Found: the owner of my bus for over 30 years

[KevH]

A funny thing happened on the way out of Stanford Hall yesterday.

Just as I was driving off the main field, a guy came hobbling out of the ice cream queue, caught enough of my attention for me to pull over, and promptly announced that he was the second owner of my bus, from 1973 to about 2003. Stories from 30 years of ownership then poured out over the following 20 minutes or so.

Pics and more stories are promised in the post.

It doesn't get much better than that.

Me and Bob, reunited with 'his' bus after 30 years

 

[mike202]

that's fantastic!

Great pic for the van's history folder.

 

[shiplee123]

Love it mate!
Sooo cool to find out history about your bus ! U must b really chuffed!

Make sure u post pics

 

[KevH]

Thanks lads.

Chuffed hardly describes how I felt. I'd known about this PO since buying the bus three years ago, and had come 'that' close to establishing contact with him in 2012 through a random contact. I began to think he might have snuffed it to be honest . But no...

It made my day to meet him, on top of a brilliant show too. I can't wait to see some pics of the bus in its heyday.

 

[Myvanway]

Cool. 8)

 

[Lee C]

V cool 8) 8)
Can't beat a bit history like that!!!

 

[Foz]

Fantastic!!!! 8)

 

[Moseley]

That must have been awesome for them to see it - can't imagine owning and driving something for that long.

Did they say why they sold it after all that time?

 

[Supertramp]

Bet that was emotional, for him and for you! Cool story.

 

[KevH]

Bet that was emotional, for him and for you! Cool story.

Very emotional, surprisingly so given that, at the end of the day, its a tin can on wheels. :lol:

Did they say why they sold it after all that time?

Yes, the kids grew up and he just wasn't using it for what it was intended for. Plus he got a good offer. I bought it from the guy who made that offer, after he had it for 8 years. So I only have the first 4 years of its life to track down now.

 

[poptop2]

Excellent stuff. Make me wonder where my first van is now.

 

[Trikky2]

Wow, that's quite a stroke of luck 8)

Be great to get some history and pics of it back then.

 

[KevH]

Wow, that's quite a stroke of luck 8)

Be great to get some history and pics of it back then.

It was pure chance Trikky. If that ice cream van had been parked facing the other direction, he would not have spotted us. And for various reasons we left our pitch about 20 minutes later than we had intended, so all in all it was fate that we'd bump in to each other.

I just hope that we can get to see some pics from the past and to catch up on some more stories.

 

[Sydney1]

Great story

We had our bus imported from Auz and called "him" Sydney.

The paperwork supplied included contact details from the previous owner who had owned the van from new and we sent him a letter hoping for a bit of history. He kindly responded also informing us that "Sydney" was infact called "Melbourne" and was a "she" ! There apparently is a bit of rivelry between the 2 cities and I don't think he was too pleased :lol:

 

[KevH]

Great story

We had our bus imported from Auz and called "him" Sydney.

The paperwork supplied included contact details from the previous owner who had owned the van from new and we sent him a letter hoping for a bit of history. He kindly responded also informing us that "Sydney" was infact called "Melbourne" and was a "she" ! There apparently is a bit of rivelry between the 2 cities and I don't think he was too pleased :lol:

That could have been worse. It could have been Yorkeys Knob. :lol: http://www.list-directory.info/lists/place-names.html