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Bringing it Home - Owner : Bill Tsagrinos
This 1959 Volkswagen Bus has been stretched a total of 36 inches and was featured in the Spring 1972 issue of Hot VW's. Warren Stevens from the Beetle Barn of Las Vegas built this Bus to take his family camping he had six kids and that was the reason for such a large Bus. The Beetle Barn was a Volkswagen service shop that started in 1959 here in Las Vegas.
This Bus was their family camper until the late 70s when the Stephens
family purchased a Dodge motorhome. After several years in the early 90s,
warren son, Justin asked his dad if he could get it back on the road.
His dad was reluctant to let him do that, and eventually sold it to a
guy who came by the yard requesting to buy it in 2007. I accompanied my
friend Justin to Arizona to purchase the Bus back. In 2009, Justin decided
to sell it along with a stretched Double Cab that his father built to
my friend Chris Cocks.
Chris love the uniqueness of the Bus and put a new Brazilian 1600cc in
with dual carburetors and a big nut Transaxle and built the Bus for driving
on the freeway. Collector Christian Grundmann, Chris and a few other guys
did a Route 66 road trip. In 2018 my friend Chris passed away from pancreatic
cancer, his widow reached out to me a few years back and asked if I would
be interested in purchasing the Bus back.
Purchasing the Bus, figuring the price was right and I could always sell
it. I slowly come to realize that the history connected with this Bus
in Las Vegas. I feel a sense of obligation to keep it here in the city.
The pinstriping lettering in details that are on it were done by famed,
hot rod, pinstripe artist Bob Spina. The Bus itself is very rare, a 1956
walk-through mango colored. The back half is a 1959 Combi sunroof that
was palm green and sand green. Since owning this Bus, I've put an interior
into it and I've made it more of a comfortable driver. I even took it
out to Moab and drove it on the trails with a large caravan of other VW
buses in 2022. This must be part of my collection for this foreseeable
future to represent my hobby, my city and my friends.