I am selling most everything I have, as I’ve accepted a job overseas and will be leaving in January 2014. Now on to liquidate all my vehicles, toys and belongings, the first up for auction is my pride and joy. This VW Bus is Megalodon, Meg for short, she is a daily driver. She starts right up and runs straight and smooth. Her tires have less than 5,000 miles on them, and the spare is new and never been used. Her brakes were done less than six months ago. She has a four speed manual transmission, shifting gears is easy, straight and smooth with her. The windshield wipers work, the radio works, the horn works, the turn signals work, the flashers work, the lights work (high and low beams) and back lights, the brake lights work, the clock works, the cabin lights work and the heater works. She has never had air conditioning, factor or otherwise. The odometer and speedometer are slower than the actual miles and speed traveling, along with the gas reading. She is registering 55,631.6 miles on the odometer. She is a smoke free vehicle.

 When you fill her up she takes about 10 gallons of gas and she registers full. Once you have driven around a while and she has gotten to the half full mark the little indicator will start to drop off, it is not reliable at that point.  If you were to fill her back up at the half way mark she will take about 5 gallons. I have gotten to know when she is near empty just from the amount of driving. For me it has not been a problem nor have I ever run out of gas. There is rust starting around a couple of the fenders. I have tried to show them on the pictures.  The engine was rebuilt several years ago. I am not sure of the exact mileage on the engine, if I had to guess; I would guess about 14,000 + miles or so.

 The interior is in good shape the back seats have seat covers on them. In one of the pictures I have removed part of the cover on the middle seat to show the good condition of the seats. She has two sliding windows on each side of the middle bench seat, they both work. I took a picture of her interior ceiling that shows she is in good shape there too.

There isn’t a day go by that I am not waved at, given a thumbs up, honked at, shot a peace sign at, grinning people pointing or people asking about her and how old she is. She is reliable, fun and quite entertaining to say the least. My granddaughter thinks she is the most magical vehicle on the road; of course she is the authority on these things, being that she is 5 years old.

You know these passenger vans hauled surfers in search of killer waves during endless summers and serves as a workhorse across the developing world, but the long, strange trip of the Volkswagen Bus is ending. Brazil is the last place in the world still producing the iconic vehicle, or bus as it is know by aficionados, but VW says production will end Dec., 31 this year. Safety regulations mandate that every vehicle is Brazil must have air bags and anti-lock braking systems starting in 2014, and the company says it cannot change production to meet the law.

Hopefully even though Brazil will halt there production we should continue to see VW Buses rolling along for decades if only because they are durable, easy to fix and many were made. The Volkswagen Transporter Bus was introduced 63 years ago in Germany. The VW Bus is so deeply embedded in popular culture; it will likely live on even longer in the imagination.

The van represents freedom to many and it has a following of van fanatics and their affection for the machine, it has a magic and charm lacking in other vehicles. It’s about the open road, about bringing smiles to peoples’ faces when they see an old VW Bus rolling along.

Perhaps nothing with a motor has driven itself deeper into American and European pop culture than the VW, known for its durability. Van lovers say watching them roll only reinforces its charm and its cool mystique.

The van made an appearance on Bob Dylan and Beach Boys record album covers, among many, though in music circles it most closely linked to the Grateful Dead and the legion of touring fans that followed the rock group across the U.S., the machines serving as rolling homes. Steve Jobs is said to have sold his van in the 1970s to buy a circuit board as he built a computer that helped launch Apple. The vehicle is linked to the California surf scene, its cavernous interior perfect for hauling boards.

It is used in Brazil by the postal service to haul mail, by the army to transport soldiers, and by morticians to carry corpses. It serves as a school bus for kids, operates as a group taxi and delivers construction materials to work sites. They also converted some of their buses into rolling food carts, setting up on street corners for working-class lunchtime crowds.

In Brazil it’s known as the “kombi”, an abbreviation for the German “Kombinationsfahrzeug” loosely translates as “cargo-passenger van.”

Production in Germany of these transporter buses were halted in 1979 because the van no longer met European requirements. VW plant in Mexico stopped producing the classic version of the bus in 1995, leaving only a factory in Brazil as its last lifeline.

The Volkswagen Bus evokes a spirit of playfulness and happiness, causing people to pause and smile when you drive it down a street. It is part of our cultural and emotional landscape which explains the strong feelings of affection most people have for it.

The vehicle comes with no guarantees or warrantee and this vehicle is sold “where is, as seen and as is”. I can work with you to get her transported, at your cost unless you can pick her up.  I have used U-ship.com for transporting other machines and vehicles over the past couple years with great success. If you are out of the area you may want to check with them.  She can stay here at our ranch up to the end January 2014 or until you can make the arrangements to get her. Otherwise my grown children will be here, not the best to help, as they never learned to drive a manual transmission vehicle. She is being offered locally for sale too, if someone buys before the auction ends she will be taken off ebay. 

So please bid with an open heart and wallet, remember she is 35 years young and one of the last of her kind, there will be no more made after Decemeber 2013.

Best wishes to all who bid and the ones that wished they did. Unfortunate only one lucky person will win her. I have kept the reserve low even though the cost that has gone into here is much higher; she has been worth every moment of that magical driving experience. 

 Again no guarantees or warranties, the vehicle is sold “where is, as is”.

Serious Bidders only.

• Payment methods accepted is Cash, Paypal or USPS money orders.

• Payment: Deposit of $500.00 within 24 hours of auction close through paypal. The remaining amount paid within seven days after auction ends.

• Shipping costs and services: Vehicle shipping is the buyer’s responsibility, there are several available services out there. I have used with excellent sucess "U-Ship.com" I will help you to get this vehicle loaded from this end, once you have made the arrangements. If you need to leave the vehicle for a couple weeks to make your arangements that is no problem. I will work with you however possible from my end.