A couple days two buddies and I went to St. Anthony, Idaho to purchase this old VW Notchback. When I arrived I saw that the seller had lied about the condition of the vehicle and it was full of rust. Since I had driven over 5 hours and spent a couple hundred dollars in fuel to drag my empty car trailer over there, I decided to see what else I could hunt up in Eastern Idaho.
I contacted a retired professor that had taught at BYU-Idaho that I knew had several VWs in a field behind his house. He was gracious enough to let me and my two friends come on to his property and drool at his collection of old cars. Unfortunately the professor didn't want to sell any of them (except for his Porsche, which was about $17,000 more than I brought with me) so we ended up leaving there empty-handed too.
Next stop, Idaho Falls. I ended up eating dinner with another VW buddy that lives in Idaho Falls. During dinner he casually mentioned an old bus that was in a field off of Northgate. He took us past the house and I could see that the bus was a 1958, but I couldn't tell much else about it since it was so far away. I had my buddies drop me off at the house and I went to the door to talk with the owner.
Willi Carstens answered the door. He owns a bakery in Idaho Falls that he has operated for the past 40 years. Willi didn't want me on his property, but finally I convinced him to let me look at the old bus in the back. The bus was parked in a pig-pen with hogs all around it. Upon getting a closer look I knew it had to be rescued from the undignified conditions it was living in. I made an offer and he wanted more. Finally we agreed on a price and I winched the bus onto my trailer to go back to Boise.
So here is the cool part: The bus was owned by Coca-Cola bottling of Idaho Falls. The Canada Dry logo was painted on because the bottling company carried that product as well. According to the registration documents, Coca-Cola bottling of Idaho Falls was located on Lincoln Road in Idaho Falls. That is less than one mile from the home where my mother grew up, and the home where my grandmother still lives! I was wondering if mom or grandma ever remember seeing this bus around town delivering beverages. The registration documents say 1963, so I guess mom would have been in high school at that time.
Pretty cool huh? Now I've got to get this bus cleaned up to see who wants to buy it from me. It will probably end up going to England.
