The main bus is from 1973 and it’s sibling, with only 1 axle was once upon a time a complete 1976 combi bus.
The main bus was bought by us (Frank, Jeroen, Theo and John) in 1987. We were looking for a form of transport
that could get us to holiday destinations through Europe. The VW bus had everything we
were looking for - space for men above 1,96 metres tall, space for luggage, a carefree feeling
and most importantly an engine that is relatively easy to repair on the way. This bus was originally
a taxi for the Apeldoorn - Schiphol Airport run. Since we bought it, it has experienced
many wonderful trips - the sunny mediterranean Cote d‘azur, Spain, Italy in summers, paragliding in
the French Alps. A rafting holiday one summer in Austria which was followed by glacier skiing in France.
Eventually Europe had been well travelled and now we were itching for something bigger and better!
Yup, America!
Planning started in all earnest and ideas flew back and forth for the holiday of a lifetime. Problem… the 4 dutch men were by now 4 dutch men, 2 dutch ladies and 2 dutch children. One bus - 8 people - time to split up into 2 teams. The next issue was space, in particular sleeping space. An extra bus would also break up the group while travelling, while it would be great to have an extra bed and storage space. Here is where Double Dutch came in. A second bus was found. Everybody thought about it and all were unanimous that 2 engines was 1 too many so that wasn’t an option. Drawings and discussions got started and the idea was born to use the base to remove the sliding door part of the second bus, move the axle forward to ensure the right weight positioning and make it into a sort of bed on wheels. Storage compartments inside, the engine compartment was the ideal solution for camping chairs, barbecues, smelly shoes etc. That’s that.
The trip to America was done in 2 teams - The first team (Jeroen, Susan and their 2 children Gunilla and Mika) travelled for the first 7 weeks through the States. The second team (Frank & Marjolein, Theo and John) met them in Los Angeles and travelled for 8 weeks. This website gives an idea of how the bus was built, what experiences we had in America, the trips with the Dutch Air Cooled club to Gross Glockner in Austria and the plans for 2005. The western side of Canada, Alaska and California.