After graduating High School I sold my little surfboard business and with the proceeds I bought my first car. Being a surfer what car would I get? Well the ultimate surf car… a VW bus.

I loved that thing. Aside from the freedom of having your on vehicle I could keep my surfboard in it and run off to the beach anytime I got the urge. Which, most likely is why that drafting job I got the summer after graduating didn’t last long? I don’t remember if I quit or was let go. But I do remember running off to Secos a few times during working hours.

One of the cool things I remember was the heater. Hot air was fed to a tube to the front under the dash board between the driver side and passenger side. After surfing on cold days you could idle the car to get some warm air on your frozen toes to get them unfrozen.    

It got good gas mileage but was a creeper on the Freeway. Especially going up hills. But with a decent 4 track tape player listening to music made road trips a little less tiring.

It’s the car I had when I moved to Ventura. Surfboard in car music on tape, run to school run to the beach and back, I was in heaven. Oh.. with the price of gas back then 2 bucks was all you needed to fill the tank. This was enough for a whole week of back and forth school and surfing.  Or, running up the coast to Rincon or how ‘bout Hammond’s Reef. Didn’t take much in gas

After landing the Morey-Pope job I was set. The perfect vehicle for after work surfing. Me and one of the guys I worked with off we’d go to find waves to ride. Great during the long days of summer getting off work at 3:30. You could surf until 7 or 8 in the evening. Sleep in the bus at Hobson’s and go back to work from there.

So what happened to the bus of mine?  Thinking back sit seemed like I had it for quite some time but in reality not that long. I bought it round June of 1966. 

After leaving Morey-Pope to start William Dennis my financial situation began to change. Starting a new business can be difficult. It can take some time to get the cash flow going all the while working through any money saved to buy materials, pay rent etc. Things got a bit tight. And the ole bus was handy then too. When I moved out of the place I rented I was able to sleep in the bus at night. Be at the shop all day, maybe surf after work was done and be hanging at the beach until dark then sleep in the bus. Start a new day from there.

Well, eventually I ran so low on money I decided the easiest way to get some needed cash was to sell my car. So I did. Thinking back it was a sad day when I let go of my first car. The best surf car a guy could have. That was late fall of 1967. So I had the car for about a year and a half.

There are a lot of great memories stored in that year and a half. From back in the day.Like when I was going to be introduced to Dick Brewer the VW go me there  https://drsurfboards.blogspot.com/2020/06/  

And when I got into some huge surf at Morro Bay.. The bus was waiting for me when I made it to shore. https://drsurfboards.blogspot.com/search?q=morro+bay

How ‘bout my first surf contest the VW got me there.                  https://drsurfboards.blogspot.com/2010/01/my-story-post-40-my-first-attempt-at.html

D.R.

Here's a real clean version of the VW I had.