After I came back from Irwindale yesterday, I met up with a guy who wanted to buy my pair of vintage 1956 California license plates. Initially, we agreed over the phone to meet in Lake Elsinore because he lives in Temecula. But on my way to Irwindale, he called me and told me to meet him at around noon time near my house. I felt relieved because that saves me a 100+ miles of drive to Lake Elsinore.
As expected, the guy arrived at our agreed place. The guy’s name is Ron and he is part Filipino, Chinese & Hawaiian. He never been in the Philippines but likes to visit the country. Ron was driving a Hertz rental truck that was towing an auto-transport trailer. On the trailer is a 1952 23-window VW bus that he just picked up from Long Beach pier. I was totally amazed when I saw the bus because it is a very rare Volkswagen bus. He said that he bought it from someone in United Kingdom and had it shipped to California. Originally, the bus was used in South Africa and a British national bought it and brought it to U.K.. After years of use, the Briton decided to sell it.
The 1952 bus did not have any rear bumpers, which is how it was designed back then. The nose did not have any damage, which is totally amazing because it is rare for a 59 year old bus not to have any front damage. The dashboard of the 52 looked original without any cuts—another eye popper.
It did not have any engine but Ron said that he is picking up an original 1952 engine that he is buying from another person. When I asked him if he plans to resell it after it is restored, he said that he will drive it for a while then resell it. That vehicle will surely be very expensive. It could easily fetch a cool $100,000 when restored.
This 1952 bus is so rare that it will surely be one of the main attraction in any VW show or gathering in California.
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