gear to our off-road destinations while keeping fuel economy in mind. Yes, after a few years of searching I have my quintessential family car:

From what information I can gather, we are the fourth owners of "Daisy", a 1969 VW Westfalia Camper. She came to Utah from So Cal and she is clean for her age; low on the rust scale, and high on originality. She is approximately the 175 thousandth 1969 bus to come from Deutschland.

Since this bus is nearly 40 years old, the first step is ensure she lasts another 40+ years and make her safe for the whole family. But aside from some general mechanical, engine, and aesthetic work, she is good to go! Nicholas would be proud.