Bucks
Red Bus Demise
Dear Friends,
Good morning. Mighty Betsy and I took in “Little Miss Sunshine” at the County Theater last week and had a blast. The movie was an absolute howl. I won’t give the plot away except to mention that it’s about a dysfunctional family, that’s bound and determined to make a little girl’s dream of winning a national beauty/talent pageant come true.
Key to the movie is an ancient Volkswagen bus, which constantly breaks down. It reminded me of the red VW bus which MB and I owned when our children were little. I chatted with Editor Bridget Wingert about doing a series on our red bus and she laughed…and approved. Bridget and Joe had a VW bus too and shared pleasant memories. MB thinks Bridget and I should do a column together. We’ll see.
In our first seven years of marriage (beginning in 1960), we had 18 cars…according to the mighty one. Because we had very little money, we had no other choice but to buy vehicles, which were cheap…and thoroughly unreliable. As an example, one of the purchases was a 1948 Chevy convertible with no accelerator peddle…just the accelerator peg stuck out of the floor. But at 50 bucks, it was a bargain. The car lasted four weeks.
Anyway, we bought this red, ten-year-old, VW bus for several hundred dollars. With a three and one year old, it was perfect for us. We kept a crib in the Red Bus, plus all the gear that families need for traveling with infants. There are three notable chapters in our red bus’s history. The first was the break down in the Baltimore Tunnel; the second involved Mighty Betsy taking the children to Sunday school on a very windy day; and the third was its demise. I’ll start with the last.
The Red Bus had just crossed the
200,000-mile mark…we were in its third and final year, as it turned out. I had
an appointment in Sellersville and was racing down the steep hill toward the
center of the town. It’s about a one-mile stretch from the
About half way down the hill, I noticed in the rear view mirror, thick black smoke coming from its exhaust pipe. At first, I wasn’t too worried because the Red Bus would periodically cough ominous clouds. But moments later, black smoke filled the interior of the bus and several warning lights on the dashboard began to flash ominously. A few more yards past by. Suddenly, I heard a sharp bang and flames came out of the engine compartment in the back. The bus was on fire!
Looking back on it, that scene must have been quite humorous for the innocent bystander. Just picture an ancient, dented, red bus, hurtling down the Sellersville hill with flames shooting from its rear end?
In a panic, I turned off the engine
and threw the transmission into neutral. Without gears to slow it down, the Red
Bus picked up speed. My entire life flashed across my mind as I flew down the
Sellersville hill. I ran a red light, and crossed the railroad bridge. Certain
that the Red Bus was about to explode, I said a prayer as I past the
Fortunately, some Good Samaritan had noticed my emergency and called the fire company, which was waiting for me as I coasted to a stop. I must say that it was quite convenient for them. All they had to do was to open the firehouse door and turn on the spigot.
Alas, the Red Bus was ruined. Our children were in tears when they learned about its fate. Nonetheless, our moments with the old Red Bus were hilarious. I’ll always remember shifting its gears with a floor mounted "gear shifter." The grinding noises, which the transmission emitted, were sonorous.
Sincerely,
Charles Meredith