You could say I didn't learn with the first bus, hence why I thought it was a good idea to do second one but, I did learn...learnt a lot and this was applied to Vuk.

As with Val I bought the most rust-free example I could find, in this case it also happened to be the first bus I looked at, but having some history with these old V-dubs and with this one having spent all its' life in California I was happy it was a goodie...and a goodie it proved to be. Not perfect as there was obvious crunched metal in the front panel (leaving as much original metal in place whilst replacing the bent metal with new metal). The rear corner had had an obvious bash (again replacing only what needed replacing with new) and the battery tray had simply been disoled by battery acid over the years. That was it, no rust anywhere else.

That didn't stop me putting it on axle stands and pulling all the components out from underneath it so I could clean and protect it all. At the same time the mechanicals got a thorough going over, the necessary work was done to get rid of the altitude and start giving it some attitude in the suspension department.

Whilst I was doing all the above work, the ideas for the interior were forming in my head. To read the full story of how the interior was developed/created have a look here...yes, I'll admit to sitting in the bus (whilst on axle stands) imagining having it on the road but this really, no really!, is necessary to work out how to lay things out.

With the interior completed with a fridge, a 1kW power inverter, a solar panel, a gas cooker and most importantly a nice stereo, it was time to enjoy it.

The longest and strangely enough greatest road-trip has so far has been to Chimay in Belgium for the European Bug-In 3 event - if you were there, you know how good it was, if you weren't just go to the next one.