1963 VW at the Badlands

"Dakotahound" (dakotahound) 07/31/2019 at 13:52 • Filed to: VW Westfalia, VW 11-Window Van, VW Bus, Cross-Country Trip

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Currently, I am in the process of scanning old slides and photographs. It is a very long and tedious job. Anyway, I came across some old pictures of my 1963 VW 11-Window Westfalia Van. These were taken at the Badlands in the early stages of an 11,335 mile cross-country trip during the 1980s.

VW at the Badlands.

This is basically the same shot, just a closeup.

VW closeup at the Badlands.

Viewing the old pictures, I remembered a used VW parts shop in Santa Barbara, CA. This was the most organized used parts shop that I have ever seen. They had several buildings on the property with neatly arranged parts; and the people working there knew exactly where to find everything.

On the trip, we desperately needed a 6-volt generator (not an easy thing to find). In fact, the night before we arrived in Santa Barbara, we were forced to drive with our headlights out so the van would not sputter (we drove on back roads and turned the lights on briefly when another car was coming). The people at the Santa Barbara shop had exactly what we needed, and they even helped us change out the generator. They were really great, and we are in debt to them for saving our trip.

Despite the van, we were eventually married.

Does anyone remember or know about the shop? They do not seem to have a web page, and I suspect that they are no longer in business.

ttyymmnn > Dakotahound 07/31/2019 at 14:51

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What is it about people taking pictures of their vans at the Badlands? We visited the Badlands summer of 2018, along with Custer SP . What an extraordinary place. This van’s a little bit newer, but perhaps equally well loved/loathed, depending on its readiness status . We had driven up from Austin, abut 3,500 miles round trip.

Despite the van, we were eventually married.

Despite the van, or because of the van? Or perhaps a little bit of both?

Dakotahound > ttyymmnn 07/31/2019 at 15:03

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The Badlands is one of our favorite places. There is something very unusual about the landscape that makes it appealing. Many years after these photographs were taken, we took a 1994 GMC AWD Safari van to the Badlands. I am sure that there are photographs of that trip and, eventually, I will dig them out of the massive pile.

ttyymmnn > Dakotahound 07/31/2019 at 15:08

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I’d love to see the photos.  I found all of western SD and eastern WY to be absolutely stunning.

Dakotahound > ttyymmnn 07/31/2019 at 15:17

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I did not post these earlier, because the van is so small in the picture.

Both were taken in the Black Hills.

Dakotahound > ttyymmnn 07/31/2019 at 15:22

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And, not too far over the WY border, Devil s Tower (without the van).

ttyymmnn > Dakotahound 07/31/2019 at 15:28

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Not my van, but my picture. I stood there and waited for a while to make sure I caught it. Thought you might appreciate it.

Here we are at the Needles, and one of my other all-time favorite places, White Sands NM. My wife wonders sometimes why I take travelogue pictures of our van, but she leaves me alone. We’ve put over 200k miles on our Odyssey, and driven all over the country in it. Probably time to put it out to pasture, but I don’t think I’ll find a better van. Which is why I tend to take so many photos of it. 

ttyymmnn > Dakotahound 07/31/2019 at 15:30

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Hey, that looks familiar. No pictures of the van, though.

Dakotahound > ttyymmnn 07/31/2019 at 15:37

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Hey, Wall Drug. That place is just so unique, it is worth the stop. I have seen billboards on the highway from a day’s drive away - “Wall D rug, 5 00 miles.” Nice van.

ttyymmnn > Dakotahound 07/31/2019 at 15:41

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There were so many sings for Wall Drug as we drove west on I-90 that it became a running joke. Then we just got sick of looking at them. It’s not much more than a great big gift shop, but we still had fun killing some time there. The pie was good.

vicali > Dakotahound 07/31/2019 at 15:44

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Vacaville Auto; aka Skinner Classics?

CB Performance?

GoWesty?

Wolfsburg West?

Dakotahound > vicali 07/31/2019 at 16:09

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First of all, I really enjoyed the videos. There are a lot of dedicated VW people out there.

I thought that the shop was very close to Santa Barbara, but GoWesty is right on the route that we took.

This aerial view sort of looks familiar (of course, we were there a very long time ago):

https://www.gowesty.com/tour-gowesty.php

vicali > Dakotahound 07/31/2019 at 16:17

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Spend some time watching the Kombi life series.. They are worth it.

GoWesty is a fantastic shop, they were my first call when we bought our van, and had all of the answers to our questions, and cool shirts and stickers too.

Bus Depot is a close second; they re-odo’d my odo when it’s teeth broke.

http://www.busdepot.com/