WE FOUND A VW BUS PARADISE // Hasta Alaska // S04E03

Hey guys and welcome back to Combi Life. In this episode we're going to be looking at two of the finest examples of V-Dub buses in the entire world in my opinion. They are very very different, one is electronic and one is oh so beautifully classic. I hope you enjoy the episode. Last time on Asda Alaska we flash back on the life of little Alaska, a South American traveling street dog that's lived in our V-Dub combi her entire life and traveled more than most humans on the planet. We shared her first steps in the U.S. of A, including how she ended up on Californian TV news and worryingly on the Vets operating table. This time we're taking our first look at American V-Dub culture, making new friends and comparing two of the most interesting combis in the world. You've reached the combi hotline in the unlikely event that we have the funds available. Hello Asda Alaska. Hey I want to invite you guys to a show coming up this Wednesday. It's at San Onofre. We're going to skip work and surf all day and hopefully you guys can make it there. Get there early bro, front row. Big Jammin' is the winner of the Surf Vehicle. Big Wednesday was started by Rich Kimble. It takes place at San Onofre State Park. It's one of the first places surfing came from Hawaii to the United States and California. People from all over Southern California cruise out in their Volkswagens, mainly buses, but any Volkswagen. Barbecue the whole day and there's a surf contest, friendly type surf contest where people just go out and have fun and it's more about the camaraderie and enjoying the day off. It's great fun and I think I think we should do it every week. I've been living in a V-Dub for a long time now, but always on the move until this day I hadn't seen with my own eyes the family that I was part of. There we go. Thanks man. And my name's Dan. How's the following been for a while? Really? What does he do? He just travels from Chile, he goes through Peru where the mom was from, Argentina to Nicaragua. Wait, but you missed a part. He traveled with a bus. A Chilean bus. He just made it to the States. I'm doing pretty good, man. Awesome. I feel like he knows me for some reason. We've got lots more videos coming. Are you making one from here? Yeah, I think we'll make one. You're going to be in it. Hey Ben, how's it going, man? I'm Jehu. I'm a big fan. I've actually been following your story for a while now and I'm finally so glad to meet you. You sleep here and then you travel here. I try to minimize all of the design for like fridges and normal camping things that you might want to have to allow for more space for people to stuff and more space for people to sit. This is not really good for a 1.6 engine in case anyone's thinking of repeating what I'm doing. Is that what you're running on this? Yeah. Like an original like... Actually, I've changed it for a Mexican Beetle fuel injection. Oh, okay. But it's still a 1.6. It's a bit of a debate, like go fuel injection or stay carbureted. Oh, really? No, come on. Well, thank you for inviting us into your journey and we definitely have enjoyed it so far. Stay tuned, there's loads more dramas coming. Yes, and we're definitely hoping that the second half of your trip, the northern part of your trip is going to be just as amazing as the first part. So, thank you. It's hard to choose a favorite amongst so many awesome rides. But for us, there were two buses that stood out from the crowd. So, let's take a closer look. This bus was made January 18th, 1955. It's one of the last of the first generation micro buses. Do people ever offer to buy the bus off you? Every day. What's the most you've been offered? A lot. A lot. A lot? A small condo. Too much? Yeah, too much. It makes me nervous. It's considered a Samba or a Deluxe. It has the extra roof windows and the sunroof. And it also has the full-length dash and all the aluminum trim, seating for nine. It came standard with a 36 horsepower motor. All original glass, lots of original parts, all original interior, all original door panels. A lot of people have their buses or their collection of cars and they just sit in garages. And a lot of people want their car to be perfect. I don't need it to be perfect. If it runs and starts and stops and the lights work, that's perfect. That sounds very perfect compared to our bus. Yeah. Well, you guys have made it a pretty long way. I mean, you know, and you're still going. So, I cruise my bus a lot. I drive it a lot. I probably have 25,000 miles on it. I got it in 2007 and I bought it in boxes and I put it all together. What happened was the guy took it apart in 1980 to restore it. You know, everyone wants it a pretty thing. Well, you know, things don't have to be shiny paint to be pretty. And what happened was he had some problems and issues with the paint job. He wasn't happy with it and he put the bus away unfinished. And that's why the dash is still in primer and the bumpers are still in primer. The decklid is still in primer because he never finished the paint job. And instead of finishing it, he said, oh, I'll just sand it down and I'll repaint it again. Well, that never happened. He got married, had seven kids and never touched the bus again. And it sat for 26 years completely apart until I bought it in 2007. So then I drove up there over the weekend, picked it up, brought it back to San Diego and immediately started putting it together. Everything on the bus works from the windshield wipers to the semaphore turn signals. Even the clock takes this, takes perfect time. It's a Kainzel. That's the manufacturer. It's an eight day clock. So every eight days you're, you're supposed to, you know, every seven days wind it up, right? So you go to work on Monday morning, you wind up the clock and then you have your clock for the rest of the week and you just wind it up in the back and it'll last eight days. And this is the, uh, with the deluxe center. So, you know, this is, this is the only color you can get. Yeah. But yeah, but where are you going to put the surfboards? I like the center. I'm sure you'll agree that 10 foot Doug's barn door deluxe Samba is something special. And as is often the case with classic vehicles, the older and more original the vehicle, the more value they retain. However, our new friend Jay Hughes combi is unique and rare in a completely different way. You might notice something different. This isn't my bus. One of the cool things about coming to amazing events like this at big Wednesdays, you get to meet some really cool people. And this is actually someone that I've been following on YouTube. So this is Jay who here, Jay, who you want to tell us a little bit about what you've got going on with your VW bus? Yeah, this is my dream car. I converted a 1957 VW bus into an electric vehicle, an electric vehicle, electric vehicle. So check it out. This is my bus, Ben. 1957. What exactly is this? That is the motor and the controller. This is, this is a trick. No, that is a motor. This is not worth powering this vehicle. Yeah. It's a, it's no, this is actually a lot easier than when you've been dealing. You know, like you've been rebuilding motors with the pistons and rings and cam shafts and all that nonsense. This is like 10 times easier. This is literally just batteries. There's a, that's a controller, basically a big switch that lets, controls how much current goes into the motor and motor. And that bolts right onto the transmission with the same four bolts that the regular engine used to, original engine used to. You're telling me you're powering this by a washing machine motor? Well, a slightly bigger motor. This is actually rated pretty close to that 1600, 1.6 liter engine. I bet you have a race, eh? Yeah. Oh, well. I bet you're a taco. I bet you're a taco defeater. Okay. Enough with the race. More on that later. Is it dangerous to work on or anything? Oh, it is. There is a level of danger. This is considered a low voltage system. But it would still give you a slap? It is. It still could kill you. It's like 120 volts fully charged. And it's about 95 volts fully depleted. So your traditional Volkswagen engine is only going to kill you if you've still got your hippie hair and it gets caught in the fan. 21st century danger. Here to drive an electric bus. Yeah. How different is it from yours? Yeah. Very different. It's very different. Cleaner. Less rodents living in here. One down, 55 to go. Wow. Look at this. So that is what shows you your battery status. Make sure it's on reverse. No, no, no. You don't put it on reverse. No, just, just put it, um, actually put it on first, second, third. Third? Yeah, third. Uh, and then you, so you turn the key on. Okay. Watch out guys. And then this is forward and reverse, this little button, right? So just press. So let go of the clutch because you don't need to press it. I don't need the clutch? No, you just let it go. There's no... No, because there's no, there's no stalling. It's not working in my head. All right. I'm really nervous for some reason. Really? Yeah. So you can go. Yeah. What the hell? Oh, I want this. Yeah. See? No noise. Well, other than all the rattling, no noise. Let's go to Velasco in this. Yes. Let's do it. Yeah. What do you think? I mean, this is, uh, quiet. It's fantastic. I want to put my foot on the clutch. Like I'm, I'm not even used to driving automatic cars. Nevermind. Like, Oh yeah. Electric. This is like an automatic. You'd never have to press on the clutch. This is overwhelming my senses. I'm loving it. This is the future, man. We're driving the future. It's like the past and the future coming together. Yeah. Split window perfection. Yeah. It's like best of both worlds, right? Front windows opening is a treat as well. I could have done with something like this in my, in my bus, right? They're popular down there. No, you've never saw. No, I've seen a handful of these since Chile. Okay. Yeah. I mean, I mean just for the air, it's so hot down there. No air conditioning. Like I would have been like, I'm not going to ask her. I'm going to start the motor. Yeah. You can't stall this guy. Electric dude is the future. If you think that Jehu's DIY electric motor is impressive, you should know that he also created this 23 window E-Samba by transforming a 1957 panel bus. Let me tell you, Jehu and his projects are pretty interesting. We definitely recommend that you check out his YouTube channel. It took me seven months to put holes in the roof. And then it took me like. That's Mexican time, right? Seven months. No. That's what happened to me. Five months to rebuild my engine. Oh really? No, this was seven months. Seven months to cut a hole in the roof. So this took a long time. The electric motor, you can do it in a weekend. It's that simple. There's nothing to it. So this thing actually could get up hills. Oh yeah. Here's a hill. Yeah, there's a hill. Punch it. Oh, the wind. Yeah, the wind. Yeah, it gets crazy. Yeah, it gets a little gnarly. You have to close it 10 times. Hell no, I love it. Maybe in Alaska when I've got icicles hanging off my nose hairs, then I'll have to close it. And that's on third. If we actually put it on second, it will go quicker. It'll go quicker? Yeah. Do you change gear when you're driving? No, I leave it on third. You know, around town, if I want to race or show off or something, I'll put it on second. How does the gearbox work? Is it the same? It's the same as stock gearbox. Oh, this is fun, man. Your brakes work. That's what brakes in a VW feel like. No, you know what it is? It's not the brakes. The motor is braking. I put a little transducer, a little sensor. Yeah. And when you step on the brakes, it uses the motor to shoot that energy back into batteries. Really? It regenerates. Wow, that's clever. Oh, Alaska. Unfortunately, we weren't able to put our two favorite buses side by side on the racetrack. But further down the road, an opportunity did present itself to see how our air-cooled combi would fare against Jehu's electric masterpiece. Let's do this, as Jehu would say. Ten-foot dog in the house, just about in the house. First ride ever. Where is this Jehu Garcia character? Well, yeah, dude, where is this guy? I'm going to go wipe the floor with him with my Brazilian bus. What do you reckon? What are my chances? A hundred percent, dude. I got all money on you. I might not be the wisest bet. What? Hey, you know what? It's like the tortoise I'm driving along with the handbrake on. No. A little bit nervous, actually. Come on, Capito, let me down now. Safety first, ladies and gentlemen. Ready? Three, two, one. Let's go, Capito. He's catching me. No. Damn you, Jehu. Damn it, Capito. Today wasn't my day. Next time, Jehu, I'm going to get you. The full race are on Jehu's channel, which is linked below. Be sure to check it out. Our first V-Dub show was truly an excellent introduction to a Volkswagen family that we didn't know we had. We were almost ready to head out and start exploring California, but there was just one more thing that we needed to take care of. But for that, you'll have to wait until next time.