Grateful Dead Van! 1969 Volkswagen Type II Bus
Nothing is more symbolic of the restless decade that was the 1960s than a VW Bus. They were are over the place out West and at Woodstock, becoming the consummate symbolic hippie transport. This is edition is most interesting as it carries a Grateful Dead (band) theme and has a VW Beetle shell grafted onto the roof. It runs and presents well with the only reported issue being a touch of rust. This art piece on wheels is in Huntington Beach, California, and is available here on Facebook Marketplace for $15,000 OBO. Thanks for the heads up on this one, Rocco B.!
Technically called the Type II, the VW Bus has had a lot of names or nicknames over the years. The Vanagon, Eurovan, “Bay Window Bus,” and “Bread-Loaf Bus” are just a few. The ones that were fitted with a pop-top roof for outdoor living are Westfalia Campers. The seller’s version looks like a standard VW Bus that had a Beetle “high boy” added to it in 1993. The Beetle portion of the vehicle faces backward instead of forward, presumably for more interior headroom and better exterior aerodynamics.
The architects behind the transformation of this van nearly 30 years ago were no doubt into the Grateful Dead. Who could blame them? They put out a lot of great rock ‘n roll music between 1965-95. Besides the transplant on the roof, this van has a handmade “Keep On Truckin’” rear bumper, 15”x5.5” chrome Ghia wheels with new tires, and an assortment of other custom touches inside and out.
This rolling time machine is powered by a dual-port, 2-barrel VW engine (1835 cc?) with a high output HEI ignition and a deep sunk oil pan. She was built to run 70 mph on road trips and we’re told it does that admirably. Because of its unique appearance and visual connection to the “Dead”, this van has appeared in a couple of documentaries about the band and van life. The only known pitfalls with this vehicle are that there is a touch of rust under the windshield and on the back roof that should probably be attended to before it gets any worse. Who’s ready for a road trip?
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Comments
Diggin some Memphis Blues vibes as well. Totally farm out. But at least the steel isn’t wavy gravy.
Right arm, bother!
Extra “head” room so you can keep on truckin to your brokedown palace!☮️🖖🏼
Far out, man. Show of hands, who here lived through the period Russ so gingerly mentions, the 60’s/70’s? Don’t be shy, we all have skeletons in our closets. It’s probably no surprise, I was front and center, much to my old mans sheer dismay. He HATED hippies and all they stood for. His way of life was threatened, and he was VERY vocal about it. Being a family site, I’ll spare you the colorful way he put it. I’m sure it was me that made his hair fall out.. Graduating in 1972, it was the height of the counter-culture, and practically no one was immune. It was imperative to be cool and nothing was cooler than a van. Sent a clear message who you were. VW vans had their place, but not in the midwest. Naturally, out west, or east, and a little known fact, Key West, Fl. has the biggest concentration of VW buses on the planet,,,,or so it seemed. VW buses were everywhere down there.
This alteration? Hippies still had a shred of decency, and I doubt would be seen in this, but Huntington Beach, ( rumored to be the actual “Surf City”, not Venice Beach, as some claim) and I’ve been to both, this would fit right in.
RE: Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead,,,didn’t get any better than that for someone( me) who still listens to that music to this very day. Gave us some great music, and may he RIP.
Oh, just one more thing on VW buses. I was watching Mecum auctions in Chicago on the screen, a 60’s VW window van sold for $85,000! That was more than the next car, a non- F.I. 1958 Corvette( my favorite) sold for. What does THAT tell you?
Morning Howard, I caught that auction also. It seemed like a lot of the values were flipped, like your example. Some very nice old rides cheap early in the aution that I thought would have pulled more. Oh well, guess I will have to keep on Truckn”.
I must have lived through the sixties because I can’t remember them. lol.
1973 grad, right there with you. The hippie, or counterculture movement, was fueled by resentment spawned by the Vietnam war. Parents, WW2 veterans, couldn’t understand why their kids didn’t want to be drafted to fight someone else’s civil war.
I was 5 in 1960; 15 in 1970. In between I saw a lot of things that I still remember…”whites only” signs in Virginia Beach, a Marine guarding a flag-draped coffin on a train, parts of Pittsburgh burned out by race riots, to name a few
Some scholars of the era say that the Sixties ended at Altamont. And, the saying that “if you remember the Sixties you didn’t experience the Sixties” is pure BS. Attempted suicide with drugs is just plain stupid.
Hi Dave, great to hear, we’re in the same gear, here, the 60’s were a tense time, but the hype was over the top. Newcasts were just beginning to show live coverage, and the hippie movement was front and center. The reason there was so much hatred during Vietnam, was I read, for the 1st time, people actually saw what war looked like on their TV’s, and were horrified. It was the 1st “televised” war. I kept a low profile during that time, but was right in the mix. I had friends that went to S.F during Haight-Ashbury,(68?) and they said it was a nightmare, not the happy “Love-In” it was projected as.
VW vans were NOT for us, we were still very much USA, Ford and Dodge were the kings, VW’s were just delivery vans for dry cleaning outfits, florists and fried chicken delivery.
Hey @Dave. You came along a little late for the heart of the Movement. But you definitely got the flavor.
I was turned on to the Beatles in late 1962, when the US buzz started “about this amazing band in England”. I was also in San Francisco in 1967 for the summer of love. First time I ever smelled that sweet aroma of Mari Jan e. Also my first experience with Lucy, which forever changed my life, for the good. Unfortunately Viet Nam was about to get insane. I’m thrown off by your reference to “attempted suicide by drugs”. It’s is a bit bizarre.
Sry for consuming so much bandwidth, chatters.
Remember, Don’t b0gart that j0int, my friend!
Hey, Howard – I saw the Dead play at the Avalon Ballroom in 1967! Also, I think “Surf City” might have originally been Doheny Beach at Dana Point (listen to the Surfaris “Surfer Joe” – “Down in Doheny where the surfers all go . . .”) which was a huge surf scene very early on.
I might catch flak for this, but I applaud the creativity and execution of the VW top on this van. It’s aerodynamic and functional with the additional headroom and windows.. Somebody had a vision and did the hard work to make it a reality. I wish more people would do the same.
Sure that’s not a “touch of gray” instead of a touch of rust?
In our hair I’d say.
Would love to have driven this back in the day on Shakedown Street, you know it used to be the heart of town ;~)
Looks pretty well executed, I’d like to see the workmanship in person.
Graduated HS in ‘75 so I (somewhat) remember tons of amazing rock-n- roll that was much more important than classes…among other things!
There was one of these parked next to a house that was on the verge of falling down for years. The state took the house for a road widening/shopping center thing and I kept expecting the van to be towed away by someone. When they started taking the house down, the van still sat there and on the day they bulldozed the foundation, they dozed the van right along with it.
Wallyum,
Around 1985 I was driving along a side road just outside the DC line near the Peace Cross. I was driving along a few houses that had been bought by the state to widen the road. As I drove by one house, I spied a bulldozer yanking an old car out of a backyard garage. It was a car I wanted badly. I stopped and ran over to the bulldozer operator.
I explained that I wanted the car for spare parts and could he put it aside for a day or 2. He said because the car was out of the garage, he could knock the structure down, and that would be the point he was going to stop for the day. He didn’t care what happened to the car as long as it was gone by 6am the next day.
I drove the 25 miles to my shop and returned with my ’69 Ford rollback, and had it up on the truck & tied down just before the sun set, and I hurried out of the area because back then it wasn’t a very safe place after dark.
The car? A 1942 Packard Clipper Super 160 sedan. It was rough, and realistically beyond restoration, especially after being unceremoniously yanked from a deep sleep by a chain around the left front bumper brackets. But it made a great parts car for my restoration shop that specialized in Packards.
I need a Miracle.
The builder must have used a couple of gallons or more of body filler to blend that other VW body into the bus’ roof. Go easy through the curves. The whole affair looks pretty top heavy.
My fearful thoughts are similar Tom.
Even a low level of our high speed South-Easter wind, would cause more heart stopping moments than my heart attack in 2010.
I was hijacked by a pair if blondes on my way to Woodstock who picked me up in a V.W. Bus, we ended up in California. My first experience in the district was when I was fourteen I would hike out there every summer for 3-4 months than hike back here to St. louis to school. until 69 when I was drafted. my wife and I followed the Dead around on tour, interesting we had a69 ford van. Later finally bought a V.W. I sold it my wife has never forgiven me. Love those buses. I am building a73 bus now but parts hard to get and expensive. Any help would be appreciated.
All night long, tripping with uncle Cid, Jamin to the dead. Awsome find! Love to see so many grateful barn find heads!
OMG, it’s a pregnant Vanagon!
The name we called the orange Westfalia bus that we used was
“The Lead Twinkie”.
unfortunate they put da bug on backwards. Yes, I see how it blends a lill better BUT, I wanna slide over a floor, pull upa “chair” & inda rain, flip on the wipers (or just sit up there anyways)…
“…well executed…” agreed but as the other guy hints “Is it mud or metal?” Cant C frm da pic. 17 y/o in ’69 – hitchhiked there frm ‘Bostun’ 3 X by then…
1st X I went da southern route. Almost as bad as Easy Riders ended up, never went below I40 after that~
My Uncle John still has his Fiat 600 Multipla. He’d a one man band but he doesn’t drive anymore. One way or another I’d like to fetch it outta San Rafael. I wonder if this VW could tow it, even if the wind weren’t easy? Pj
Roofs are around so it shouldn’t be a problem fixing it. The prices on VW vans, first gen Broncos and newer Jeeps are astronomical.
Still restoring my T2a from 1968 and listening to the Dead daily – the music never stopped!