Work in Progress: Part 1

It's been a few weeks since the fun, multiple day journey from northern Idaho to home with our new-to-us vintage bus. If you missed the blog about that delightful trip, be sure to check out our blog archive! Also in that blog, there are pictures of the interior. As much as we love the outside of the bus, the inside reminds us a little too much of permanent waves, plastic covered couches, and bell bottoms (and not in a good way).

We've been working on basically gutting the bus to remodel the interior. We've been removing parts of the inside, because we think a find like this bus deserves a second life. So far, we have removed the carpet, taken out the mattresses (Chappie doesn't get dibs any more), and the couch is out. We did find a little bit of rot behind the couch. While that is a bummer, we're still extremely pleased with the bus and its potential. Considering the other vintage vehicles we were looking at and the condition they were in, we still think we made the right choice.

Carpet's out!

Chappie thought he had dibs on the beds, but now he's going to have to sleep on the floor!

This is where the couch was

And hopefully, it won't be too much of an issue :/

Since we are going to be taking this on the road and need to be able to transport our art, we need to be able to tow a trailer. We've taken off the bumper so we can add a trailer hitch. The bumper was also a bit crooked, but now it's looking better. So that we can be ready for the Reggae Festival next month, we are going to go with a receiver hitch. It's not quite as exciting as taking out the guts of the bus, but one of the nice things about older vehicles is that they are a bit more owner friendly than new vehicles.

Digging around in the rear...of the bus

Bumper's off so we can re-mount it, hopefully straight this time

New receiver :D

Be sure to keep checking back as we make progress. We are looking forward to having a bus that's inhabitable and ready to be on the road. We're also pretty stoked about the process. We're hoping to have enough of it done so we can use it for the festival, but it won't be completely done by then. You can come see us at the Northwest World Reggae Festival (NWWRF) July 27-29 in Oregon! Check out their website for more info www.nwwrf.com