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Zelten
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Joined: September 16, 2008
Posts: 867
Location: Bellevue Washington
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 Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 8:44 am Post subject: |
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| whc03grady wrote: |
I am also curious about how Bay Window buses and their owners were generally perceived at the time (1968-1979). Whether or not this general perception is correct is irrelevant to me (though it would be interesting if it were correct, whatever it is). For instance, if someone asked me, "What are Corvette people like?" or "What are BMWs like, as cars?" or "What are 911 owners like?" I'd be able to rattle off a few of stereotypes that while perhaps incorrect (or perhaps correct) are nonetheless well-known. That's what I'm looking for for Bay Window buses. |
I like this question. I have no idea what other bus owners are like. I only know of one other and he's a lot like me. I grew up with a 70 bus and I never thought of it as a hippie bus. The movie back to the future had just came out so everyone called it the terrorist bus. My dad was in the army and about as strait laced as could be. We had no hippie tendencies at all. I don't think I ever heard about the hippie stereotype until I bought my own bus in 1995 while I was in the army and some other soldier asked if I was going to smoke pot in it. I thought he was crazy and I had no idea why he would ask that. Of course I have heard it numerous times over the years and while it does kind of annoy me, I let it roll off. Bay window buses are my favorite vehicle of all time so I can't let it get to me.
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babysnakes
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Location: West Boca Raton, Fla.
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| Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 10:02 am Post subject: |
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| whc03grady wrote: | | So I guess, long story shortish, Bay Windows weren't perceived as hippie mobiles until maybe the early, mid-1980s when used/beaten ones became affordable to those still more or less following the hippie ethos of fifteen years previous. Before that, when hippiedom was in full flower, older Splitties were in fact occasionally pressed into service as gen-yoo-ine hippie transportation due to their low cost and perhaps also ease of maintenance. |
This is very true. I followed the Grateful Dead around on occasion in the 80's. The Bays were affordable and good on gas. They were easy to maintain. At many shows, there were more Baywindows than any other model vehicle. Though I'm not a true hippie, I really dug the scene. I have always had a real job. It was great fun on vacations. I'm still diving Bays and going to Rat Dog and Further shows in my bus. The modern day hippie is usually seen in a Toyota mini van now days.
Arlo Guthrie
"So
we took the half a ton of garbage, put it in the back of a red VW
microbus, took shovels and rakes and implements of destruction and headed
on toward the city dump."
"So we got in the red VW microbus with the
shovels and rakes and implements of destruction and headed on toward the
police officer's station."
Though Arlo was talking about a split. Many people call the Baywindow a micro bus.
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i_am_cool_fred
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Joined: June 26, 2004
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Location: Benton, AR
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| Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 12:05 pm Post subject: |
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i like watching movies such as taking woodstock where you see a fried egg bus painted with all kinds of hippy crap...that bus has to be maybe 4 years old...my wife would kick my ass if i painted hippy-dippy shit on my 2008 dodge nitro.
i've often wondered why a bay window westie was dubbed a hippie mobile, they were friggin' expensive. no hippie could afford one. sure, perhaps they were bought used and the plague of hippiness took over.
my 58 panel was NOT a hippy bus, nor was my 69 westie (anyone who's seen it on gearztv would agree with that)...maybe i know they aren't because they both came out of arkansas 
please excuse this very random fever induced post
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nerfer
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| Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 4:49 pm Post subject: |
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| i_am_cool_fred wrote: |
i've often wondered why a bay window westie was dubbed a hippie mobile, they were friggin' expensive. no hippie could afford one. sure, perhaps they were bought used and the plague of hippiness took over.
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It seems my earlier post that the common person doesn't distinguish between bays and splits is being ignored.
Also, it appears that people think there are no more hippies (my earlier photo to the contrary). Hippies didn't just die or disappear or start voting Republican when we pulled out of Vietnam. There's still plenty of hippies around, but most of them are aging now. Although my niece could fall into that crowd - she's artsy, likes tie-dye, and hates restrictive clothing (lots of sun dresses). She's about 16 now.
I've been called a hippie because I do some 'tree-hugger' type stuff and like to go barefoot, but I'm definitely no hippie. As close to a yuppie as a hippie, although I don't like that title either. Kinda interesting how the hippie title is a bit fluid and flexible.
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djkeev
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| Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 5:49 am Post subject: |
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Who drove the original Bay Window Buses? Those who today would drive a Dodge Minivan (or similar unit)
The VW van WAS the original MiniVan, easy to drive, great view of the road, big doors to get stuff and people in and out of, full of seats, cheap.... Great for a big family! Great for running around town and getting stuff, great for Vacations.
My father had one in 68, another in 73. It was a family van.
What would you prefer, Mom, Dad and FOUR growing boys in a 68 Chevy Impala sedan, or those same people spread out in a VW van??
Dave
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Dunebubby
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| Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 3:56 pm Post subject: |
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When we got our first Bay I quit showering and started smoking pot,just to fit in.
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drscope
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| Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 5:35 pm Post subject: |
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| whc03grady wrote: |
So who drove Bay Windows when they were new? |
The same sort of people who drove splitty busses when they were NEW.
Respectable people! They were the only ones who could afford them when they were new.
The hippies and fake hippies didn't get them until they were used and cheap.
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VWAdam
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| Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2012 12:00 am Post subject: |
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That kinda fits in with the fact that most people who make some hippie reference to my Bus have never owned one. Most that have, don't make such comments.
I've owned 3 Buses so far and I doubt any were owned by hippies. My current one is too nicely original, my others were a logo'd Laundry Cleaners Panel (clean and hippie don't exactly go together and my first had a sticker on the rear window with the American flag that says "Support our boys in Vietnam, stop US trade with Communist countries." That doesn't exactly say hippie to me 
Not a Bus, but my Beetle has an old Marines sticker on the front bumper and an NRA sticker on the rear window. I doubt that owner was a stinkfoot either.
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crukab
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| Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2012 6:07 am Post subject: |
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| djkeev wrote: | Who drove the original Bay Window Buses? Those who today would drive a Dodge Minivan (or similar unit)
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People like my In-Laws, my FIL bought a new 1958 Bus & drove it from Rhode Island to Alaska in '58 w/ his wife & sister 
They bought a new '65 & '72 Buses, also had 3 used bays all '70s, My wife was driving a '72 Westy when we met in '78.
They moved on to Honda's in the late 70's & now own a Prius.
Lots of straight laced looking people drove them--then they got sold to
US  
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VWAdam
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whc03grady
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| Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 8:52 am Post subject: |
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| nerfer wrote: | | Hippies didn't just die or disappear or start voting Republican when we pulled out of Vietnam. There's still plenty of hippies around, but most of them are aging now. Although my niece could fall into that crowd - she's artsy, likes tie-dye, and hates restrictive clothing (lots of sun dresses). She's about 16 now. |
I realize that it wasn't like someone flipped a switch on Jan. 1, 1971 and hippies ceased to exist. But there's no question that the movement ceased being a real force, or viable entity, or something like that, sometime in the early 1970s. Yes, people took to it as a way of life for years afterward--even up to the present day, but that doesn't mean that the hippie movement is still alive. There's probably still some ancient flapper from the 1920s whiling away her years in a nursing home: does that mean the flapper movement still exists? Of course not. Likewise, if a bunch of 16 year-old girls decide to act like flappers this year, does that mean the flapper movement is still around? Again, of course not.
Likewise hippies.
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doc1369
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| Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 10:19 am Post subject: |
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| whc03grady wrote: | | nerfer wrote: | | Hippies didn't just die or disappear or start voting Republican when we pulled out of Vietnam. There's still plenty of hippies around, but most of them are aging now. Although my niece could fall into that crowd - she's artsy, likes tie-dye, and hates restrictive clothing (lots of sun dresses). She's about 16 now. |
I realize that it wasn't like someone flipped a switch on Jan. 1, 1971 and hippies ceased to exist. But there's no question that the movement ceased being a real force, or viable entity, or something like that, sometime in the early 1970s. Yes, people took to it as a way of life for years afterward--even up to the present day, but that doesn't mean that the hippie movement is still alive. There's probably still some ancient flapper from the 1920s whiling away her years in a nursing home: does that mean the flapper movement still exists? Of course not. Likewise, if a bunch of 16 year-old girls decide to act like flappers this year, does that mean the flapper movement is still around? Again, of course not.
Likewise hippies. |
That's just silly. If someone calls themselves a Hippy, flapper, or even a Nazi than that's what they are. Your telling me if only 1% of your religion of choice was left then it's dead and that 1% is wasting it's time calling themselves a part of it? Any movement is alive as long as people remember it.
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Mike Fisher
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| Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 10:58 am Post subject: |
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grady must not get to downtown Missoula much, as I'm sure they are Still There!
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whc03grady
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| Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 1:29 pm Post subject: |
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| doc1369 wrote: | | That's just silly. If someone calls themselves a Hippy, flapper, or even a Nazi than that's what they are. |
Hey, great idea! I didn't know it was that easy. Okay: one, two, three, I'm a millionaire.
Dang it! It didn't work!
| Mike Fisher wrote: | | grady must not get to downtown Missoula much, as I'm sure they are Still There! |
Funny you should mention it; Living in Missoula for four years like I did is what made me think about this kind of stuff in the first place. It's what made me realize that if you drive a beat-up Vanagon, smoke acres of pot, grow dreadlocks, have chickens in your yard, and live off a trust fund (that is, if you're one of the typical 'hippie' kids in downtown Missoula), you're definitely not a hippie.
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| blankmange wrote: | | The Bentley assumes that the car is complete. |
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KTPhil
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Posts: 15821
Location: SoCal
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| Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 3:59 pm Post subject: |
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| Mr Mike wrote: | In the sixty's VW's of all types were as common as fleas on a dog.
You couldn't believe how many were on the road unless you were there to see them. Amazing! |
I checked out old reruns of Dragnet and Adam-12 on a local digital channel. They were set in '68-72. VWs were EVERYwhere, just like I remember. Before Toyota and Datsun took over, VW owned the small car market. In one shot of a parking lot, 14 of the 20 cars were VWs, including Ghias and squares, even a fasty. In most road scenes, you cannot find an intersection without at least one VW waiting at the light.
That was reality. At every light, there was at least one, usually 3 or 4. Now I am lucky if I see one in a whole day. Sad.
Bays were for grownups; the hippies and stoners bought the splits, because they were cheaper. |
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candyman
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| Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 4:07 pm Post subject: |
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I live in missoula. I drive all kinds of buses and early bugs. I own my own business, have short hair now, occaisionally enjoy extra curricular activities. I am not a hippy. Not even close (used to follow the dead, phish etc...)
There are a lot of trustees here. They mostly drive subarus or hybrids. I know almost every single bus in town and not one of them is owned by a trustee. However, the rusted bays and clapped out vanagons in town are onwed by what I call "a hippy for a day". Sadly their buses get worse under their ownership and get passed around from owner to owner...
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doc1369
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| Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 5:35 pm Post subject: |
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| whc03grady wrote: | | doc1369 wrote: | | That's just silly. If someone calls themselves a Hippy, flapper, or even a Nazi than that's what they are. |
Hey, great idea! I didn't know it was that easy. Okay: one, two, three, I'm a millionaire.
Dang it! It didn't work!
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Hey it works for kids with a degree because the check cleared calling themselves mechanics. You missed the point on purpose though. A title earned for beliefs is what we are discussing. The only way to kill that is for people to forget
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ccpalmer 
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| Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2012 5:56 am Post subject: |
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Haven't you all heard of trustafarians? (wanna-be white rastafarians living on their parent's trust fund) They bought the Buses new in the 70's and hauled their friends to grateful dead shows in them. Then when the trustafarians would move on they'd give the Bus to a friend. True trickle-down economics.
And X2 on the hippy movement being very alive + well. I smoke as much pot in my Bus as I can to further the cause.
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Scooterboyd
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| Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2012 4:32 pm Post subject: |
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My 2 cents. I started driving in 1971 in northern California. I don't remember Hippies driving them. They were more like an alternative type of car like the Saab, Volvo, Prisus crowd would drive. I think the association came at Woodstock with the now famous bus "Light". The media was trying to link symbols to the hippie movement. There were lots of big buses with lots of windows that people could sit on top and bake at the concert. You could go Furthur in one of those. Maybe the folks on the ground wished they were up on those buses for a better view amongst the biggest crowd ever. And when they saw a small one (VW Bus) they said to themselves, Dude that would be perfect for our new lifestyle. How cool it would be to have their very own concert hippie bus thing dude. So the association stuck in ones mind along with the help of the stereotyping media. Next came the Van movement in the mid 70's and I don't remember any VWs in that. They overheated, had scoop's on the side, cut wheel wells. They were discarded when broken. Only a guy with little or no money would drive them. Even the VW owners didn't want the problem VW. Down to the scrape metal yard they went.
If it wasn't for the efforts of a devoted VW community who kept them alive until nostalgia came back, then there would be little demand for what each of you hold sacred. Now when people see them they bring back memories of what the mass media has fed them.
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whc03grady
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| Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2012 9:24 am Post subject: |
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| Scooterboyd wrote: | | My 2 cents. I started driving in 1971 in northern California. I don't remember Hippies driving them. They were more like an alternative type of car like the Saab, Volvo, Prius crowd would drive. I think the association came at Woodstock with the now famous bus "Light". The media was trying to link symbols to the hippie movement. |
Thanks, Scooterboyd, for confirming my suspicions.
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| blankmange wrote: | | The Bentley assumes that the car is complete. |
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