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Acceptance

OK, no "Power Blogger" status for me anytime soon. I originally targeted a weekly post, but now monthly compilations may be the course until property values go up again, we cash out on the rentals and pay down/off the Marsh house, and I won't have to work as much. Or fewer house, etc. projects. Tough call.


I finally sold "Ursula", the Volvo, after 9 long years of putting about 90K miles on her (got her at 42K) and mixed levels of bliss. Bliss, such as the day I bought it, the first time the seat warmers came in handy, and those 2-year intervals between major check-up work. Not-so-bliss was the $2K or so it needed at critical mileage points. The other side of someone's endearing "I had a Volvo and it went 250K+ miles..." story. I'll have fond recollections once the MasterCard is paid down below the level I was at when Ursula was at 105K miles. Oh, well. Sale translates to seed money for the pickup and Jul-e-us l'Arancia, beloved Orange Westy.


It's been a month since the sale. And I wonder: how is Ursula, and does she ever ask about me?


Speaking of which: how is Home Depot/Lowe's, and do they ever ask about me?


Yes, for the first time in 5 years, with all the work on all the houses, I went 3 weeks without my weekly worship at "Our Lady of Perpetual Home Improvement". Not that I don't need to go, what with the bathroom being oh, so close to being done (may need some paint for the door moulding), and a thing -- or 3 -- to complete the kitchen backsplash.


Oh, yes. The backsplash. I called my bluff in the last post and took the pickup to Galetti Way to find me 2 mortar scrapers (aka day laborers). Man, they rocked. Plowed through the project in 2 hours, and really picked up the pace when I -- day laborer foremen out there (and you know who you are) take note -- played Madonna's "Confessions on a Dance Floor".


Inspired by their efforts, I decided to make use of some shelving and got the remaining basement cabinet the shelving it so patiently waited for. Now, the basement has reached "pretty much done" status. The uba tuba granite bar/countertop fabrication remains. And when I went to Circuit City to try to get a replacement part for the cigarette lighter-jack thingie for my satellite radio receiver, there seems to be another missing part: a 37" Sharp Aquos LCD HDTV with really crisp resolution. May have been a distant reality (given the annual bonus check) until...a friend asked me if I read about a '74 VW Westfalia Campmobile for sale in the local paper's Classifieds for $1,000. To which I said "If it ain't on eBay, it ain't on my radar."


But hey, it was worth a look-see, since the bus was only 5 miles from home. So I set out with the wife's telling question "You're only going to look at it, right?" And honestly, I was just going to see what a $1,000 Westy is in the Reno area given: a) no urgency: it was white with blue plaid cloth fabric interior, and anything I need is orange/orange plaid; b) relevance: eBay treats these "breadboxes" like they're a chassis to a '57 Thunderbird, whereby it goes for whatever the seller asks; or c) curiosity: the seller doesn't know what s/he has and wants to unload it.


Turns out it was a little of (b) and (c). I get there, with the guy saying "Let's go to the garage." So I'm thinking it's garaged, it must be grandpa's part-time cruiser, and for $1,000 (which I didn't have, BTW) I can buy/sell the deal of the century and pocket about $8-12,000.


Uh,...no. Looks like it was there to spare this aging Bay Area rust-bucket from further decay. A closer look at the thick layer of cracking bondo on the rear right quarter, I surmised the thing got hit by a tree in its early years. Oh yeah; the engine doesn't run, i.e., the engine was partially dismantled.


So out of courtesy, I want to take a look inside with the mind-set of a deep sea diver seeking out a shipwreck -- maybe a salvageable part or 2 I can pick off.


Good call, me! (Hypothetical High-5;...awesome.) Because it turns out that all that my Westy is not/has not, this Westy is/has. Specifically, the cabinetry and/or cabinetry veneer failing on mine is cherry on this. Vent covers, trim, etc., all usable. And to top it off, this bus somehow retained two items I only saw in either eBay listings for I can't count that high or the user manual as the optional [part name here]: the collapsible spare/tire wheel assembly that is stored in the sink cabinet, and the jump seat/camping bench (albeit with a blue plaid cover).


So my objective was to hope the guy didn't see my eyes bug out at the sight of about $600 worth of usable/sellable parts (on eBay at least), and to make a reasonable offer that he wouldn't reply with something like "no parting out...all or nothing." I didn't have all, and I was thinking I could sell off the parts and get a bridge loan or float a check, etc. to get those elusive parts.


Must have been my day. In my best haggler voice -- and mine pretty much sucks -- I say "I can't use the bus, but I'll give you $200 for some parts I need." Not only did I get an "OK," but I was handed the title. Turns out the guy was moving to Idaho in a few days and, already strapped with a $3K shipping cost for about 10 tons of machine equipment, was at the everything must go stage on anything marketable. Thank goodness there was air in the tires, and that I am a member of AAA. Now, the new Westy (as yet unnamed) is out back of the 805 house with the Westy cover, waiting for its next stage. Once I swap out or scavenge the remaining parts Jul-e-us has been silently craving.


So...anybody want a Westy? Cheap? Good fabric; good bumpers; a must-have parts bus for your white or (Gatorade) green type 2 VW bus. I'll be accepting any/all offers.

[NOTE: Weiss-ty was sold on June 17, 2009 to a loving VW repair/restoration shop in Reno.]

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