Sounds like a bunch'o reprobates if you ask me. Oh yeah, nothing wrong here. Three guys in a rental car with lots of cash flying through Oklahoma, at night. One of them with no positive ID.. Humm, sounds fishy to me. I would have stopped at the trooper's office on the way back and yelled out "Dee Dee Dee." Nice find James, good luck with it. -----Original Message----- >From: James Dwan <james_dwan_2000@xxxxxxxxx> >Sent: May 29, 2007 10:47 AM >To: tcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx >Subject: [tcb] ...now I got my Magic Bus! Trip report (long) without weird >code symbols this time > >Trip Report - > >It was a rainy Friday night as I picked up Billy and Larry around 8. By then I >had already driven 4 hrs through Memorial Day >let’s-get-outta-town-in-the-rain-traffic from downtown Dallas to my house in >Garland, out near Lake Ray Hubbard, to Love Field to get the rental car to New >Hope, East of Mckinney. Got a nice Impala with XM and a trunk big enough for 2 >dead hookers. >Found out on the way that Larry had an expired license so he wouldn’t be >driving. Billy took the wheel in Oklahoma and got pulled over around 11ish. I >love how they always ask, “Do you know why I pulled you over?” I mean why do >they do that? Are they hoping someone is gonna confess to having just knocked >over a bank and hauling dead hookers to Kansas? Anyway Billy figured he was >speeding and she agreed. Took his license and my rental agreement. She came >back on my side and asked for my license. As we waited we noticed another cop >pull up, then a third then a sinking feeling came over me as I was told by the >drug dog handler in the flack jacket to roll up our windows as he led the >German Shepard around the car. Not good. >Of course we didn’t have anything on us we didn’t even gave a cooler of beer! >We did have a little bottle of Jameson for medicinal puposes that had been >opened for some medical emergency earlier in the day. But other than that all >we had was a briefcase with alot of cash, long hair and a one way rental car >with Texas plates close to midnight on a Friday night speeding through >Oky-land on “Zero Tolerance” weekend. > >Larry was told to get outta the car first by one of Oklahoma’s finset. A rolly >polly 5 ft, 350 lb no neck goon with something to prove. Then I was told to >get out then Billy. They seperated us then told us to empty out all our >pockets. I was waiting for them to ask us for consent to search the vehicle - >they never did. I would have said no and waited for the search warrant to >arrive. They obviously thought they had something and weren’t gonna be >inconveinienced by laws about illegal searches or civil rights or profiling. >Then the fat one popped the runk and announced he smelled marijuana. And >grabbed my briefcase from the trunk. “What’s in it? he asked me. “Money” I >said “How much?” “Alot” “How much is alot?” I told him and he told me to open >it. >At this point I was getting a pissed and told him no. I had nothing to hide >and was getting tired of this. I was imediately cuffed. They brought the dog >over to the case and told him to sniff it, he did and did not bark or do >anything, they told him again and pointed at the case, again nothing, after >three more times the dog put his paw on it then it was like “Good boy!” > >I was then told by the fatman to open or he would open it for me. I had to >give him the combo and it took him a while with those sausages to work the >locks. He opened it and it appeared empty. “Where is the money?” he asked with >a smart ass tone in his voice. In the pocket I said. Then they took out the >envelopes and smelled the money! By this time they had removed the spare tire >and my bag unrolled my socks, looked under the seats and I swear they tried >taking the seats out but didn’t probably because it was a rental. > >I figured this was about to go very badly and told the cop who was going >through my bag why we were going to Missouri and that I could prove the money >was mine by showing them the cancelled check. I also showed him the M-codes I >had printed out from the Samba. I told him how much these buses were worth >when restored and that was why I had that cash and they had no choice - they >then let us go. If I didn’t have my checkbook I doubt I would have made it to >Missouri to get that bus! > >We got to the hotel around 2:00, woke up at 6:30 and ate breakfast at the Boss >cafe in Clinton around 10:00. >Picked up the Uhaul and met the owner around 11:00. We crawled under the Bus >with a drop light, looked at the cancerous rust hole in one of the belly pans. >Billy picked at it and pulled out some rat hair and dirt. There are probably a >couple of rodents still sitting in the bus as I type this, hanging out between >the belly pans and the floor. > >So I tried to noc off some off the price and he met me halfway. The rest of >the Bus is in good shape for sitting in shed with a dirt floor since 1971. He >even draine the tank. The engine turns by hand! I gave them the money and >Momma and the family friend took the money and a Colt revolver to the bank >while we figured out how to get the Bus out of the shed it had sat in for 36 >years. The wheels wouldn’t turn so we hooked it up to the tractor and they >turned! He rolled outta the shed and the rest went pretty smooth except when >Larry was guiding the Bus onto the skids and fell backward onto the transport >while the Bus was rolling onto it! > >The guy I bought it from, Virgil, was the 3rd owner. The second owner, >Virgil’s brother-in-law, blew the engine on the way back from Kansas City and >sold it to Virgil. Virgil blew the new motor it before he found out that the >valves needed adjusting on a regular basis. >He built the new motor and drove it 50 miles before he parked it in ‘71. It >didn’t move again until Saturday May 26th, 2007. Evidently Virgil liked the >free company truck he just got in ‘71 and by the time he thought about driving >the Bus again, years later the rag top had been ruined so he left it where it >was. Virgil was the only guy in the area that would work on VWs back in the >day. He has a rusted out 58 Panel sitting next to a Super and a Notchback. >He’s got lots of other parts wich he tried selling to us but I told him >politely I was only intyerested in the Bus. If I were going to make a movie >about a VW barn find of a lifetime I would cast all the people the same right >down to the waitress who brought me the biggest chiken fried steak breakfast I >have ever eaten. > > > > > http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/354833.jpg > http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/354832.jpg > http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/354806.jpg > http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/354820.jpg > http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/354800.jpg > http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/354822.jpg > http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/354817.jpg > http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/354831.jpg > http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/354824.jpg > http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/354830.jpg > http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/354807.jpg > > > >James >DAC >'59 23 Window Deluxe >'73/'77 Westfakia >'78 Super Vert > > >--------------------------------- >Ready for the edge of your seat? 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