Here is my '77 Bus, Melvin, for feature. Melv has been with me through some of the best times in my life. He is a standard 7 passenger model originally from California. About 10 years ago my dad bought him off Craigslist in VA, and brought him up to MD. We drove him around a bit, but we always had fuel injection issues and he got parked and forgotten for a while. Since it seemed to be such a nice bus, that just needed a little work, I decided to buy him off my dad in 2018 along with my then girlfriend (now wife).

I installed a new fuel pump, some fuel and vacuum hose, and a new battery and set off from Baltimore to Philly. We made it about halfway before I lost all compression and had to tow it the rest of the way. Melv got an engine rebuild with new pistons and cylinders on my friend's garage floor. We took our engagement photos with him, then did welding and bodywork, new window seals, new paint, and finally a new TMI door panel kit from JBugs.

We often thought about selling Melv to help fund an engagement ring, a wedding, or to buy our house, but we're so glad we managed to hang onto him. The lead image is from this last fall when we took him on a 400 mile round trip journey to the Austin Dam campground in North West PA. We broke a clutch cable, but luckily had a spare and he was otherwise a trusty companion.