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Today I spotted a bus in a back yard .Need advice
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no1pony
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PostPosted: Mon May 13, 2013 10:43 am    Post subject: Today I spotted a bus in a back yard .Need advice Reply with quote

I have always been the type to try and look for old VWs in yards and sheds as I drive down back roads never with much luck but yesterday that changed. While taking my wife out to dinner last night I decided to take a road near my home that I typically never travel. As I drove past a particular home I happened to see out of the corner of my eye a big blue tarp covering an old bus way back on someone's property. The only visible parts were the tail lights. To me it looks to be a mid to late 60s bus. The main reason for my post is to ask those who have knocked on doors for this sort of stuff what is the best way you have found to approach the property owner about maybe selling it or at least letting me see it. Any thoughts on how to approach this?
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PostPosted: Mon May 13, 2013 2:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just tell them that you happened to see it as you were driving by and was wondering if you could take a look since you're considering buying one. Make sure you drive your VW when you go so they will see that you're a true VW lover and that it would be in good hands.
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no1pony
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PostPosted: Mon May 13, 2013 4:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thats a good idea. I just know some people dont like that sorta thing and I guess I understand it but never hurts to ask I guess.
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no1pony
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PostPosted: Wed May 15, 2013 5:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Update: Stoped by today in my beetle. The owner was outside. He was none too pleased, He informed me its not for sale and will never be for sale. I guess it never hurts to ask. Sad
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hitest
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 8:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'll never forget an article in Hot VWs I read back in about 1985. It was about a young guy who spotted a '58 ish ragtop bug at a place where the owner said he'd never sell. The kid replied something close to, "okay, but I'm coming back in exactly a year from now, and if it's still untouched- you have to sell it to me."
He returned a year later and the seller did say yes.

My track record since those days:
1966 deluxe microbus; 4 years since first note on windshield- I was the only guy who was nice to his wife.
1963 bug; 8 years since one and only note on windshield. Everyone else wanted to part out the car.
1977 Land Cruiser FJ 40- only nice person to knock.

My steadfast rule: Always approach the house or neighbors BEFORE combing over the car.

Try going over again- but offer to help him retie the tarp and air up the tires. Tell him you want to help him keep it so it doesn't rot away while he sits on it for years. There was a great 21 window that rotted away under everyone's noses a few years ago. Nobody would replace their shitty old blue tarp with a new- or trim the weeds that rotted it from the ground up. The poor bus just got a little worse each year. Make sure he has your number- and get his. When the weather tears the patio roof off your place- call him to make sure things are okay at his place, etc. Earn your place as the next caring owner. There's a ton you can still do with this guy.
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EverettB wrote:

I wonder what the nut looks like.



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hitest
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 8:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My worst fear: when it rains it pours. One time, my phone rang and it was time to go pick up one of my deals I had earned over time. With the bank account empty, less than a week later, with my wife on vacation in Disneyland with my daughter, the phone rang again for my deluxe bus. I have feelers all over the valley- and it is very poor timing when I get the call. I can't tell you how many I've had to pass on.
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EverettB wrote:

I wonder what the nut looks like.



'62 L390 151, '62 L469 117, '63 L380 113, '64 L87 311, '65 L512 265, '65 L31 SO-42, '66 L360 251, '68 L30k 141, '71 L12 113, '74 ORG 181

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Marfa61KG
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 28, 2013 6:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Having been approached by people interested in a few of my vehicles, I can sympathize with people that are offended by unsolicited inquiries. I think the better approach is to complement their vehicle and to tell the owners that you've been looking for a vehicle like theirs and ask them if they know anybody else in the area that might have one for sale. You give them a sincere compliment, you give them an easy out, you give them an opportunity to sell if they need the money. You can always part with an offer to call you if they ever do want to sell. Remember, you are on their property looking at their property. Be respectful.

If somebody offered to air up my tires, I'd offer to kick them in the ass as they leave.
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 05, 2013 12:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My suggestion - if he's local to you... make friends with him over the VW. Ask if he needs any parts you have... etc.

It might be that he loves the VW but really doesn't have the time or energy to put into it... but love is a funny thing (as we all know) because he won't admit that he's actually doing the car a disservice.

Worst case scenario - you make a new VW buddy and help a bus on the road. Best case - he realizes how much work this is going to be and gives you a price.

Either way - it's clear he's not a fan of the idea of selling it... so don't push it.
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 17, 2017 11:13 am    Post subject: Re: Today I spotted a bus in a back yard .Need advice Reply with quote

I always introduce myself and hold out a hand. I then tell them my reason for stopping. A small compliment or two will usually get some conversation flowing. My latest acquisition I stopped by on a bug with a for sale sign in the back window. I went straight to the door. A very nice lady (nice looking also) came to the door. I introduced myself and inquired about the bug. She came outside and I offered her a handshake. She accepted and she told me about the car. 30 minutes later we agreed on a price and told her I would return the next day with cash if she would sign and have the title notorized. She did, I did and it all worked fine. Scored a nice 71 duster that same way about 15 years ago. But I have run In to the occasional grouch who is going to "fix it up one day".
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 21, 2017 4:44 pm    Post subject: Re: Today I spotted a bus in a back yard .Need advice Reply with quote

Ask around...maybe there's a reason he won't sell it.

Worked in a store about 20+ years ago, and there was a grumpy old man that would drive in every now and then in the summer in an older rabbit convertible that looked like it just rolled off the showroom floor. He also bought a new VW every 2 years. He never said more than 2 words to anyone.

He got really irritated with me when I asked him if he ever considered selling the vert. Found out from someone else it was a birthday gift to his wife about 6 months before she died. It had maybe 9,000 miles on it. Embarassed

Kept talking to him and made friends with him...ended up driving the convertible, putting a exhaust on a beautiful pristine beetle hidden in another garage and driving it, plus a couple of the new VW's in the years that followed...and got a tour of the other garage holding a T-bird, a vintage Fairlane, and a gorgeous old Ford truck.

His sister sold them all at an auction when he passed away years later. No way I could afford what the beetle and that convertible sold for. But I enjoyed the friendship and will always remember driving them.
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 29, 2017 3:17 pm    Post subject: Re: Today I spotted a bus in a back yard .Need advice Reply with quote

The fact a car is sitting on your property DOES NOT mean it is for sale. I've had cars sit on in driveway as rollers while they get worked on, many came and asked, so i just gave them a huge price tag. No one bit. I did run into a few people after the cars were done, but they didn't ask again.
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 08, 2017 8:04 pm    Post subject: Re: Today I spotted a bus in a back yard .Need advice Reply with quote

ALLWAGONS wrote:
The fact a car is sitting on your property DOES NOT mean it is for sale. I've had cars sit on in driveway as rollers while they get worked on, many came and asked, so i just gave them a huge price tag. No one bit. I did run into a few people after the cars were done, but they didn't ask again.


You hit it on the head. Folks rarely walk on your private property to ask if your car is for sale if it is obviously being driven and loved. They (as I do) ask when their car is obviously in a state of disrepair or incompleteness- usually unloved. I usually just look at the license plate and notice that your precious part of the family car is on flat tires and the tags expired 6 years ago. Wink
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EverettB wrote:

I wonder what the nut looks like.



'62 L390 151, '62 L469 117, '63 L380 113, '64 L87 311, '65 L512 265, '65 L31 SO-42, '66 L360 251, '68 L30k 141, '71 L12 113, '74 ORG 181

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PostPosted: Sat Dec 09, 2017 11:12 am    Post subject: Re: Today I spotted a bus in a back yard .Need advice Reply with quote

I spotted this Bay in a back yard years ago :

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Which led me to this:

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


The old lady that owned it would not sell it at the time, but after 9 years, she gave in & sold it to me. I bought the Bay years later...
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Earl 78 westy
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 21, 2017 8:58 am    Post subject: Re: Today I spotted a bus in a back yard .Need advice Reply with quote

People leave notes on my bus often and also stop over any time i am outside to chat and ask me if i want to sell it. I can see people inquiring about a vehicle that is clearly "abandoned" or has not moved in a long time, but my bus is always moving, clean and obviously "occupied".
It does not bother me, I am friendly and dont mind making new VW friends. Orange Bus Green Bug White Bay Bus Lt. Blue Vanagon Green Bay Bus Green Ghia VW Logo TS Logo
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 11, 2020 12:15 pm    Post subject: Re: Today I spotted a bus in a back yard .Need advice Reply with quote

There was a beautiful red '70 Vert sitting in a driveway that I used to pass every day on my way to work. After the better part of a year, I came to realize it hadn't moved (and was now buried under a foot of snow) so I stopped to ask... "Nope, not for sale, go away!".

Same story a year later, and the car was starting to look worse and worse.

Last year I bought the thing off of the back of a scrap truck for $300, so victory, kind of, but the car was just ruined- restorable, but not the level of restoration I wanted to get into, especially with the roof needing a complete overhaul.

On a positive note, I DID save it from getting crushed, and I sold it to someone who is restoring it. (Plus it came with boxes of new parts that I can definitely use on my other 8 Beetles.)
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 20, 2020 12:58 pm    Post subject: Re: Today I spotted a bus in a back yard .Need advice Reply with quote

Just stay away from all the nice cars you see and don't ask if folks are willing to sell them. This way those of us who are brave enough to ask will get the car instead of you. Lesson here is, don't listen to people about staying away. If you want it ask. The worst they can say is no. If they get upset who cares.
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 01, 2020 6:29 pm    Post subject: Re: Today I spotted a bus in a back yard .Need advice Reply with quote

This is always a relevant topic. I recall as a kid my step father knocking on people's doors just like they do on Counting Cars and buying many cars that way. Around 2007 when I was in a master's program in college, I passed a house with a carport way in the back and under it was a boxy vehicle always hidden under a blue tarp. Since it was en route to campus, I often passed it on my scooter hoping to one day see what it was. That day finally came when part of the driver's front corner peeked out from the tarp. It was a splitty bus and an old one given the small turn signal light that was barely visible.

Shocked

I knew it was a rental house, but I finally mustered the gumption one day to knock on the door. Nothing. Several more attempts over the next couple of weeks. Nothing. One day, someone was doing some yard work in front and I stopped. They said it was the landlady's and she refused to sell it. I got the owner's phone number from the for rent sign when it appeared in the yard and looked her name up on the property tax record and called. I didn't immediately jump into "D'ya wanna sell it??", I knew it would take some finessing. So I told her that I was an avid VW enthusiast and just wanted to know what it was. She was reticent, but she finally loosened up and started talking about it and her adventures in it with her kids, running up and down the eastern seaboard living and camping in it. (DAMN, it was friggin' camper bus and not a cool 15-window passenger bus - or so I thought at the moment!) She said it was a '59. Anyway, she made sure that I understood that it WASN'T for sale during the phone conversation. No problem; I get it, I told her. I told her I lived two blocks away and if she was ever over at the house, I'd love to just see it, being an avid VW enthusiast and all. She said that she would be there that weekend and I could stop by if I wanted, but it's not for sale.

Went over that weekend, she was in the carport, tarp off, washing the bus. I introduced myself and she herself, and she opened it up for me to look at. It was SO musty and rank smelling inside, but it looked very complete. Cool, for an old camper bus, I guess, with black and yellow burlap looking seat covers in the "dinette," some cabinet thing on the left with an oblong mirror on it. She showed me a water hose thingy with a little twist faucet doohickey inside a cabinet on the right. An old chemical toilet with black plastic lid, some kinda sling thing in that same black and yellow checkered burlap lookin' upholstery. She told me that made the front seat back into an upper cot for one of her kids when they camped. Yeah, yeah, blah blah blah... it wasn't a cool 15-window bus. In back, it had a marbled mat like you'd see under an old barber's chair back in the day, cabinets on either side but one was an "icebox" with the metal ice bucket, plastic coated metal divider shelf and some really thin plastic bin that slid in under the ice bucket thingy to catch the drain water. There was a red and white bag that contained what she called a canopy tent (it, too, was red and white, old stinky canvas Mad ), an olive drab canvas bag with two really old, dried out leather straps full of long galvanized poles, a small red and white striped bag with some stakes and two strings with different kind of stakes and some kind of cinching "D" clamps or whatever... who cares, it wasn't a cool 15-window bus. The ceiling was all wood and there was a hatch over the "sink counter" thing that could be propped up or fully opened and rest on little rubber bumpers on the roof, as she demonstrated. As if that would make up for it not being a cool 15-window passenger bus Rolling Eyes . Anyway, we exchanged pleasantries and just before I left I gave her my number as she reminded me that she was not at all interested in selling. No worries. After all it wasn't a cool 15-window passenger bus. But if she ever called and wanted to sell it, I could buy it, then sell it for a cool bus.

Oh, here's a pic:
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


By now, it's clearly obvious I wasn't clued into the splitty Type II world at all. I realized that and wanted to know how much an old '59 camper bus with a lot of old camper stuff in it would fetch, just in case she ever called. Boy did I get an education from the Split Bus folks Smile . Seems an old '59 Westy with all the tent stuff, chemical toilet, all tourist delivery paperwork from when the original owner took delivery of it, the invoice from Westfalia Werke for the accessories (all of which were STILL IN THE BUS except the Emka cups and bread box), absolutely zero rust, no body repairs, etc. etc. was a little cooler than a 15-window passenger bus Wink .

So, imagine my elation when the owner called me several months later and asked if I remembered her and might I still be interested in buying the bus. YEP! Bought it, dragged it home and loved it for a number of years, and compiled many accessories for it in the interim. My buddy (and Gainesville neighbor) Jack now owns it. A few summers ago, he removed the respray, uncovering the original mango and sea gull grey paint. Here's what it looks like now under Jack's stewardship (from Bulli a couple years ago.) That's me seated.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


So, my advice about spotting a bus in a back yard? Leave it alone and PM me Razz
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 02, 2020 6:17 am    Post subject: Re: Today I spotted a bus in a back yard .Need advice Reply with quote

Would you believe back in the early 80s we used to cruise around the neighborhoods looking for VWs. Then you could find cars really cheap sometimes free. I bought many needing only minor repair like a clutch or points closed up. All the local shops were too busy fixing cars to go on the hunt like us. Probably the best one that I didn’t buy because I thought at the time it was too expensive, and this was in 1993 was an early 66 deluxe bus with 36k miles in storage since 1972 for 6000 dollars. In hind sight I could kick myself, it was a time capsule. I later found out it was totaled a short time later and crushed for salvage.
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 22, 2020 12:29 pm    Post subject: Re: Today I spotted a bus in a back yard .Need advice Reply with quote

I saw this one sitting in a side yard. Knocked on the door and asked about the bug. He said it was un-drivable because the clutch was "broke" (turned out to be the cable). I asked if he wanted to sell it, and he said he'd take a hundred bucks.

I went to the bank and got back as fast as I could. He had the title ready for me.

Never hurts to ask.

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PostPosted: Mon Jun 22, 2020 3:11 pm    Post subject: Re: Today I spotted a bus in a back yard .Need advice Reply with quote

My buddy Elliott and I did this CONSTANTLY in highschool. 95% of the time they were nice and would say sorry not for sale. we would thank them for their time apologize for the interruption and move on... never a big deal. the fun ones were always the ones that would cuss at you and slam the door in your face . or accuse you of snooping around and threaten you. (we never once would trespass just to look. we're VW people , you can spot a tail light, or a curve of a body line a million miles away.) the key was always to diffuse the situation and apologize for wasting their time and leave as QUICKLY as possible lol.
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