[For those who are following along at home, since the consensus on the motor home is I should just get in it and get out of town, and it's the most wild-eyed fantastical; I'll put that off until 4th. Third will be the boat tail SuperBeetle]
In ~1980 my 1954 Type II 23-window Barndoor bus was hit in the rear and totaled by some drunks in a Ford pickup (the guy who owned the truck was too drunk to drive so it was his buddy that hit me. The third guy probably egged him on). With the insurance settlement I bought a 1961 Type II panel van.
Fast forward (topped out at 85, and would crest the coast range at 75–but it would lift the inside rear wheel. so I had my mechanic de-camber the rear so it would keep all 4 wheels on the ground as it went over the top. ahem) to just last year and I had about 95% of the rusted sheet metal replaced.
The engine has been sitting on the bench since the IT bubble popped in 2002. It was built following Karcey's guidelines, but since that was before the HVW Mileage motor series, I went with big valve heads instead of the fuel injection heads (the theory being that if I go to CNG (which is tempting, this motor has never run on gas) it would need better breathing). And the lower pulley is only 8 lbs instead of 50.
But that was then. I hinted that this one comes with a business plan. That goes like this:
As the highest use for this body type would be a local delivery van (I spent a lot of miles sitting right on top of that left front wheel), there is an opportunity unique to the Eugene (and Portland), OR city limits. Firstly, a business that offers petrol-free deliveries in Bluegene would enjoy first-mover advantage.
Next is I'm a Green Driver
Green Driver
tldr: Turn by turn GPS that displays the cities' traffic lights *and* calculates your route to minimize red lights. I know, right?
I'd bet FedEx doesn't use it because it won't filter up their corporate structure until 10% of the cities on the planet have signed on board. The pay-off for Eugene and Portland is by opening themselves up to monkey-wrenching hackers they get less pressure to build up their infrastructure (believe me, there are people around here that would DDOS this because they think it would encourage people to drive more).
So anyway:
•electric power
•hemp (or synthetic) lubricants
•highly efficient, dynamically re-routable dispatching
•bamboo roof rack (advertising)
•drivers with piercings and tattoos
Where's my start-up capital?