Billion Dollar BUS

[toyvergnugen]

Maybe this story should more accurately be titled " How to turn a VW Bus into a Billion Dollars." Before I get ahead of myself, I want everybody to take a long pause and flash back to April 1, 1976. This is one of the eighty days that TIME magazine says changed the world. This is NOT some April's fool joke or an old fool's rambling but an actual revolutionary day that impacted us in ways far beyond what the protagonists in this story ever dreamed. It was a day for DREAMERS. I was backpacking through Europe somewhere in Germany lost in my own youthful dreamquest. Try to think back to where you were on this date. Some of you were probably just a gleam in your parents eye or just toddlers exploring the world for the first time. Some of you who are more experienced were probably just finishing college, starting a new career or family and beginnning your own search for the American dream. As I sit here typing and looking at the computer screen soon to send this story out into some cyber wilderness, it is hard to believe that on April 1, 1976 two high school kids both named Steve were wiring a bunch of circuits together in their parent's garage that made a lot of the computer wizardy that we now take for granted possible. These two kids were Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak and they were the founders of Apple Computers. Although Apple is not the leading purveyor of computer models out there, they made everyone think in a different way that made the last twenty-five years of personal computers possible. They made personal computers affordable and real for real people. No longer were computers the domain of Big Business and Big Institutions. According to TIME magazine, Steve Jobs sold his VW Bus to help finance their early operations. I wish I could have been there to hear how that conversation went. "Should I sell or Should I not?" "VW buses will be valuable some day!" "But, I love my VW Bus." I can definitely appreciate the dilemna. Whenever I have sold a VW it is more like losing a member of the family than selling a car. I always hope that it is going to a "good home" and that the person buying it appreciates all the time, money and work that I have put into restoring and maintaining it. Or maybe, Steve Jobs did not give it a second thought because they were so focused on making computers. I prefer to think it was the formeer rather than the latter. I would have liked to been the buyer of that BUS. I wonder what year and model it was and where it is now. I would love to own the VW Bus that provided the seed money for Apple Computers. Maybe instead of a VW logo on the front, it would wear the Apple logo (wiith permission, of course.) I hope whoever bought it, took good care of it. Not for the sake of Apple Computers, but for all VW Bus lovers out there. At one time people didn't care. It is people like us on the SAMBA that have changed all that. If you thought you might sell your VW Bus for a Billion dollars as my lead may have teased, I am sorry to disappoint, but you can still dream, can't you? And isn't that half the fun. Until next time, Drive VW, Drive safely and dream BIG dreams!

by Philip Amon ( previously published in my local VW newsletter)

[TeamSpatula]

Hmmmm, maybe I could trade him one of my busses for all his stock...

in case he's feeling all nostalgic & all...
_________________
<---Air Cooled Search & Rescue Team - STICKERS & Tshirts for sale!
Seeking a camper!!!
1972 Jeep Commando FOR SALE/TRADE
1981 Ford F100 rescue truck
http://www.TeamSpatula.com

[meinvw]

A side note to add, Tom Monahan (sp) founder of Dominoes pizza, traded a Beetle to his brother for controlling half of the company. I am still wondering who got the better deal! And one more piece of history on pizza and VW's. John Shnatter (sp) founder of Papa-Johns bought a lot of Beetles for his drivers in the early days, because of their dependability he thoght they were the best vehicle for the job.
John was right, showing my age now, I delivered pizza for 18 years, and almost always in a VW. Sold my 71 to a friend at 530k still kicking, and put 160k on my 61, in that time. Unfortunaly they no longer have that wonderfull VW smell, it is now pepperoni, and sauce arouma. No air freshner needed for awhile.

[nathansnathan]

You would think there'd be at least 1 picture of Steve Jobs and that bus, but I haven't seen it. I kinda wonder if it was a fabrication, maybe he wished he had a vw bus. Wouldn't $1500 have been a lot for a split back in '76?